Seth Rollins Thought He Was Going To Miss ‘WrestleMania’ Again, Rehab 6-8 Months
Seth Rollins may have felt like he was cursed when it comes to WrestleMania, even though his first big show as a WWE singles star provided one of the most memorable moments in WrestleMania history. Rollins walked out of the big event as WWE World Heavyweight Champion in 2015, but missed last year’s extravaganza entirely and was nearly dealt the same hand this time around, not to mention suffering from pneumonia leading up to tonight’s show.
After successfully cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase during the main event between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, Seth Rollins carried the title for the majority of 2015. Original plans called for Rollins to drop the belt to Reigns at that year’s Survivor Series and eventually engage in a marquee program with Triple H that would have culminated at WrestleMania 32. But, of course, Seth never even made it to Survivor Series.
Seth Rollins suffered a serious knee injury during a November match with Kane at a WWE live event that forced him to relinquish his championship and completely miss out on WrestleMania 32. Triple H feuded with Reigns instead, but WWE officials always kept a potential Seth Rollins-Triple H program in their back pocket. They planted further seeds last August when The Game returned to television for the first time in five months and cost both Reigns and Rollins the Universal Championship.
Things wouldn’t pick back up between the protege, Seth Rollins, and the mentor, Triple H, for a few more months after that, however, as it became clear the creative team was waiting for this year’s WrestleMania to book them in a match. The plan was for Hunter to finally answer Rollins’ challenges on RAW, only for Samoa Joe to attack Seth. The attack would have led to a match between Joe and Rollins at Fastlane, followed by the WrestleMania showdown between Triple H and Seth Rollins.
Once again, a Rollins injury scrapped big plans and Joe was transitioned to Sami Zayn instead while Triple H and the rest of the WWE waited on results from Seth’s diagnosis. The company conducted meetings to discuss backup plans for Triple H’s WrestleMania, but they found out rather soon that Seth Rollins would be cleared. They didn’t let on to the public, however, and used the uncertainty as part of the angle. They eventually booked a non-sanctioned match between Seth Rollins and Triple H in what will be one of the more anticipated matches on Sunday’s card.
There were many people that were unsure whether the match would take place again, and you can count Seth Rollins among them. Rollins was interviewed over the weekend at WrestleMania Axxess and revealed that he thought the injury he suffered at the hands of Samoa Joe was exactly like the one he endured back in 2015.
“It was really frustrating, especially right off the bat. I honestly thought the knee injury was going to be as bad as my previous knee injury. It felt almost exactly the same. I felt a big pop and a lot of heat in that area and I thought, for sure, I was going to be out for another six to eight months rehabilitating an ACL tear. Fortunately for me, I ended up dodging a bullet and got away with a grade 2 MCL tear, which is pretty severe, but the timeline worked out that I was able to get back for WrestleMania. I didn’t have time for sleepless nights. I wish that I kind of mourned it a little bit but as soon as I got the word the next day that after we did the x-rays and MRI that it was only an MCL sprain, than I was already working, trying to get back.”
Later in the interview, Seth Rollins revealed that his first injury gave him time to reflect and appreciate what he’s accomplished in the WWE, which has resulted in him living in the moment more. After his rivalry with Triple H is over, it’s expected that Rollins will resume things with Samoa Joe and could be heavily involved in the rumored stable Hunter is forming. The non-sanctioned stipulation for WrestleMania opens the door for plenty of surprises.
[Featured Image by WWE]
