History Fridge / SethRollins

* Wrestlemania 40, Night 2's Main Event, full stop. Seth came out to the Shield's theme music and dressed in the tactical vest and ring gear of the group to help Cody and he took a chair shot to the back from Reigns that called back to his betrayal of The Shield down to the selling of the hit. And what did Roman Reigns say he could never forgive Rollins for? And it cost Reigns the match. Seems like Rollins managed to weaponize Roman's BerserkButton. Seth himself told Cody, he was willing to be "His Shield", and he did just that.

* Wrestlemania 40, Night 2's Main Event, full stop. Seth came out to the Shield's theme music and dressed in the tactical vest and ring gear of the group to help Cody and he took a chair shot to the back from Reigns that called back to his betrayal of The Shield down to the selling of the hit. And what did Roman Reigns say he could never forgive Rollins for? And it cost Reigns the match. Seems like Rollins managed to weaponize Roman's Berzerk Button. Seth himself told Cody, he was willing to be "His Shield", and he did just that.

* Wrestlemania 40, Night 2's Main Event, full stop. Seth came out to the Shield's theme music and dressed in the tactical vest and ring gear of the group to help Cody and he took a chair shot to the back from Reigns that called back to his betrayal of The Shield down to the selling of the hit. And what did Roman Reigns say he could never forgive Rollins for? And it cost Reigns the match. Seems like Rollins managed to weaponize Roman's Berzerk Button

* Wrestlemania 40, Night 2's Main Event, full stop. Seth came out to the Shield's theme music and dressed in the tactical vest and ring gear of the group to help Cody and he took a chair shot to the back from Reigns that called back to his betrayal of The Shield down to the selling of the hit. And what did Roman Reigns say he could never forgive Rollins for? And it cost Reigns the match. Seems like Rollins managed to weaponize Roman's [[Berzerk Button]].

* If you look closely at the 'Beastslayer' logo that comes up on Seth's Titantron animation, you'll notice that Seth's 'sigil' is inlaid with a pair of crossed swords. He earned the sobriquet by fighting (figuratively "crossing swords") and beating "The Beast", who is known for having a prominent sword tattoo on his chest...

** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. If the act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, ''of course'' it wouldn't have actually taught him anything. He was still the same entitled prat they used to call "the Undisputed Future of WWE", only his childish fury was now pointed against the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens, and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—prompting an actual change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer seeking redemption.

* The Authority wanting Wrestling/RandyOrton to win the World Heavyweight Championship ladder match and Wrestling/SethRollins to win the traditional Money in the Bank match. At first, you might wonder why the Authority would seemingly be setting their favorites against each other--since Rollins would have to cash in on Orton and thus cause tension and dissension between them--before you realize that they likely ''weren't'' going to let Rollins cash in ''at all'' had Orton won; they wanted Orton to win the title, and Rollins to win the contract to keep it out of the hands of the rest of the wrestlers ''to protect Orton from having an "undesirable" cash in on him and possibly take the title off him''. Since Orton lost, however, Rollins has turned into the ace up their sleeves--while they continue to try to set things up for Orton to win, they can still position Rollins to win the title as a back-up plan when the moment is right and if Orton continues to disappoint, they can simply shift all their favor to Rollins. This appeared to be coming to fruition since before the new year, as Rollins once came close to cashing in for the title on '''Wrestling/{{BROCK LESNAR}}''' and Orton was deployed to protect Rollins, much to the Viper's dismay. Rollins eventually outright replaced Orton as the Authority's top guy, became the spark of life Cena and Lesnar's rivalry needed as the third man in their title match at ''Royal Rumble 2015'', then…well, see what happened below with Plan B.

