Seth Rollins talks never being ‘the guy’ in WWE, playing ‘second fiddle’ to Roman Reigns

Seth Rollins believes that living in the “Roman Era” means he may never be “the guy” in WWE. 

The 36-year-old spoke to Ariel Helwani recently about feeling as though he’s never been given his “just due” in the company.  

“I just feel like I’ve never, in some ways, I’ve never gotten my just due. I’ve never been the guy, you know?” Rollins said. “I’ve never been the one on the marquee at WrestleMania. It was John [Cena], it was Roman [Reigns], in some regards when I was at Ring of Honor it was Nigel [McGuiness] or it was Bryan [Danielson].”

“I was always the guy on the come up or on the underneath. I was kind of the second or the next big thing type and that always just eats at me, it eats at me so much. I don’t know where that competitive spark comes from but it drives me insane.”

Rollins would continue to say that feeling as though he hasn’t gotten his “just due” is what motivates him to be the best performer he can be. 

“Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m not as good as I think I am. Maybe there are people out there that draw more money, perform better in the ring, sell more merch, etc. etc. than me and I’ve got this inflated idea of myself. That’s the fear, that I’m just dead wrong and so maybe that’s the truth and maybe that’s just how it is but I can’t operate at optimum levels accepting that.”

“I pride myself on my work ethic and my hustle and I feel like if I just settled for saying I’m just not good enough, or I’m just not as big of a star, I can’t be as big of a star as say Roman Reigns or Hulk Hogan or John Cena then I would be doing myself a disservice, I’d be doing the business a disservice and I just don’t think I could go to sleep at night accepting being second best.” 

Rollins would continue to say that “living in the Roman Era” means he’ll likely never be in WWE’s top spot. 

“Even when I had won the title at WrestleMania, cashed in, great moment, I still felt like I was second fiddle to Roman [Reigns]. I still felt like he was the guy, you’re the placeholder until he’s totally ready and we’re totally ready to put the ball in his hands but for now, you’re a step ahead so we’re going to give you this, and then we’ll move on to what we really want to be, but it’s just going to take a few months.” 

Helwani then asked Rollins if he feels he’s getting close to being “the guy” in WWE. 

“I don’t know, man, I wonder often if because I live in the Roman era that that’s just never going to happen. The only time I was even considered, I think, for the main event of WrestleMania [was when] Roman got leukemia and he was out from August till January or whatever, February it was and I was kind of second behind on the little babyface column there and I got slotted in.”

“I feel like, it’s one of those things, the best I can hope for is to be the Edge to his Cena or like the [Randy] Savage to his Hogan and sometimes I just feel like that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.” 

He would continue to say he has a great relationship with Roman and that there is only “healthy competition” between the two. 

Rollins also spoke about rumors of Bray Wyatt returning to the company and the difficulties he had working with the character previously. 

“The Bray Wyatt character was just difficult. I mean, if you look at anybody that worked with the Bray Wyatt character for an extended period of time, they didn’t come out of it better than they went in. It was very difficult to have a story with him where, aside from Randy [Orton] obviously who killed him, it was difficult for anyone. I think maybe Daniel Bryan, Bryan might have escaped a little unscathed but I mean, everyone else pretty much met a dire end for their character. I mean, that was the end for the Seth Rollins character as you knew it, the Beast Slayer character. It was tough figuring out how to tell a good wrestling story with that character.” 

Regarding their match at Hell in a Cell 2019, Rollins said neither he nor Wyatt wanted things to go as they did. 

“We played the hand we were dealt and that was not our call and I know he would tell you the same thing. That did not go the way we wanted it to. We tried and we tried and we tried and the boss at the time would not budge.”

“I would love to have another crack at working with Windham Rotunda, he’s an incredible talent,” Rollins continued.