In recent weeks, former Universal Champion Seth Rollins has been very vocal in his defense of WWE. Rollins has repeatedly taken to social media to stick up for the promotion he works for, amid widespread criticism of its perceived stale storylines and the lack of exposure certain fan favorites are receiving, among other complaints. That still appeared to be the case this week, when Rollins commented on the ongoing trend of online wrestling fans and their apparent eagerness to bash WWE and its product.
Speaking to Anthony Sulla-Heffinger of Yahoo Sports , Rollins started out by saying he’s excited to see the wrestling legends he grew up watching on next week’s “Raw Reunion” episode of Monday Night Raw . He also offered his thoughts on the difference between yesterday’s WWE superstars and his present-day colleagues, noting that today’s wrestlers have to deal with bigger expectations from audiences due to the presence of the internet and social media. This led to a breakdown of the reasons why he believes internet fans now find it “cool” to hate WWE.
“We’re the New York Yankees. It’s easy to hate the New England Patriots,” Rollins said, comparing WWE to two of the most successful franchises in American sports history in terms of championship wins.
“We’re those teams, we’re the dynasty. It’s easy to hate us, but we’re still the most popular company in the world at what we do. We’re so far beyond being a wrestling company that it’s very easy to point the finger and hate on us.”
Rollins then added that he isn’t upset about the backlash WWE gets from online fans, as he believes it’s normal in the world of sports and entertainment for people to “hate the big guy.”
Seth Rollins dismisses those who hate WWE as only doing so because it is the “cool” thing to do: https://t.co/Y1YscVjbgL
— WrestleTalk News (@WrestleTalk_TV) July 19, 2019
After emphasizing that he wants fans to appreciate the sacrifices WWE superstars make to entertain their audiences on a weekly basis, Rollins talked about his current feud with reigning three-time Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and won the title from Rollins on Sunday at Extreme Rules . He opined that their rivalry is a “pretty cool, long-term” storyline, which has burned slowly since his Royal Rumble victory in January, adding that WWE offers the only form of entertainment that allows single story arcs to last for several months.
“I think it’s a really good story and people just need to take a chill pill and enjoy it,” Rollins continued. “Cheer the good guys, boo the bad guys. I think sometimes people just read into it too much.”
The new interview came just a few weeks after Seth Rollins proclaimed that WWE has the “best pro wrestling on the planet” in a Twitter post promoting last month’s Stomping Grounds pay-per-view. As noted by Wrestling Inc ., this ultimately led to a heated exchange of tweets with New Japan Pro Wrestling star Will Ospreay, who took exception to Rollins’ pro-WWE comments. Both men settled their differences earlier this month, with Rollins apologizing to Ospreay and explaining he was out of line with some of his tweets, particularly his request that they “compare bank accounts.”