* Coming out of ''Royal Rumble 2015'' it was painfully obvious that WWE wanted Reigns to go over Lesnar and win the title. But after the fans reacted badly to what they felt was a forced push, the WWE probably realized that having Reigns beat Lesnar clean would kill any chance Reigns had of ever becoming a top face. And thus the cash-in plan was hatched. Get the title off Brock without Lesnar being pinned by having Rollins cash-in ''during'' the match after both competitors were spent, making it a Triple Threat, and have Rollins pin Reigns for the win. This seemed to be a late audible, but perhaps one that they had in their pocket for a situation like this - or, in other words, '''Plan B.'''
** This happened ''again'' in 2016, not long after Seth returned from his knee injury. The combination of Finn Balor blowing out a shoulder in the process of winning the new WWE Universal Championship ''against'' Rollins, with Reigns being suspended[=/=]in WWE's doghouse for a Wellness Violation, meant they needed a new main-event face. So they decided to turn Rollins and pit him against new champ Wrestling/KevinOwens a couple of weeks later, when it had been obvious to that point that Rollins was meant to remain heel. Similarly to how he, as a member of Wrestling/TheShield, took out Wrestling/{{Evolution}} and replaced them at Triple H's side a few weeks later, he also "took out" Finn Balor as the new top babyface on RAW and ended up having to take his spot.
* During the two matches between Evolution (Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, and Wrestling/TripleH) and The Shield (Wrestling/RomanReigns, Seth Rollins, and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose), Triple H and Rollins spent a lot of time fighting another. Besides the somewhat more obvious theme of "Mastermind of The Shield vs. Mastermind of Evolution," this may have been the reason Triple H chose Seth Rollins to not only orchestrate The Shield's destruction, but also to be the face of WWE.
* Seth Rollins' character shows an interesting dichotomy between a cold, calculated schemer and a petulant, impulsive ManChild. He's probably earned himself as many natural enemies as can be earned by a single individual in a wrestling storyline. And yet, with all of those enemies, he's always been able to survive. Why? Because those enemies also have to interact with each other, and with so many people involved as well as his championship title, the personal conflicts combined with the natural professional rivalries that would occur from two or more people wanting to chase the championship shot, all ensure that his enemies all have to deal with each other before they come after him.

Rollins stated in later weeks that he knew Hunter would do something like this, despite his confident grin after Triple H helped him take out Reigns and his persisting implacable anger after Hunter betrayed him. However…he also said that ''he expected better from Stephanie''. Given that she's both Triple H's marital and professional partner, that totally makes sense: Hunter would've told her what he was planning to do with the man they'd invested several years in molding to the top, and she would've at least tipped Seth off subtly that Hunter was angry at him. At the very least, he'd have to ease Steph's concerns by pretending he still liked Seth for more than two minutes before dropping the bomb. Right? Well…[[CardCarryingVillain they're still the McMahon-Helmsley duo]] and he just made the lethally stupid mistake of underestimating their duplicity — or overestimating his own importance to them. Rollins wasn't merely upset at them for betraying him or costing him the championship, but rather, ''for humiliating him''.
** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. If the act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, ''of course'' it wouldn't have actually taught him anything. He was still the same entitled prat they used to call "the Undisputed Future of WWE", only his childish fury was now pointed against the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—prompting an actual change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer seeking redemption.
** Pulling all this back full circle, his [=WrestleMania 33=] outfit consisted of a golden version of his standard post-Shield gear…with a few disheveled gray designs with black outlines almost looking like it was deliberately burned/torn open into these shapes. Said shapes including ''a '''shield''' with his stylized SR logo on it'' burned right into the chest and stomach of the outfit. If, as he said, he's trying to recover who he was before Triple H corrupted him…this deliberate homage confirms that [[ItMeantSomethingToMe yes, the Shield did mean something to him]].

* If you look closely at the 'Beastslayer' logo that comes up on Seth's Titantron animation, you'll notice that Seth's 'sigil' is inlaid with a pair of crossed swords. He earned the sobriquet by fighting (figuratively "crossing swords") with someone known for having a prominent sword tattoo on his chest...

* The King's Landing knee makes more sense as a finisher remembering that Seth legitimately destroyed Cena's nose with a knee once.

