Club Shay Shay - Seth Rollins Part 1

Summary

Club Shay Shay – Seth Rollins Part 1: Detailed Episode Summary

Release Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Shannon Sharpe
Guest: Seth “Freakin” Rollins (Colby Lopez)
Location: The Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel, San Francisco

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Episode Overview

Shannon Sharpe sits down with WWE Superstar Seth Rollins for a deep, candid conversation about his life, upbringing, wrestling journey, and career evolution. Part 1 dives into Rollins' family story, formative childhood experiences, adversity on the independent wrestling scene, and his meteoric rise within WWE, blending heartfelt moments and insider wrestling knowledge.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Meeting Bad Bunny and Wrestling’s Crossover Appeal

• Rollins describes meeting the global superstar Bad Bunny, who participated in a high-profile WWE match.
  • Quote: “He had an absolutely wonderful match with Damian Priest in Puerto Rico a couple of years back. He loves wrestling. That’s insane...This is the biggest artist in the world. This would have been like Michael Jackson in 1986 at Wrestlemania.” (01:32)

The Humble Beginnings: Small-Town Iowa

• Rollins (Colby Lopez) grew up in Buffalo, Iowa, a town of fewer than 1,000 people.
  • No high school; he had to bus to a nearby town after elementary.
  • Quote: “We didn’t have a stoplight, you know.” (04:38)
  • Quote: “It feels like we’re just reading the accolades of somebody else, some other hall of famer, you know. So it’s really cool. It’s really humbling, actually.” (04:04)

Family and Upbringing

• Rollins was adopted at age two by Ron Lopez, whom he always considered his father.
  • “Lopez has been my last name and he’s been my dad. So I have no—like, I only recently became semi acquainted with my biological father...That’s recent, like within the last five or six years via 23andMe test. Yeah, we got a surprise on that one.” (05:37)
• On Ron Lopez’s Impact:
  • Consistently treated Seth and his stepbrother equally and demonstrated a strong work ethic.
  • Worked with his hands, coached youth sports, and modeled sacrifice and resilience.
  • Quote: “He was always there, always around...I got a sense between him and my mom of what, like, what it meant to, you know, put other people before you, what it meant to work hard…” (07:20)
• Despite his parents’ divorce, both remained amicable and prioritized their children.
  • Quote: “Even after they split up...there was never an animus. Like, he was my stepdad so he could have easily...go on by his way and don’t have any contact with me. He never did.” (08:40–09:00)

Navigating Identity: Mixed Heritage in the Midwest

• Discusses growing up in an interracial household (Mexican stepfather/Armenian heritage) in a predominantly white Midwestern town.
  • As a child, it never registered as significant; only later did he recognize the challenges his family may have faced.
  • Quote: “At the time...it never even dawned on me that my parents were in, like, an interracial relationship.” (10:22)

Discovering Biological Family via 23andMe

• As an adult, Rollins discovered half-siblings and connected (virtually) with his biological father.
  • The discovery caused a "shock" in his birth father’s family, who was previously unaware of Rollins’ existence.
  • Quote: “I saw the last name, and it was from my—what would have been my half-sister...She said, Who is your dad? And I said, oh no. Oh no…” (14:45)
• Has not met his biological father in person, only one phone call.
  • Quote: “If he would want to [meet], I would be available, but he’s never made the strides.” (19:08–19:43)
• He has formed positive relationships with his half-siblings.
  • Quote: “When I met my sister for the first time...she would see my face and have no clue...She puts it into the Google machine...this Seth Rollins guy pops up and she’s like, What is this?” (19:50–20:35)

Childhood Memories & Early Wrestling Inspiration

• Fond memories: climbing trees, playing Legos with his brother.
• The pivotal moment: attending his first wrestling show with his dad at age 5.
  • Quote: “To me it was like just seeing real life superheroes...That like changed my life...I was hooked from then on.” (22:00–23:16)
• Played multiple sports as a kid but gravitated toward wrestling.
  • Quote: “At some point I realized that the baseball could hit the face. And I was like, I don’t like that.” (23:41)

Wrestling as a Calling

• Idolized smaller, athletic wrestlers like Shawn Michaels and Bret “Hitman” Hart, rather than the giants.
  • Quote: “My first favorite wrestler was Hulk Hogan...The first guys that I really idolized were smaller...My favorite wrestler of all-time is Shawn Michaels.” (24:24–24:48)
• At 14, declared he would become a professional wrestler—parents hoped it was “just a phase,” but Rollins never wavered.
  • Quote: “I remember telling my parents with just this visceral anger...I’m not playing basketball. I want to be a professional wrestler.”(25:44–27:58)

Weathering Hardship on the Indie Circuit

• Spent six to seven years on the independent wrestling scene, often wrestling in small venues for little or no money, sometimes in front of fewer than 10 people.
  • Quote: “If you’re not making any money at it, you’re making no money. You’re often losing money and it’s painful.” (31:15)
  • Reflection: Despite the hardship, loved the journey and camaraderie.
  • Quote: “Even though there was a lot of suffering involved...I just loved it. I loved getting in a car with my people, driving hours to a show...” (31:34–33:03)

The WWE Breakthrough

• Did not wait for WWE—actively courted the company, networking through established wrestlers like Joey Mercury.
• The offer almost slipped away; was about to sign with a rival, but a last-minute call from WWE changed everything.
  • Quote: “Fifteen minutes later, he calls me back: ‘Alright, kid, let me talk to my people’...I couldn’t sleep that night...When they called back, ‘We’re going to give you an opportunity,’ dude, I remember where I was standing...” (36:16–37:15)

Meteoric Rise & The Shield

• Signed at 24, spent two years in developmental (Tampa).
• Debuted in 2012 as part of The Shield (with Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose). Their sudden popularity transformed WWE’s approach to new talent.
  • Quote: “They gave us the ball and they kept giving us the ball because we kept scoring touchdowns...Just give me the damn ball, that’s all I ever wanted.” (38:13–39:11)

On Perseverance & Advice for Aspiring Wrestlers

• Owns a wrestling school, Black and Brave Wrestling Academy (Davenport, Iowa).
  • Stresses that wrestling is “a marathon, not a sprint”—“learn to enjoy the process.”
  • Quote: “As cliché as it sounds, I’m telling you, when you’re done with it, 20 years later, the journey will be the thing that you remember. It’s not the moments, milestones, accolades...it’s the process.” (39:25–41:07)

Signature Moments, Move Controversies, and WWE Culture

• First interaction with Vince McMahon: Vince’s blunt, memorable stage direction.
  • Quote: “You could just hear his deep voice echo through the empty arena: ‘What, you need clubs to beat him up? Are you really that tough?’ We’re just like, dump the club. All right, let’s go.” (45:11–46:03)
• The “Curb Stomp” controversy—move banned suddenly after Rollins became champion.
  • Quote: “I win the title, get on a jet...I get back to San Jose and Vince wants to see us...He’s like, ‘Yeah, the Stomp…I think we’re gonna move in a different direction.’” (46:07–46:57)
• Transitioned to using Triple H’s “Pedigree” as a finish after Vince’s approval—possibly as a playful dig at Triple H.
  • Quote: “I knew Vince would say yes just to spite Triple H.” (48:02–48:44)

The Shield Break-Up and Its Impact

• The Shield breakup was a company decision, not theirs.
  • Quote: “They knew if they gave us a heads up, we would say no and try to fight out of the breakup. So they brought us in...‘Here’s what we’re going to do tonight. Seth is going to be the one to pull the trigger.’” (49:01–49:54)
  • The impact still resonates with fans years later.
  • Quote: “People still ask me to this day, 12 years later, why did you break up the Shield? These are grown people because they watched it when they were teenagers...” (51:28)

