What Seth Rollins Hopes To Accomplish Taking The World Heavyweight Title To WWE NXT

Tonight on "WWE NXT," Seth Rollins returns to the black and gold brand for the first time in almost a decade to defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker. It also happens to be the 11th anniversary of the Orlando-based developmental incarnation of "NXT"s first episode, which premiered on this day in 2012 and featured a Rollins promo video to hype his match the following week. To promote the first of two special "NXT" episodes branded as Gold Rush, Rollins spoke to the New York Post, where he talked about, among other things, what it meant to him to return to his old stomping grounds.

"Taking [the World Heavyweight Championship] down Florida and NXT I think makes it special," Rollins said. "You just don't see that very often. The last time I had a match on NXT was, God, over a decade ago [in July 2013]. Getting an opportunity to go down there to the place I really cut my teeth in WWE and bring a brand new world title there and defend it against someone like Bron Breakker, I think it's gonna put more eyes on NXT, I hope, and bring some attention there."

Rollins' stint in "NXT" came during the 13-month period where Florida Championship Wrestling, Steve Keirn's independently-owned promotion and wrestling school, was still officially the sole WWE developmental territory, although WWE had taken over production of FCW's TV show, airing it as "NXT" in Florida and internationally. Rollins was called up to the main roster about five months after the launch of that version of "NXT," joining Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to form The Shield, with the group debuting at Survivor Series 2012. His final "NXT" match came at the taping held the day that the WWE Performance Center opened, July 11, 2013, with The Shield defeating Adrian Neville, Corey Graves, and Xavier Woods.