Seth Rollins Explains Why It's More Fun To Be A Heel, Surveys Current WWE Landscape
Seth Rollins is no stranger to switching between the role of a babyface and a heel in his WWE career. From "The Architect," to "The Messiah" and now "The Visionary," Rollins has been able to reinvent himself to stay relevant. Despite finding success and becoming WWE Champion both as a babyface and a heel, Rollins recently revealed why he prefers to fulfill the role of a "bad guy" on television.
Speaking on "The Pivot Podcast," Rollins explained why being a heel is easier than being a babyface in wrestling today and how social media has contributed to the fans' assessment of the characters being presented to them.
"I did always see myself as a heel, they just had so much more fun. It's so much more fun to be an antagonist. It feels great to have the adulation but it's so much more fun, and to be fair, it's a little easier at least in 2024 to be a heel in our industry because I mean you look around, people just love throwing hate. I mean, if you take one look on any social media platform and that's all it is, people throwing criticisms. So it's super easy when you find something that people attach to and they like it, you know you ride that wave but then you get to the top, then you're just the Yankees and now everybody's gonna pray for your downfall," said Rollins.
Rollins explains why WWE is in 'an era of babyfaces'
Seth Rollins analyzed WWE's current landscape from a character perspective, explaining how Roman Reigns was the face of the company for the majority of the 2020s as a heel, but since losing his Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes, has been able to fulfill the role of being the top star in the company, but as a babyface. According to "The Visionary," WWE can be successful with a babyface champion as the top draw.
"Some of our bigger booms have been with face champions. I mean, you look at the last four years, Roman Reigns has kind of been the guy as the 'Tribal Chief,' right, and he's been just the biggest heel upon heels. But right now we're riding with Cody Rhodes who dethroned him at this WrestleMania this past year and we're sort of in this era of babyfaces, if you will. I mean, you've got guys like myself and Cody and Randy Orton and Sami Zayn and now Roman's back as a babyface, and so you've got this era where everything is just clicking and people are loving so much of what's going on."
Rollins also mentioned how many of WWE's successful periods have been built with a top babyface leading the company and used Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels as examples of wrestlers who have been in that position. However, he also admitted that WWE could be missing some strong heels on their programming due to the rise of popular babyfaces.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Pivot Podcast" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.