Wrestling Archetypes: Babyface, Heel, and the Role of Audience

• The audience determines who’s a hero or villain (babyface/heel) more than scriptwriters do.
  • Quote: “Ultimately, the audience does. There are suggestions...but ultimately the audience really decides if you’re going to be cheered or booed.” (51:33–53:49)
• It’s easier to be a heel; audiences love to hate.
  • Quote: “People just naturally want to hate. The world’s just full of haters.” (54:12)

Significance of Having a Signature Move

• Essential for audience engagement and storytelling.
  • Quote: “Very important, because your audience...they get clued into it...that participatory thing—and a finisher, having a great signature move is something [the audience] can look forward to as the match progresses.” (55:17–56:19)

Working With Giants in the Ring

• Wrestling massive opponents like Big Show or Mark Henry is all about trust.
  • Quote: “You just hope those people like you enough to cooperate...if they don’t, your ass is over.” (57:02–57:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Whoever wrote that up deserves a raise.” – Seth Rollins, on his own career introduction (03:21)
• “It’s a slog. Yeah. Especially the route I came from. Everybody’s path to success...is their own. But that’s not for you. That’s not your journey.” – Seth Rollins on perseverance (41:42–42:04)
• “Just give me the ball. That’s all I ever wanted. Just give me the ball. I’m telling you, we can make this happen.” (38:53)
• “When you’re done with it...the journey will be the thing that you remember. It’s not the moments, milestones, accolades...it’s the process.” (41:07)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Bad Bunny & Wrestling’s Pop Influence: 01:31–02:27
• Seth’s Small Town Roots and Early Life: 03:29–06:11
• Adoption Story and Family Dynamics: 05:29–08:31
• Heritage and Racial Identity: 09:53–11:47
• Biological Family Discovery: 12:29–16:34
• Childhood Turning Point & Wrestling’s Appeal: 21:46–24:24
• The Decision to Pursue Wrestling: 25:35–27:58
• Independent Circuit Struggles: 30:34–33:47
• WWE Breakthrough Story: 34:00–37:29
• The Shield and WWE Culture: 37:29–39:11; 45:11–46:03
• Advice for Aspiring Wrestlers: 39:25–41:07
• Signature Moves & Fan Participation: 55:11–56:19

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Overall Tone & Final Thoughts

Candid, humble, and humorous, Seth Rollins provides an unflinching look at the long, uncertain road from rural Iowa to wrestling superstardom. The dialogue is authentic, with Rollins and Sharpe exchanging sincere reflections and inside stories, offering practical lessons for dreamers everywhere.

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[Listen to Part 2 for more on Seth’s WWE journey, fatherhood, and legacy.]

Transcript

[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

Ticket lady Jennifer of Coolidge. Well, many thanks, good sir. Here is my Discover card. They accept Discover at Renaissance fairs. Yeah, they do here. Discover is accepted at the places I love to shop. Get it with the times.

[Podcast Host]

With the times.

[Seth Rollins]

You're playing the loot. Yeah. And it sounds pretty good, right? Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen report. You.

[Podcast Host]

You meet Bad Bunny?

[Seth Rollins]

Oh, yeah. I've met Benito multiple times because he, he has done a couple of things for us from time to time. He had an absolutely wonderful match with Damian Priest in Puerto Rico a couple of years back. He loves wrestling. That's. That's insane, by the way. I just want people to understand that. He was a street fight. It was like a no holds bar San Juan street fight. He's going through tables getting big beat with chairs, getting choked, slammed. This is the biggest artist in the world. This would have been like Michael Jackson in 1986 at WrestleMania. Grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle paid the price wanna slice got to roll.

[Podcast Host]

A dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life all.

[Seth Rollins]

My life Been grinding all my life.

[Podcast Host]

Sacrifice hustle, paid the price, wanna slice, got to rol that's why all my.

[Seth Rollins]

Life I've been grinding all my life.

[Podcast Host]

Today's episode is at the beautiful Redwood Room at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco. Stopping by for conversation on the Drink today is one of WWE's biggest and beloved Superstars. One of the greatest pro wrestlers to ever live. One of WWE's most reliable main event talents. With World Championships, WrestleMania moments and multiple reinventions of his character. He's the only superstar to hold both the WWE Championship and the United States Championship simultaneously. A six time WWE World Champion. A six time WWE RAW Tag Team Champion. The first ever NXT champion. An elite level athlete, performer and an entertainer. He's a father and a husband. A revolutionary, a visionary and an architect. A future hall of Famer of the wwe. Here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Seth Frickin Rollins.

[Seth Rollins]

Whoever wrote that up deserves a raise.

[Podcast Host]

That's that.

[Seth Rollins]

Dude, if you do that yourself, then let's pay this man some more money.

[Podcast Host]

So, Seth, will you hear all the, all the, I mean, six time WWE champion, six time RAW tag team champion, the first W, first ever NXT champion. Everything that you have accomplished, Are you surprised that you've accomplished this at such a young age?

[Seth Rollins]

I mean, gosh, am I still young?

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Seth Rollins]

I got a little time left at it. Yeah. But I mean, I've been wrestling for over 20 years now. So, you know, you look at everything that I've been able to do my body work in the last two decades and I guess I'm always sort of surprised. I sort of, I'm always sort of like when you, when you read that stuff or I hear that stuff, it still doesn't feel like you're talking about me.

[Podcast Host]

Right. Right.

[Seth Rollins]

I grew up in a small town, less than a thousand people in the middle of nowhere. So like, it feels like we're, we're just reading, you know, the accolades of somebody else, some other hall of Famer, you know. So it's really, it's really cool. It's really humbling, actually.

[Podcast Host]

Well, let's toast that.

[Seth Rollins]

Let's toast to it, man.

[Podcast Host]

Six time champ. Six time tag team champ. Small guy, came out of nowhere. Congratulations. Congratulations on all your success.

[Seth Rollins]

Best is yet to come.

[Podcast Host]

As you mentioned, from a very, very small town. A thousand people. Hell, that's even smaller than glenville. We had 3,500.

[Seth Rollins]

A thousand people less than. Yeah, yeah. We didn't have a stoplight, you know.

[Podcast Host]

Did y' all have a high school?

[Seth Rollins]

No, no, we had to go. We had to like travel to the big city for the high school. You didn't have a middle school? All we had was elementary school. That was it.

[Podcast Host]

All right, so you go straight from elementary and then you have to start busing to go to junior high and high school. So where are you from?

[Seth Rollins]

I grew up in Buffalo, Iowa.

[Podcast Host]

Buffalo, Iowa?

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. Right outside of Davenport, Iowa, where I spend most of my time. It's in the Quad Cities. It's kind of like perched halfway between Chicago to the east and then Des Moines to the west. It's like right there on the Mississippi River.

[Podcast Host]

Is it still. I mean, you've had an influx of people since. It's still not. It's still not a thousand people, is it?

[Seth Rollins]

Oh, probably less, man. That's one of those towns people. People don't stay in, they try to get out of.

[Podcast Host]

You graduate high school, you can get gone.

[Seth Rollins]

Get me gone. Yeah, absolutely.

[Podcast Host]

Your upbringing, your last name is Lopez, after your stepfather. At what age did you change your. Your. Your. Your last name?

