Seth Rollins recently spoke with SportingNews.com to promote his WrestleMania 35 match with WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. The Architect confirmed recent reports that he was dealing with a back injury.
“Yeah, I did have a lingering back issue that I was dealing with,” Rolling confirmed. “At the end of the day, I’m able to compete. I’ve been cleared by our doctors. I had to take a few weeks to rest but it looks like I’ll be fine moving forward. I feel good. I’ve ramped up training in the gym and at my school (Black and Brave Wrestling Academy). I feel really good. I feel healthy and, hopefully, I’ll be able to pick that guy up and throw him around a little bit so I’m not the only one getting tossed around.”
Rollins said he feels like the future of the business is at stake with the Lesnar match at WrestleMania. He was asked if it irritates him that the title is rarely featured on RAW due to Lesnar’s light schedule. Rollins said they are in jeopardy of losing a generation because Lesnar doesn’t care about inspiring others.
“I’m old-school, man. I want my champion to be there headlining all of the events. We go to these live events and Brock Lesnar is not there and we go to “Raw” or pay-per-views and Brock Lesnar’s not there,” Rollins said. “Somebody has to pick up the slack and carry that mantle. I was able to try and do that for a while with the Intercontinental Championship. I took that to the main event of a pay-per-view with Dolph Ziggler (WWE TLC in December 2018). You can do what you want but there’s still so much prestige over the Universal Championship. Everybody feels that the champion is the champion.
“When you’ve got somebody like Lesnar who doesn’t really care about inspiring other people, you start to lose a generation. You lose people who are motivated. If I didn’t have champions who inspired me when I was younger, I may not have wanted to be a professional wrestler. I may not have wanted to get into this business. There are guys like Shawn Michaels and Triple H and John Cena and Edge and Eddie Guerrero and these guys became champions. They inspire people to want to get into this industry and to push it forward and Brock Lesnar just doesn’t do that. He doesn’t inspire people. He’s in it for himself and he’ll tell you that. He’s in it for the money and he’ll tell you that. It’s just frustrating for me as a fan of our industry to see it kind of be held hostage by someone who only cares about themselves and making their own money.”
It was recently reported that the decision to have SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey in the WrestleMania 35 main event came down to the wire with Rollins vs. Lesnar being the other option. Rollins was asked how much he cares where his match is on the card, and if that’s something he thinks about a lot whether it’s WrestleMania or another show.
“You’d be lying if you said that you didn’t care about wanting to headline WrestleMania,” Rollins said That’s the pinnacle. Guys have lost their minds about being in that spot over the years. This is all you’ve ever dreamed of in your entire life and everything you ever wanted to do and you’ve dedicated yourself to it. All you want is to headline WrestleMania and to be the main event. Those women are no different. Charlotte, obviously, has the history. Becky has been at it for 15 years now.
“There is so much passion and hard work and love for the industry in that Triple Threat match. Those girls are in that spot not just by themselves, but years and years of women being marginalized in our industry and having to push through and fight through things. I’ll never know what that experience is like. They’re getting to represent future generations and past generations of females who are capable, amazing and talented. They finally get to showcase that to the entire world. I’m super proud of all three of those girls and I’m really looking forward to sitting back with the Universal title on my shoulder and watching the main event.”