* The Kingslayer makes more sense as a finisher remembering that Seth legitimately destroyed Cena's nose with a knee once.

** Pulling all this back full circle, his [=WrestleMania 33=] outfit consisted of a golden version of his standard post-Shield gear…with a few disheveled gray designs with black outlines almost looking like it was deliberately burned/torn open into these shapes. Said shapes including ''a '''shield''' with his stylized SR logo on it'' burned right into the chest and stomach of the outfit. If, as he said, he's trying to recover who he was before Triple H corrupted him…this deliberate homage confirms that [[ItMeantSomethingToMe yes, the Shield did mean something to him]].

** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. If the act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, ''of course'' it wouldn't have actually taught him anything; he was still the same entitled prat they used to call "the Undisputed Future of WWE", only his childish fury was now pointed against the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—prompting an actual change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer seeking redemption.

** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. If the act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, ''of course'' it still wouldn't have actually taught him anything; he was still the same entitled prat they used to call "the Undisputed Future of WWE", only his childish fury was now pointed against the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—prompting an actual change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer seeking redemption.

** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. If the act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, ''of course'' it still wouldn't have actually taught him anything; he was still the same entitled prat they used to call "the Undisputed Future of WWE", only his wrath was now pointed against the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—prompting an actual change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer seeking redemption.

** The above point also explains why Rollins kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for the betrayal. That act in and of itself wasn't what surprised him or set him off, so it still hadn't actually taught him anything; he was still the petulant "Undisputed Future" as before, pissed solely at being removed from the circle of power — and between Stephanie, Owens and Jericho, and the fact that Hunter went right back to the shadows of NXT after dropping him, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe, however, finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him. ''That's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become finally, at long last, truly hit him—and he began to actually change back into a variant of his previous [[JustForPun honorable]] persona, now taking on the cause of a Kingslayer.

* Seth being a petulant ManChild also explains why he kept on acting like a heel despite playing the role of a face when he first wanted revenge for his betrayal at the hands of Wrestling/TripleH. The betrayal hadn't actually taught him anything; he knew Hunter would probably do that at some point, but his failure to see ''when'' it was coming just pissed him off — and between Stephanie, Owens and Jericho, and the fact that Hunter wouldn't show up after that, he had plenty of reason to stay hot-headed. Being re-injured at the hands of Triple H's new hitman Wrestling/SamoaJoe finally forced Rollins to take a step back from the trees to see the forest in front of him, and ''that's'' when the HeelRealization of who he'd become truly hit him.

* Seth Rollins' character shows an interesting dichotomy between a cold, calculated schemer and a petulant, impulsive ManChild. He's probably earned himself as many natural enemies as can be earned by a single individual in a wrestling storyline. And yet, with all of those enemies, he's always been able to survive. Why? Because those enemies also have to interact with each other, and with so many people involved as well as his championship title, the personal conflicts combined with the natural professional rivalries that would occur from two or more people wanting to chase the championship shot, all ensure that his enemies all have to deal with each other before they come after him.

* During the two matches between Evolution (Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, and Wrestling/TripleH) and The Shield (Wrestling/RomanReigns, Seth Rollins, and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose), Triple H and Rollins spent a lot of time fighting another. Besides the somewhat more obvious theme of "Mastermind of The Shield vs. Mastermind of Evolution," this may have been the reason Triple H chose Seth Rollins to not only orchestrate The Shield's destruction, but also to be the face of WWE.

* During the two matches between Evolution (Wrestling/RandyOrton, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, and Wrestling/TripleH) and The Shield (Wrestling/RomanReigns, Seth Rollins, and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose), Triple H and Rollins spent a lot of time fighting another. Besides the somewhat more obvious theme of "Mastermind of The Shield vs mastermind of The Shield," this may have been the reason Triple H chose Seth Rollins to not only orchestrate The Shield's destruction, but also to be the face of WWE.