[Seth Rollins]

My dad adopted me, I think, when I was 2. Yeah. So I would have. It would have been about. I mean, as long as I can remember, Lopez has been my last name and he's been my dad. So I have no. Like, I. I only recently became semi acquainted with my biological father and his. That's recent. Like, within the last five or six years via 23andMe test. Yeah, we got a surprise on that one. That was fun. But, yeah, I mean, Lopez, that. My dad. His parents are my grandparents. You know, they've passed away now, but, like, that's. Those are. Those are my people. I don't know anything any different.

[Podcast Host]

Did you know your biological father when you were younger? You say you became reacquainted with him in the last five or six years, but so did you not have. You didn't have any type of relationship? You didn't know anything about it?

[Seth Rollins]

No, I knew nothing. And only his name. That's it. That's all my mom told me. Obviously, she explained, you know, what happened and why she didn't stay in that relationship and all that stuff. But I never. He didn't have any interests, and I, you know, I did. I wasn't in need. I had my dad, Lopez, Ron Lopez's name. He's a great role model for me. My grandpa, my uncles. I had great male role models in my life. So I wasn't. There was never that need to try.

[Podcast Host]

To find out, seek him out.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So what is. What did your stepdad mean? Because you said he, like, when you talk about him, you never said step. You said, my dad, Ron Lopez was a great guy, and his brothers, his uncles, they took me in as if I was a bloody relative. His parents, my grandparents. You speaking parent? Uncle. No, step. Step. Step, dad, uncle, grandparents. What was it about him that made him so special in your eyes, except the fact that he obviously married your mom and took you in. But there had to be something more to it.

[Seth Rollins]

I mean, he always treated me exactly like I have an older brother. He has another son who's a few years older than me. He always treated us equal. There was never, like, any favoritism or anything like that. I never felt slighted in any way. But he was just like his work ethic was legit, you know, and he didn't have, like, a glamorous job or anything like that. You know, he was a guy that kind of just worked in, like, foundries and steel plants and stuff like that. Worked with his hands, you know, did stuff like that. But he always made time to, like, coach my baseball team, be around, you know, coach the soccer. He didn't know how to play soccer. He coached a soccer team, you know, like, he was a part of my life in that way. And so he was always there, always around. I got to, like. I got a sense between him and my mom of what, like, what it meant to, you know, put other people before you, what it meant to work hard, what it meant to kind of just like, take all of the things that life would throw at you and still put on, like, a happy face, you know, I didn't grow up. I wasn't lower class, but I certainly wasn't like a middle class. But we never knew the difference. You know, we had a happy family for the most part, until my folks got divorced. But, like, everything was like. They were just. They were. They were good salt of the earth people.

[Podcast Host]

They gave you an example of what family should be or what it looked like.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. Even. Even after. Even after they split up. They got divorced when I was like 10 or 11.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Seth Rollins]

Even then they were amicable, and it was like they still. There was still love for. For me and for us as children. There was never like a. You know, there was never an animus. Like, he was my stepdad, so he could have easily.

[Podcast Host]

Once that happened, once the separation happened, go on by his way and don't have any contact with me.

[Seth Rollins]

He could have easily done that, but he never did. He was always there. You know, my mom remarried a couple times and her second or would have been her third husband. He was an incredible, you know, stepfather for me as well. And so I was. I was. Even though I had kind of a broken upbringing, I always felt very fortunate that I had extremely positive male role models around me. I think that super beneficial for me and kind of Becoming, you know, who I am as a person.

[Podcast Host]

It seems to me that your, your Ron, who adopted you and helped you in and from that point on you experienced love.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, I mean that's. I did. I've never felt anything but love from him. In his own way. You know, he's not one of those guys that's like physically affectionate or anything like that. But you know, he just, you, you, you know, when you're around people and you feel love, there's just a different, there's a different feeling, there's a different energy. And he always, he's always been that way for me.

[Podcast Host]

You said Lopez, he's Hispanic, Mexican descent.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So what is it, what was it about that? Because I mean, you grew up in a small town like Iowa, you like, damn. Yeah, we got Hispanics in Iowa.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So what was it? What was it? Was it different? Did you notice anything different or you just. This is my dad, this is my family, and this is what, this is how we are.

[Seth Rollins]

No, I never noticed. You know, and I think I didn't notice probably till I got older and thought about it like, until it like.

[Podcast Host]

It really dawned on you.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, yeah, it dawned on me what was happening. We grew up in a small town in the middle of Iowa in the Midwest where I mean they were probably like the Lopez's were probably the only Hispanic people in the entire town. But I just, at the time when I was growing up, you know, probably from at least like, you know, age 2 to I would have been 14, it never even dawned on me that my parents were in like an interracial relationship.

[Podcast Host]

Wow.

[Seth Rollins]

Like it never even occurred to me to think that way. You know what I mean? It wasn't until that concept started to like permeate your psyche at an older age, you know, when you kind of understand relationships and like that, like whatever the socio dynamics are between interracial relationships, especially in the Midwest and in small towns like that where it's not always just kosher.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Seth Rollins]

Then I was like, oh wow, I bet my mom probably got a lot of crap for that.

[Podcast Host]

Yes.

[Seth Rollins]

You know, and when I talked to her about it later. Yeah. She was like, oh yeah, yeah, of course we always got some weird looks and some funny stuff, but I never, I never noticed that. And I never received that treatment like in school from the other kids or anything like that. No, no, I never got any of that. And I don't know if it helped that, you know, I'm like, I'm a little like, I'm Armenian. That's like half my descent. So I have a little bit of like an olive tint in my skin, but I never had, I never experienced that. And it was, like I said, it wasn't till later when I even realized that my folks probably got some of those little side eyes, especially in a small community. Yeah, exactly.

[Podcast Host]

You mentioned you had an older brother.

[Seth Rollins]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

Was that the only sibling that you had at the time?

[Seth Rollins]

For most of my, like I said, my mom's been married three times, so she's married to my dad, Ron, when I'm two. Older brother, three years older than me. My best friend. Like, he's my brother. I, you know, we're as close as blood, but thicker than blood really, because there's real bond, real love there. And then she divorces. She's married. Second husband, he has a couple of kids, but I don't keep in contact with them hardly at all. And then third marriage, her final one. One daughter. So younger than me, maybe like six years younger than me, I think. And so she would be like a stepsister, I would consider.

[Podcast Host]

But your father, your. Your birth father.

[Seth Rollins]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

Have had other two kids and you just recently.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, I, I had done 23andMe like, because. Because I didn't know any of my family history, so I didn't know any of, like any of them. You know, you get asked like all the time. You fill out a form, it's like, hey, what's the. You know what? Insurance may all seem the same on the surface, but having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm as the leading auto and homeowners insurer in the US State Farm is there how and where you need them. Whether that's in person with a local State Farm agent, on the phone, online, or through their mobile app, State Farm can help you find the right coverage for your needs. Don't take a chance with insurance coverage that may not meet your needs. And don't settle for insurance that may only be halfway there. Stop living on a prayer. Get State Farm like a good neighbor. State Farm is there.

