Seth Rollins Reveals His Toughest Opponent, Talks CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Learning From Chris Jericho
Recently, RauteMusik shared a video Q&A of WWE Superstar Seth Rollins during WWE's recent European tour. Among many other things, Rollins shared his thoughts on working with Chris Jericho, whether independent wrestlers stand a greater chance of making it in WWE nowadays, and John Cena's toughness.
According to Rollins, working with Jericho has been a positive experience, as 'The Mental Mastermind' is a fantastic resource, given his tremendous experience in the professional wrestling world. Rollins went on to say that Jericho is always pushing him, especially on the mic.
"Chris is fantastic, not just in the ring, not just on the microphone, but he's a valuable source of information to have in the back. Compared to him, I'm a young guy. I've been doing this for 12 years, but Chris is pushing 25 now or something like that, so that's incredible. And just to have him on tour all the time, on the road with us, in the locker room, at events, and we get to hear the stories. You hear just all the experience he [has] had all over the world for years and years and years. It's just great to have a veteran in the locker room with that kind of leadership. I tell you, you can't put a price tag on that, so it's great to have Chris around. I'm always learning from him. I love being in the ring with him and he's always pushing me, especially on the microphone."
During the session, Rollins stated that he would like to think that guys from the indies have a better chance to make it in WWE now than they did before. 'The Architect' said he has been thankful to former WWE and ROH world champions CM Punk and Daniel Bryan for paving the way.
"I'd like to think so. If you look at the NXT product and what they've done over the last few years, integrating kind of independent wrestlers from all over the world, not just the United States, but from all over the world, I think that the guys you mentioned [CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and Kevin Owens], especially Punk and Bryan, they really set the precedent for what it was going to take to get to the top of WWE. And I think WWE developmental was a bit formulaic for a long, long time until Triple H kind of took over and sort of rebranded the whole thing to what it is now. And I started looking at the journeymen, the guys that paved the way for years and years, and really put in all the work to get to that point and instead of just trying to manufacture talents almost like out of thin air. There's something to being able to make it on your own that gives you the confidence to make it here in the big leagues in WWE and I know I'm very thankful of Bryan and Punk who opened the door for guys like myself and Kevin, and you look at Samoa Joe, Finn Bálor, and other guys that kind of made their names on the independent circuit. Without those guys kind of kicking the door down, breaking the mold, I think we wouldn't have the same opportunities we're getting now and the guys who are behind us, who are coming up, knocking at the door, kind of nipping at our heels, they wouldn't have the opportunities either, so it's awesome and I'm glad that the guys that have been working hard for years and years and years and years, are getting paid and their just due."
Also, Rollins acknowledged that Cena is his toughest opponent in the squared circle and that the 15-time world champion's toughness is underrated.
"I'd have to say, 'maybe Cena' and I know that might strike some as odd, but I crushed that guy's face with my knee. He dropped like a bad habit, but 30 seconds later, he was up like a madman, spraying blood all over my face like he was Brad Pitt in Fight Club. John's a tough guy and he [has] worked through a lot of injuries for a long time, for the last 15 years to be that good for that long and hold that spot down. That's extremely impressive and it's doesn't happen by chance. That's something he works really hard for every single day. And you put all that stuff together, the fact that he has been able to come back from injuries at record pace, finish matches when he didn't need to, make shows when he didn't have to, do all that sort of stuff, John, his toughness is very underrated."
If you use any of the quotes that appear in this article, please credit RauteMusik with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: RauteMusik