After being a main event heel for the better part of two years, Seth Rollins is finally a babyface. Once the most cowardly, dastardly bad guy in the WWE, it looks like “The Architect” has finally hung up his black hat. At the very least, the former Ring of Honor standout is a tweener with good guy tendencies. With this turn, he cements his status as the face of the WWE.
Seth Rollins Is the Face of WWE
While AJ Styles and John Cena bicker about who is the “face that runs the place” on SmackDown Live, it’s becoming apparent that the versatile Seth Rollins is actually the face of the WWE. Enough has been said about how talented Mr. Rollins is, but it finally seems like he’s come into his own as the guy for the WWE.
The Fall of the Roman Empire
By naming Roman Reigns the United States Champion, it seems like at least for now, the WWE have removed him from the main event picture. Reigns has spent the better part of the last year either as the champion or as the number one contender, the fans have rejected him wholeheartedly. While Reigns is talented and may eventually become the main event player that Vince McMahon want him to be, it’s not happening yet.
With Reigns out the way, Rollins doesn’t really have competition. Cena and Styles are both 39 years old and Dean Ambrose was truly an underwhelming WWE World Champion. Finn Bálor was the first WWE Universal Champion, but he’s set to miss some time and is already 35 years old. Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe are the biggest names in NXT, WWE’s developmental system, but both of those men are also in their late 30’s.
Despite being in the business for over a decade, Rollins is only 30 years old. At 30, he’s already been Mr. Money in the Bank, and won the WWE Tag Team Championship, a United States Championship, and two WWE World Championships. Seth Rollins has been one of the most hated people in sports entertainment since turning on The Shield in 2014, but he was so good as a heel and in the ring that the crowd began to root for him. Seth Rollins may be coming out on the losing end of championship feuds against Ambrose, Bálor, and now Kevin Owens, but he’s also about to start a feud that will launch him into the stratosphere.
The Main Event of Main Events
It’s hard to see exactly when everyone knew that Seth Rollins and Triple H were destined for a WrestleMania feud. Some would say it was when Rollins began using the Pedigree, Triple H’s finisher, after WrestleMania 31. Others would say it was when the WWE Universe began to root for Seth Rollins, even when he was a heel. Honestly, the two began their road to WrestleMania the moment that Rollins took a chair to the back of Roman Reigns.
The minute that Rollins joined The Authority, he began down a familiar path. In WWE, few things are certain. The Undertaker returns for WrestleMania, John Cena wins championships, and Triple H turns on his friends. Triple H has feuded with his wife, his father-in-law, his best friends, and yes, his protegees.
Like Randy Orton before him, Seth Rollins was destined to feud with Triple H the minute he joined The Authority. While it’s true that Triple H has feuded with Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns in recent memory, it’s been a while that he had a story with a youngster that had this much build-up. The “Yes Movement” angle lasted half a year, but Seth Rollins vs. Triple H has been in the works for two and a half years.
The reason that beating Triple H in the main event of WrestleMania 32 didn’t launch Roman Reigns to the next level was that there was just too much going on. Nobody believed that Triple H was going to continue being the champion, it was in the main event, and nobody was rooting for Reigns to win.
If Seth Rollins can beat Triple H at WrestleMania, his character will have taken the next big step. He will be free of the Authority, and he’ll be a babyface main eventer. The WWE have struggled mightily to find a popular babyface in recent memory. While 2011 CM Punk and 2013 Daniel Bryan were fantastic, neither man is wrestling for the company in 2016.
After defeating Triple H, Seth Rollins will be a booker’s dream. He’ll be over with both the casual and hardcore fanbases, he can work with anyone, and it will have been a while since he was in the championship picture. Post-Triple H, Seth Rollins could have a fantastic program with just about anyone on the roster, and much like Cena took over after the attitude era, Seth Rollins will take over the modern era.
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