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[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

And Peacock, family history on this side. Or heart disease, Something like that. Yes, yes. I don't know. I don't. I don't know anything. So I was just like, you know what? I'll do one of these tests. I'll see, like, where I'm from, and kind of get an idea of what my heritage is and stuff like that. So I put this thing in, get all the info, look at it, forget about it, set it aside. I got the app on my phone, but I never touch it. You know, after I see all the cool info, then like maybe two or three years later, I get a random message, a ping on the 23andMe, and you get like, you know, if you have a 23andMe or an ancestor, you get like, DNA matches, like, occasionally, but they're like sixth cousin. Like, you know, they're like way down. You just ignore them. You know, you get the email. Yeah, yeah, nude match. Oh, 14th cousin. Get rid of it. You know, and this one came with a message. And I saw it, and I. I saw the last name, and it was from my. What would have been my half sister. And I clicked the message and I. Oh, my. And she said, who is your dad? And I said, oh, no. Oh, no. So I told her. I explained her what I knew and what I knew she did not know. So she. Yeah, her. Her. My biological father, our father had never told her. What, that he had possibly had another kid. Never told anybody. And so everybody in his family, like, didn't know. It was kind of a surprise. And she went to try to, like, ask him about it. He was like, no, no way. She's like, it's right here. You know, I Found. It's like, it's science. You can't, you can't back up on this.

[Podcast Host]

Is she older or younger than you?

[Seth Rollins]

She's younger than me.

[Podcast Host]

She's younger.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. And then she, so then. And she has a brother who's a little bit younger. I think a little bit younger than her as well. And so they, ye, they, they once he fessed up to it, and then, you know, now we're friends and we talk and all that stuff. And it's.

[Podcast Host]

So your biological father never told that he had had kids. So was he and your biological mother married or anytime.

[Seth Rollins]

No, no, no. They were never married. She was. So we're from Iowa. She in her 20s, moved to Chicago and was, you know, dating and stuff like that. She ended up getting pregnant, and then she was like, I don't want to be here to raise this kid. I'd like to go back to Iowa.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Seth Rollins]

And I don't know what the dynamics of their relationship were at that time, but he was like, nah, I'm not doing that. I'm going to go, like, do my thing. And she was like, that's fine. Just, you know, don't, you know, I'll, I'll buzz you. She, like, got in contact with him a couple times after I was born and was like, hey, would you like to see him? Would you like to be a part of his life? He's like, no, no, no. And I don't know if he even knew or believed that I was his, because they weren't, I don't know if they were in an exclusive relationship. So there's all sorts of, you know, they're just young kids having a. She got pregnant, she was happy to be a mom, and he just wasn't ready to be a dad. And I, I, I never felt any sort of, like, animus towards him for that. I, I, I just was like, I, I get that. I get that. And again, maybe if I had been in a situation where it didn't turn out as well as it did for me on the dad side of things, I might have had a different feeling about it. But I was fortunate about it.

[Podcast Host]

Everything that he wasn't.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, it was great. It was, it worked out better for me in that way. I think if she would have stayed there and stayed with him, my life, I mean, we wouldn't even be sitting here having this conversation today. You know what I mean? That's the kind of butterfly effect that those type of things have. So it's really incredible that just one decision like that and changes the whole thing.

[Podcast Host]

You mentioned that five or six years ago, you. You met your father and, you know, trying to establish.

[Seth Rollins]

So I didn't meet him. I've never met him.

[Podcast Host]

You've never met him?

[Seth Rollins]

I still haven't met him. I talked to him on the phone one time. We. We talked about maybe. Maybe meeting up, and I told him when my schedule was kind of going to open up or when I would be in Chicago again, and he never followed up. So really, I don't think he. I don't know. I don't know if it's.

[Podcast Host]

You think he's embarrassed? You think he's embarrassed? Seth, I'll.

[Seth Rollins]

Probably.

[Podcast Host]

Because look at what, like you said, had the situation, you might have not have turned out, but you turned out the way you are. You are superstar.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

And I'm sure people find. I'm sure he's probably told someone. He probably won't ever tell you, but, you know, my son is Seth Rollins, right?

[Seth Rollins]

Maybe.

[Podcast Host]

And it's like, hold on, that's not your son?

[Seth Rollins]

It is, maybe. And if that's. That's all it is, and that's great, you know, that's just life. Life works that way sometimes. So, again, I got no. No ill will. But, no, I never met him. So I haven't met him. One. One chat on the phone. He's got a granddaughter that he's never. Never met. You know, stuff like that. So that's on him. That's. That's.

[Podcast Host]

You think he's embarrassed?

[Seth Rollins]

I mean, I assume so. I. I don't pretend to put myself in his shoes, but I assume there's, like, a lot of complex feelings that go on there that you. That, you know, he's probably in his, I mean, 60s now, so there's probably just a lot to process that he's like, either doesn't want to process, doesn't know how to process. And, you know, whether it's shame and guilt and, you know, like, expectation, there's just a lot that goes on there. So, again, I have no, like, ill will towards him. I don't feel any type of way. I just. If. If he would want to, I would be available, but he's never. He's never made the strides.

[Podcast Host]

What about the siblings that he. That he had? Your siblings that you have. Have you met them? Have you seen them in person?

[Seth Rollins]

Yes, and I have good relationships with them.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Seth Rollins]

Y.

[Podcast Host]

Awesome.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, they're great. They were. They were. I mean, they don't have, like a. They don't have that sense because it wasn't their decision, you know what I'm saying? So they don't have any sort of feelings about it aside from like, oh, this is. This is cool. You know, when I met my sister for the first time, Allstate arena is where we would do our shows in Chicago. And so we're all in the billboards in Chicago all the time. And so she. She would see my face and have no clue when she first, like when she first saw the match. And, you know, Colby Lopez pops up, which is my government name. She. She puts. She puts it into the Google machine, of course, Colby Lopez, you know, and this Seth Rollins guy pops up and she's like, what is this? Who is this? What's going on? This.

[Podcast Host]

Is this an alias?

[Seth Rollins]

Are you hiding from what's going on? Let me try this again. This is not the same person. Why does it keep popping up this. And then that's when she decided to send me the message. So, yeah, she's. It's. It's. It's a. It's a small world. Run that way.

[Podcast Host]

This episode is brought to you by Prize picks. Whether you're starting a new routine, making player picks for the first time, trying something new can be hard. But in life and on prize pick, it always feels good to be right. Find your community on prize picks with new social feeds feature, you can share prize picks with friends, copy lineups from winners with a single click. Copy lineups you like, use them as inspiration for your own picks. You can even follow prize picks partners like yours truly and tail or fade our picks with just one click. New feature alert. Prize picks has early payouts. If your lineup gets off to a hot start, you may now have the option to cash out those winnings early before the game even finishes. Prize fix is simple to play. Just download the prize pick app today. Use code Shannon to get 50 in lineups after you play your first five dollar lineup. That's code SHANNON to get 50 in lineups after YOU play your first five dollar lineup. Prize picks. It's good to be right. What's your favorite childhood moment memory?

[Seth Rollins]

Oh, man, my favorite. I mean, how young we talking here?

[Podcast Host]

Let's go back to what you probably can remember, say from the ages of, say, 5 to 14.

[Seth Rollins]

Oh, my favorite. I mean, the most formative memory that I have, that probably shaped a good part of my life. I mean, because, you know, you remember small things. Like, you remember, like, you know, playing legos with your brother. Like, my brother and I used to have this big maple tree in the front yard. And we would just climb to the top of it and sit and talk about life. And I remember that being fond. But I think the biggest thing for me is when I was like 5 years old, maybe 4 or 5, my dad took me to my first professional wrestling show. Like, I, I was already like on the periphery of fandom because my grandpa, my uncle and my dad all kind of like, you know, were into it enough. And, and this is, you know, we're talking early 90s, so Hulkamania is really big at. And they take me to my first pro wrestling show and I just was blown away by what I was seeing. If to me it was like just seeing real life superheroes. You know, like you see Superman on your TV or you see Spider man in a comic book, but you can't like, go to a place and watch them like, fight the bad guys. I saw it. I saw, you know, Hulk Hogan fight the bad guys. Saw the Legion of Doom fight the bad guys. So to me, that like, changed my life. I was so fascinated by that world and that, that, what, that performance, like, I was hooked from then on. So that's, that's a big one for me, I would say.

[Podcast Host]

Did you play any sports growing up?

[Seth Rollins]

I did.

[Podcast Host]

You played baseball.

[Seth Rollins]

I remember you said baseball, basketball, football, soccer was soccer, I was terrible. Soccer. I don't know what we were doing. I mean, I played when I was young, a bunch of kids just like, like herding cats with a ball, you know what I mean? That was it. But yeah, I played basketball probably till I was about 14. Football, 13, 14, baseball. At some point I realized that the baseball could hit the face. And I was like, that's. I don't like that.

[Podcast Host]

You became scared of it.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, yeah. Like, I'm in the batter's box and I'm like, I don't know about this. Maybe, you know, it became one of those. And the minute I did that, I was like, oh, I gotta get out. I'm done with that. Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

So what position did you play in football?

[Seth Rollins]

Football, I bounced around a little bit. Played a little quarterback, little halfback, little wide receiver, defense. I'm trying to think. I played linebacker a little bit, played safety a little bit. So, yeah, just. It was a mishmash. I didn't have one that you'd have.

[Podcast Host]

One particular, one particular position. So you, you, your dad took you and your uncles took you to this match. You became hooked.

[Seth Rollins]

Hooked.

[Podcast Host]

So who was your favorite? Who, what? Wrestle, wrestler did you idolize when you was growing up?

[Seth Rollins]

Idolize? Well, my first Favorite wrestler was Hulk Hogan. He was the big guy. He was the biggest, he was the biggest star in that. In the 80s and the early 90s. You know, he's in movies, he's in pop culture, he's, he's, he's propped up.

[Podcast Host]

He had all, he had all the pair, he had the doll, he had everything.

[Seth Rollins]

And so I, I wouldn't know that I idolized him because there was never a. Like, I never thought I could be Hulk Hogan.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Seth Rollins]

You know, the first guys that I really idolized were smaller because I never felt like I was going to be the big guy. So, like, my favorite wrestler of all time is Shawn Michaels. Shawn Michaels is about 6 foot, he's about 200 pounds. Brett the Hitman Heart. They were the two guys, the first two guys that I watched on WWE. They were, they were different, they were, they were smaller, they were faster, they had a different style, but they were still stars. And I was like, oh, wait a minute. You don't have to be Hulk Hogan. You don't have to be the Ultimate Warrior, the Road Warriors, Legion of Doom, to be stars. You can be a star and do it that way. And I'm like, well, I might be able to do that. Right? So they were the first ones that I really like. Okay, all right. I do see what they're doing. Let me see if I can try this out.

[Podcast Host]

And so that's when you like, okay. All these other things, basketball, football, baseball, they're fine. But they're not calling me like wrestling is.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. So I probably, I was about 13. I remember it distinctly. I remember it distinctly. I'm 13, maybe going on 14, probably 14. And it's a summer before high school, so I just got out of eighth grade and I remember sitting at my dinner table with my parents and now I'm 14, so I'm full of angst, full of piss and vinegar, you know, full of just like anti established rebellious energy. I'm sitting at my table and I remember telling like my parents with just this, this visceral anger over nothing, of course, in my heart, like, I'm not playing basketball. I want to be a professional wrestler. And, and they were, you could see, like, they look at you. They were like, I don't like this. They were sad. It was like a broken heart, you know, that was pretty good at basketball. And it was like a thing that I did. And, you know, it's just like a normal pathway through high school. You play a sport, you go to class, you try to get into college. And I Was like, no, I'm gonna be a professional wrestler. And at this time, my, my. I'm. I'm like, I'm wrestling in my backyard with my brother and our friends, and, like, we're putting on matches, and we're starting to do shows, and, like, we're starting to emul. See on tv. And it's about the age of the Internet, like, kind of kicking off 2000 so that you can get online and, like, kind of see other people doing the same thing. And, like, backyard wrestling as a whole is becoming, like, this thing for the first time. And I was. I was in. I'm like, I. I. We started, like, handing out flyers at my school to get kids to come and watch us, like, jump on our trampoline through these makeshift tables and stuff like that. And I got the performance bug of, like, I really like this, right? I want to see how I can do it. So I. I locked in. I' I'm like, what do I got to do? I got to get jacked. Okay. Give me a weight set. Give me a gym membership. Okay. I got to learn how to public speak. So let's take public speaking classes in high school. Let's take acting classes. Like, what do I got to do? Let's. Let's lock in. I start growing my hair out. Like, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, they had long hair. Like, I, you know, Jeff Hardy. These are my guys. I'm gonna do that. So that was it. 14. And then I think my folks thought it was a phase. They're like, oh, yeah, he'll grow out of it. He'll grow out of it. Yeah. And then I just never grew out of it, man.

[Podcast Host]

And so you. You jump full speed. You wrestle Sting in his last.

[Seth Rollins]

Stinger.

[Podcast Host]

Sting, yeah.

[Seth Rollins]

Yes. I was very fortunate to get in the ring with Stinger in his last WWF match. Didn't go well for him, unfortunately. But, yeah, I mean, he was a legend that I was very, very lucky to be in the ring with.

[Podcast Host]

Who were you surprised? Do you remember your first match?

[Seth Rollins]

First match I ever had, yeah. Oh, man. Not really, because I. I did some stuff before I was, like, trained properly to wrestle. Like, in 1617. I'm doing, like, living on a prayer. Yeah. That song gets everyone singing, and now singing it could send you on a flyaway trip for two to see Bon Jovi live this summer. Enter the iHeartRadio give it a Shot sweepstakes presented by State Farm. Want bonus entries? Submit your best rendition of the song and possibly have it featured on air or on social. Enter [e-mail] give it a shot Sweeps no purchase necessary open the legal US.

[Podcast Host]

Residents of the 50 United States and.

[Seth Rollins]

DC 18/into void where prohibited sweepstakes since on 2232026 for official rules visit iheartradio.com.

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[Seth Rollins]

Prime time in Milan. The moments flowing. Kim with the gold medal.

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

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87 Central on NBC.

[Seth Rollins]

And Peacock. I'll pay 20 bucks to do a camp at a local show and then I get tossed in like a battle royal or something like that. I'm 17 and we have a ring and we putting on this show, but I'm not trained. So it's hard for me to like what was my first match, you know, it's hard for me to really pin it down.

[Podcast Host]

Cause you was on the independent wrestling for a minute, right?

[Seth Rollins]

About six years before I got signed to WWE. Really? So from like maybe, maybe seven years, from like 17 to 24? Yeah, I signed with WWE at 24, I think.

[Podcast Host]

Did you ever. Did you ever get frustrated because you're sleeping in your car and you're not making a whole lot of money? Did you ever. Did you ever become frustrated like, man, this is just ain't working. Working out?

[Seth Rollins]

Yes. I think there's tons of frustration that goes along with it. Because it is a very, you know, if you're not making any money at it, you're making no money, you're often losing money and it's painful. And you know, sometimes you're wrestling in front of like, I would wrestle in front of less than 10 people sometimes.

[Podcast Host]

What?

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, I mean, it was, it was.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, a lot of local YMC high school gyms. Huh?

[Seth Rollins]

High school gyms. I wrestled in barns, I wrestled in like, you know, UAW halls. I wrestled anywhere we could set up a ring and have shows. Like, I would drive my car and I would go do it and it was very frustrating. But it also like, I loved it. I just loved it. I loved getting, I loved going to a show, getting in a car with my people, driving hours to a show, like getting snacks on the way, talking about the business on the way there, doing the match, taping it on your like video recorder thing, vcr, I mean, camcorder, you know, whatever. I love taking it, it, you know, afterwards, driving back, watching the match, talking about it, talking about the show, feeling like we were trying to get better, feeling like we were doing something, feeling like we were trying to change something. I don't know, I just loved that process. And so even though there was a lot of suffering involved, like at some point I just embraced that. Like, I'm willing to suffer more than anybody. I don't care. I love it. And I will suffer until good things happen. And you know, it's not like a linear straight up shot, it's, it's ups and downs, peaks and valleys. But like I had enough peaks that it was like, you know, like if you play golf occasionally, right, you're. I'm terrible at golf. Golf's extremely hard. You gotta do it often. But you like, you'll hit one shot.

[Podcast Host]

And you stay, you're like, this is the wild, this is the reason why.

[Seth Rollins]

And I'm in. And I'm like, if I can just do that every time. And you know, that's how golfers get better. They just do it a million times and eventually every shot is that one shot that you hit on hole seven, you know, so that's how it was with wrestling. Eventually I just started to get a little bit better, a little bit better. And it's a slow process, you don't even notice it. And then by the time, you know, you got enough peaks that you, you get that itch to keep doing more. I had to go to college, had to work part time jobs while I was doing it. My mom wouldn't Let me live in the house and be a wrestler and not go to school. So I had to go to school. And then eventually I was like, hey, Mom, I think I'm doing really good, but I can do, like, I can really do something here if you just let me, like, like drop out of the school. Like, I'm not getting anything done in college. Like, this is. I can do something.

[Podcast Host]

My mind is elsewhere, but I'm there because of you.

[Seth Rollins]

Because of you. I'll do anything for you. You know, whatever you need, like, I'll do it. But I'm telling you, I think there's something here. And she gave me the go ahead and, you know, the rest is history from there.

[Podcast Host]

The host were always to get called by the wwe. When they finally call, what's going through your mind? Are you like, man, this a prank? Are you extremely excited? Or you thought your buddy was playing, was playing a joke on you? Because how did they even get my number? How do they know to get in contact with me?

[Seth Rollins]

No, I courted them a little bit. So I met a guy on the Independence. His name is Joey Mercury. He's a great mentor of mine and he wrestled for WWE for many years and he had gotten fired from the company and I had met him and the first time we ever met, he's like, New York, New York. We called WWE New York because that's the territory it used to be. He's like, new York. You ever talk to anybody in New York? So, no, I wouldn't even know how. He's like, ah, let me get in touch with somebody for you. I think I still got people there that might like me. So he's like, you got like a tape or anything you can, like a video, you know, something, an email you can send? And I'm like, I don't know. At the time, I'm working for a company called Ring of Honor, which was the top independent company at the time. Guy by the name of Dave Lagana put together basically an email of, here's video of, you know what he can do. Joey got me the contact. I sent it out. At the time my contract with Ring of Honor was coming up, I was like doing three years with him. I think my contract was coming up and I was ready to take the next step. WWE hadn't. They weren't coming for guys like me at the time. Still. This was 2009, 2010, probably. They. They were still looking for big dudes. They wanted you, you know, they wanted someone this size, right? They wanted 6, 5, 2, 5 0. They'll teach you how to do the wrestling, right? I was really good at the wrestling, but I was never going to look like that. So they were having a hard time recruiting guys like me. Dave helped me out. Joey put in a word for me. I was trying to shop myself to some of the other smaller companies at the time. And I wasn't getting any call back from wwe. Nobody was picking up, nobody was answering emails. So I had a deal on the table for another company with tna. And I. I was like, you know what? I don't want to sign this deal. I just don't know if I want to sign this deal. Like, WWE is where I want to be. So I made one final call and I said, hey, the guys, you know, I said, hey, the talent relations guy said, look, I'm gonna sign this deal with TNA if I don't hear back from you. So, you know, it's like Sunday night. I'm like, I'm gonna sign it in the morning. Fifteen minutes later, he calls me back, all right, kid, let me, Let me talk to my people. So, But I'm like, know. I'm like, oh, oh, oh.

[Podcast Host]

I should have said this earlier.

[Seth Rollins]

He didn't tell. Yeah, he didn't tell me nothing yet. He didn't, like, give me any indication. He said, call you back in the morning. And I'm like, oh, God. Oh, God. So now I'm like, sitting on it, you know, I'm waiting. Like, I mean, I couldn't sleep that night. I was just like, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Because it could have just been easy come back. And he just said, ah, nah, never mind, you know, so nothing was on the table. And then when he called back, he's like, you know, we're going to give you an opportunity, dude. I like, I remember where I was standing. I remember where I was looking. I remember everything. I didn't keep. I didn't give it damn how much the money was for. I didn't care. I was like, that's all I ever wanted was an opportunity. This is the biggest wrestling company in the world. This is my dream. This is all I ever wanted. I'm like, I do not even care. Like, I turned down probably at least triple the money to go to the other place. Just. I'm like, I can. This is where I can make my way.

[Podcast Host]

And you became a champion. You became the WWE Champion, who was born after WrestleMania. One actually. Actually occurred.

[Seth Rollins]

Yes, yes.

[Podcast Host]

So you had. I mean, it took you a while get there, but Once you got there, you had a meteoric rise.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, I mean, we, once we got to wwe, once I got on the main roster, like I, I, they signed me, they sent me down to Tampa, Florida, which was their training facility at the Times. Now moved to Orlando. It's just pre nxt. NXT is like the, you know, it's a great minor league facility now with its own brand and its own production. They did not have that when I went there. I'm in Tampa in a warehouse for two years, basically like in a holding cell and waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. We finally got the call up. I don't think that my bosses knew exactly what they were getting themselves into when they gave us the opportunity. Myself, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, myself and Dean Ambrose, especially Jon Moxley. Now we, we had a little bit of a following because of what we'd done on the independents. John was there as well. And when we burst onto the scene, social media exploded, noted, oh, the, they're finally here, these guys. But we, they, we heard they've been signed for a long time. So this is the beginning of social media playing a role in what, what happens from an audience perspective on wwe and that response, you know, they gave us the ball and they kept giving us the ball because we kept scoring touchdowns. That's the thing, man. If you get the ball and you make plays, you know, they're gonna, they're gonna call your number more. And that was the thing. I'm like, just, just give me the damn ball. That's all I ever wanted. Just give me the ball. I'm telling you, we can make this happen. Myself and John, we were both of that, you know, Roman was a little bit greener. He didn't have the experience, so he was nice and along for the ride. Myself and John, we were ready and we knew we were ready. And when the time came, we took that ball and we ran with it and we changed everything.

[Podcast Host]

What was the, what would you say was the hardest part of your journey? And what would you say to other young wrestlers that's trying to get in this space that seemingly had a hard time like you did in the beginning, and thinking about giving up? What was the hardest part of this journey?

[Seth Rollins]

Well, lucky for you, I own my own wrestling school, which I've had for 11 or 12 years.

[Podcast Host]

Really?

[Seth Rollins]

Yes. Back in Davenport, Iowa, I started a wrestling school called the Black and Brave Wrestling Academy. Still operates to this day. I'm not there as much as I used to be, but it still operates and it's functional. And I'm a part of it, and it's great. We have a lot of awesome people who've come through there. But I get this question all the time because as a young athlete or performer, it's hard. It is a hard business, and not everybody's going to make it. I think the one thing that I say is there's really two things. One, you have to understand that it is a marathon, it's not a sprint. You really have to try to create a scope of time in your brain. It is just going to take a long time. Time. But that process, you have to learn to enjoy that process. It's awesome. I want you to shoot for the moon. I want you to set goals as high as you can. I want you to think about and dream About Wrestling at WrestleMania in the main event and winning every world title that there is. But understand that it takes little steps to get there, and it is going to be hard sometimes. But that difficulty is what makes it worth it. It. And that journey. And as cliche as it sounds, I'm telling you, when you're done with it, 20 years later, the journey will be the thing that you remember. It's not the moments, it's not the milestones, it's not the accolades. It's not all that stuff that you read off at the beginning of this interview. It's the process. It's the people you met along the way, and it's the process of getting there that you will look back on fondly.

[Podcast Host]

Because what I read off, none of that mentioned all the nos, the seven years, the waiting, the not getting an opportunity. Wrestling and YMCAs and high school gyms and barns, none of that's there. But people only see that. Yep, the people only see that. And so they like, oh, it was easy. It was easy for them to. It was easy for him. I mean, so forth and so on. But they don't realize, like every professional athlete or wherever, or Jeff Bezos or whomever you see, it's a. It's a. It's a process to get there.

[Seth Rollins]

It's a slog. Yeah. I mean, it is. Especially the route I came from. Now, everybody's path to success or to the top is their own. And sure, There are absolutely 100 people out there who didn't go through that process. And they have been handed opportunities for whatever reason. That happens for sure. But that's not for you.

[Podcast Host]

That's not your journey.

[Seth Rollins]

That's not your journey, man. And so you can't have that. That you can't look at it as oh it's unfair and you just have to, you have to focus on yourself. What's your journey? How are you going to take the next step to be better than you were the day before when you finally.

[Podcast Host]

Got an opportunity to meet Vince McMahon. What did Vince say to you?

[Seth Rollins]

Gosh, I don't remember. I wish I could remember the first time I met Vince. So I I probably met him in passing and like shook his hand and he said, you know nothing, you know we didn't nothing happened whatever when I was in and around do WWE doing like some back living on a prayer. Yeah that song gets everyone singing and now singing it could send you on a flyaway trip for two to see Bon Jovi live this summer. Enter the iHeartRadio give it a Shot Sweepstakes presented by State Farm. Want bonus entries? Submit your best rendition of the song and possibly have it featured on air or on social enter [e-mail] give it a Shot Sweeps no purchase necessary open the legal US residents of the 50 United States and DC 18/into void where prohibited sweepstakes on 223 2026. For official rules, visit iheartradio.com, giveitashot sweeps.

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[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

Prime Time in Milan.

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[Seth Rollins]

When I was signed to developmental, when we first got called up the, like in the debut. It's Survivor series, it's 2012. And we're in these stupid turtlenecks, necks, these cargo pants, and we are called the Shield. And they, they, they literally tried to give us riot gear, like shield riot gear, like these giant plexiglass shields that said shield on them. And these night. These clubs, like these like batons, you know, that you police ride. Right, right. Police beat people with, you know, and like we, we, we got rid of the, the plexi. Yes. Pretty quickly. But we're like, we're, we're rehearsing during the day and we have these clubs and like, I remember we're in like the, we're running through the crowd because we're like, you know, ambushing the show. We're not coming making Andrew. So we're running through the crowd. So we're out in the back. Cindy, Annapolis, Indiana. And we're in the back and like, Vince is on the ring, by the ring, and he's like running the rehearsals at the time and he sees us with these clubs because the camera's there and he's watching the monitor and he's like. You could just hear his deep voice, like, echo through the, the empty arena. He's like, what, you need clubs to beat him up? Are you really that tough? We're all just like, dump the club. All right, let's go. You know, so that was like my first introduction to Vince's vincisms.

[Podcast Host]

But you had to move. What was the Curb Stomp. That stomp?

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

Vince banned it.

[Seth Rollins]

He banned it. It banned it. I, I win the. I literally the day after I won my first world title at WrestleMania, we're here in San Francisco. It was, it was at Levi's Stadium. I win it, I win the title, get on a jet, fly to New York. I do the Today show, get back on the jet, fly back over here to San Jose for raw. This is all in the same day. And I get back to San Jose at the Shark Tank and he like, you know, then Vince wants to see us. I go in the office. He's like sitting there and he does this thing. So, yeah, the, the Stomp. I think, I think we're going to, we're going to move in a different direction. We're going to find, we're find something else, you know, equally as good and equally as, you know, devastating. But I think we're going to go in a different Direction. Yeah, he banned it. I, I don't know what somebody like, damn this.

[Podcast Host]

I, I just did this.

[Seth Rollins]

I, I've been doing it for years, right? What, this is what I think happened. And I don't have confirmation. He watched the Today show. Peace. He sees the Stomp. He sees people referring it to the Curb Stomp. Somebody in his inner circle said, vince, I don't know about, I don't know about that move. I think it might be a little too dangerous. I might be, you know, there might be a connotation to it. And I don't know, you know, and, and I'm like, I'm like, brother, we've been doing it for years, right? It's pro wrestling. None of it is. You can call it something else if you want. I didn't come with the name. You came up with the name. You call it what it, Call it the Stomp, call it whatever. So, yeah, he like took it away from. With no, no explanation. No explanation at the time. Just now we're not going to do it. Okay. Then left me with no finish. His world champion with no finishing move for. It took me like a couple months before I decided to just steal Triple H's pedigree. Because he wasn't, he was, he was off. He was like done at the time, like kind of not wrestling anymore. So I was like, all right, I'll take it. I was his protege anyway, so it makes sense.

[Podcast Host]

So what, so what did Vance say when you started using Triple. Triple H's move?

[Seth Rollins]

Well, I tried to use a couple different things and, like, none of them really took. And like, I was afraid, not afraid, but I was like, if I asked Triple H if I can use the pedigree, I'm, I feel like he's gonna say no. He's the only person who'd ever use it.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Seth Rollins]

So I was like, here's what I'll do. I'll ask Vince about it, and then I know Vince will say yes just to spite Triple H. Triple H can't say nothing about it. It was a good idea, though. Anyway, I was a bad guy. Hunter was my, my mentor. I was his protege. He wasn't wrestling. It was, I was like, it's a good way to carry on the legacy of the move. So, yeah, Vince okayed it. Whether he did it because he liked it or just to take a shot at his son in law, I don't know. But either way, it was, it was, it worked.

[Podcast Host]

One of your most iconic moments in the WWE is that when you had to Turn your back on your team, your friends, shield.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

You like?

[Seth Rollins]

Like, damn, Vince, that was painful.

[Podcast Host]

If I must, I must.

[Seth Rollins]

It was. It was. The hard thing on it is they. They had pitched the. The. The. This. The story to break up the shield a few months earlier. We were like, no, man, we're not ready. We're not ready for that. Like, we. We'd been bad guys. The crowd was really starting to get behind us. We wanted to be good guys. We wanted a longer run. Like, we felt like we had a lot more in the tank. And so we have a match with the. The Wyatt family in elimination Chamber in February. Then we go to Wrestlemania. We're full good guys at that point. We do two six man tags with evolution right after that. Like, we're awesome. We're on cloud nine. We're feeling great about things. The three of us, we show up to RAW the day after, and they knew that if we. If they gave us heads up, up, we would say no and we would find a way to try to fight out of the breakup. So they brought us into the office and they just said, here's what we're going to do tonight. Tonight was also in Indianapolis, Indiana, by the way. A lot of SHIELD History in that town. And they're like, this is what we're going to do, and Seth is going to be the one to pull the trigger. And I remember, like, in the room, just the silence. And when we walked out of the room, it was like, like, what do we. What do we do? You know? Like, do we. Can we stop this? Like, are we doing the right thing? And, you know, it was. It was. It was. There was a lot of tension there, and it was. You know, it was mostly. We had found our comfort zone as a trio, and we were really relying on each other, and we enjoyed the process and we enjoyed performing together, and we did feel like we had more legs, but at the end of the day, it was one of the most shocking betrayals and shocking moments in the history of our company and our industry and. And what it set in motion over the last 10 years, 11, 12 years almost now, it has been a complete paradigm shift in our industry. You look at myself, Roman and Jon Moxley, we're at the very tippy top. And if we had stayed together, it just wouldn't be possible. So you needed that break. I was super fortunate that I was the one to be the catalyst for that. I still feel the repercussions for that today. Like, people still ask me to this day, 12 years later, why did you break up the shield? You know, these are grown people because they, they watched it when they were teenagers. You are grown. You know, this stuff ain't real. Come on now. That hurts you that bad?

[Podcast Host]

Yeah.

[Seth Rollins]

God.

[Podcast Host]

Who determines whether you're a good guy or heel?

[Seth Rollins]

Ultimately, the audience. Ultimately, the audience does, I think, you know, there's suggestions about what feels good, you know, who, what would, you know, do we need a baby face here? Do we need a heel here? The creative team, we'd like you to do this, we'd like you to do that, and you put forth your best effort. Ultimately, the audience really decides if you're going to be cheered or booed, you know, and that's it. And then you gotta, you gotta roll with that punch, right? You swim upstream team. It only works so well, you know, eventually it's it, it, it backfires. And so I think you, you saw that. You know, Roman Reigns is a really great example of that. Roman Reigns is a guy that. They wanted to be a baby face, the top babyface for a long, long time. And they were like, you're, we're going to do this. I'm going to force this to happen. Force this to happen. And it never took the way it needed to. When Roman Reigns turns heel, 2020, 2021 changed everything for him. He became more comfortable. He became, you know, an honor, more honest version of his character and of his self. He was allowed to become the, the star that I think everybody wanted him to be as a baby face. And now because he was so excellent at his role as a heel, they were able to, you know, now he's the biggest baby face and biggest star arguably in our company and in our industry. And so, so you, you, you, the audience did that. They, they forced that by rejecting, rejecting, rejecting for so long. And so, you know, Bryan Danielson is another great example. Daniel Bryan, wwe. He was a guy that the fans, they just, sometimes people just catch fire. My wife, Becky lynch, they tried to force her into a role as a heel. Not reading the room. This is SummerSlam, I want to say 20, 2018 maybe. And she slaps the bejesus out of Charlotte Flair in the middle of the ring, and everybody in the back thought she was going to be a heel. But if you would have been paying any attention to what was happening, you knew that when she slapped Charlotte, that place, it was Brooklyn was going to go nuts. And they did. And it catapulted her. The audience took her into, you know, the biggest female babyface that's ever lived in this company.

[Podcast Host]

Is it harder to go. So heal baby face or baby face heal?

[Seth Rollins]

I don't know that this. If you do the switch at the right time, neither one is difficult.

[Podcast Host]

Okay.

[Seth Rollins]

It is harder to maintain being a baby face long term. I find. I just think it's easier to be a heel. People naturally.

[Podcast Host]

People want, like, rooting against.

[Seth Rollins]

They just naturally want to hate, you know, the world's just full of hate haters. You know, they naturally want to complain about something, so it's just easier. And. And you have more leeway. You can't, like, you know, as a good guy, you have to be locked in, right? You. Any little misstep, you. You. You have a bad promo, you have a bad match, it. People can start to turn on you easily. When you're a heel, you have so much freedom, it's hard for you to screw up, you know, because you screw up and they laugh at you, and then you get mad that they laugh at you, and then they get mad. Then they hate you more, you know, Know. So there's. There's more of an antagonistic relationship with a heel, and I think that's. That's just easier to get done, at least in a modern wrestling setting. It might have been easier back in the day, you know, when everybody didn't know everything. But, yeah, it's. I find it easier to be a heel. But if you. If you hit the transition point right when the audience is ready to make the switch, then it's. I think it's in that immediate point after the turn. Either way, kind of the same.

[Podcast Host]

Same whether you're heel or baby face. Do you need a signature move?

[Seth Rollins]

Yes, very important, Very important, because your audience gets, like. They get clued into it, you know, it's. It's. That's one of the things about our thing, our business is the audience being having a pivotal role in the storytelling. They. When they feel like they're a part of what's happening, that's when it's the best, you know, when they're not just. They're not just voyeurs, they're actually in. You know, they're in some way. So that participation, whether it's a catchphrase or a signature move or a setup, you know, you think of the Rock and his. All of his million. Finally the Rock has, you know, and the crowd gets to spell with.

[Podcast Host]

The Rock is cooked.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. And I, you know, I. I do my. I am a visionary, I am a Seth, and they do the freaking Rollins, you know, or they sing the song and you have, like, some stuff like Ceno where he's able to do his whole comeback and you can't see me. And now they know it's the end, you know, so it's like just those participation things, and a finisher having a great signature and finishing move is something they can look forward to as the match progresses.

[Podcast Host]

You mentioned that the wwe, for the longest time, they wanted Big. I mean, you had Hulk Hogan, you had Andre the Giant. You had. You had these massive, massive men. You know, you Triple H and you have. You had undertaken. You had, you know, these. These guys. You wrestled Big Show, Kane, you wrestled some of the big. And you've also wrestled Rey Mysterio.

[Seth Rollins]

Yes.

[Podcast Host]

So when you dealing with a guy like the Big show, he has to help you get him up off the ground.

[Seth Rollins]

I'm not getting Big show up off the ground.

[Podcast Host]

Yeah. I mean, you know, there has to be some jump to it, but you still gotta be, you know, strong enough to hold a man that size up.

[Seth Rollins]

And put him down on his back.

[Podcast Host]

So. So when you rehearse and you, like, when you're rehearsing and you're dealing with a man saying, you know, 280, 300 pounds.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host]

I mean, like, bro, we gotta. We gotta hit this thing. Because I. Both of us could end up hurt.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah, yeah. But, you know, it's one of those things where. When you're. I mean, Big Show's an extreme example. When I. When we wrestled with Big show, he was £450, you know, strong as an ox. Mark Henry, the same Mark Henry, literally the strongest human that's ever lived. You know what I mean? In his prime, and even in his, like, not prime was he just crush your bones with his hands. Like, you just hope those people like you enough to cooperate.

[Podcast Host]

Right.

[Seth Rollins]

Because if they don't, your is over. You know, I had Ric Flair.

[Podcast Host]

Ric Flair on, and he was like, if Andre didn't want you to do something, no matter what you rehearsed, it was gonna get. It wasn't gonna get done.

[Seth Rollins]

Yeah. It's just not gonna have the same show is the same way. You just hope that you catch him on a good day. I don't know what to tell you. Otherwise they're the world champion. That's it. That's the end.

[Podcast Host]

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted, and you can access it to whichever podcast platform you just listened to part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shay profile and I'll see you there.

[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night.

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[Seth Rollins]

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[Seth Rollins]

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