Line #76 YMMV/SethRollins


1	* AccidentalInnuendo:
2	** His interactions with Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon in 2016 were loaded with this, especially after Wrestling/TripleH's betrayal and Seth's subsequent HeelFaceTurn. It's to the point people were jokingly suspecting the storyline would reveal that Stephanie and Rollins were having an affair and Triple H found out about it.
3	** His on-and-off feud/partnership with Wrestling/DeanAmbrose ''runs'' on this. Of particular note is their reconciliation storyline in 2017, which looked more like build-up to angry love/hate sex than a tag team reunion.
4	* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
5	** Post-FaceHeelTurn, this applies to his RageQuit that led to the Shield getting back on the same page. Depending on when he may have first decided in his mind that the Shield was to be over and done with, did he actually pull a BatmanGambit to get Reigns and Ambrose to put their egos aside, or did he simply [[ManipulativeBastard claim that was the plan in an attempt to save face]] after seeing them do exactly that after he walked out on the team? Honestly, though, pretty much everything about Rollins, his thought processes, his relationship with his other Shield members, etc., before ''and'' after the [[EtTuBrute betrayal]], is dependent on the audience member.
6	** Was his change of heart genuine? Wrestling/RomanReigns and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose could be seen as his MoralityChain if you think about it, since some time after Reigns was drafted to Smackdown and Ambrose left the company he quickly reverted back to his egotistical heel persona. His new Monday Night Messiah gimmick is not all that different from his past heel character who was also selfish and had an inflated ego focusing on titles and accolades. Especially considering Rollins' FatalFlaw of Pride, one must wonder if Rollins was always at heart really a good guy or if being in Wrestling/TheShield and the kinship that brought was the only thing capable of keeping his monstrous ego in check.
7	* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: Seth nicknaming Wrestling/TheRock "Diarrhea Dwayne" in the run-up to Wrestling/WrestleMania 40. Was the intent to mock The Rock by using the same type of petty insult that he used during the Attitude Era, or was it a genuine attempt at mocking him that simply came off as childish?
8	* ArcFatigue: Seth's feud with Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio\|Jr}} and his son Dominik was fairly well-received when it began in May 2020, but come October, they're still entangled with one another almost exclusively and many fans are clamoring for WWE to have him move on to someone new. When Seth was announced as being drafted to ''Smackdown'' for the first time, there was hope for him to get a refresh... only for Rey and Dominik to get drafted there as well not long afterwards, meaning that the entire storyline was just transplanted from one brand to the other and leaving fans ''very'' exasperated. Fortunately, fans got a brief respite when [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Seth took several weeks off in anticipation of the birth of his and Becky Lynch's baby]]; when he returned, he went after Cesaro instead, and later started a dream feud with Wrestling/{{Edge\|Wrestler}} that many fans have hailed as some of both wrestlers' finest work.
9	* AuthorsSavingThrow: The ''Raw'' after ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' 2019, Seth had a FaceHeelTurn by [[MeanBoss berating the rest of the locker room]] for ''Raw'' losing at ''Survivor Series'' before eating a Stunner from Wrestling/KevinOwens. People reacted positively to this for many reasons -- because they genuinely enjoy him as a heel, because they thought his 2019 face run had made him bland, because they were bitter over Rollins' careless social media statements that had drawn a lot of ire from inside and outside the WWE fanbase, because they were still bitter about his match with the Fiend at ''Hell in a Cell'', and/or they thought that after the severe XPacHeat Rollins had built up for all of the above, making him turn heel was WWE's best possible way of handling it.
10	* BadassDecay: After serving the Authority as a dangerous and ruthless enforcer as part of the Shield and after he became Triple H's BastardUnderstudy, his time as WWE World Heavyweight Champion served to undo a ''lot'' of Seth's VillainCred. Sure he'd eke out victories when he had to, but he was also ''such'' a DirtyCoward that he barely wanted to get in the ring, much less fight, and when he ''did'', he usually lost. Making this worse was that Wrestling/JohnCena was having the polar opposite experience as United States Champion; with his weekly title defenses and long list of credible opponents who looked good in defeat, Cena was making the US Championship and the midcarders he fought look like a million bucks, which only made Seth and the title ''he'' was holding look even weaker by comparison. In the end Seth's title reign ended not with a bang, but a whimper as an injury during the European tour right before Survivor Series forced him to vacate it. It took a lot of work for him to recover from this.
11	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Prior to his injury, Seth Rollins, during his world title reign, did have a small but very vocal segment of haters who believed Rollins was a vanilla midget who brought no credibility to the WWE title, but by and large, the majority of fans still liked his wrestling abilities and sympathized with him for WWE's booking of him as a chickenshit heel. After his return from injury, Rollins has become a much more divisive character than before. While he still has a lot of devoted fans, others feel is that he is overrated and nowhere near as good as people think he is, with some attributing that to his injuries slowing him down. Then there is the contingent that feel that he is an unsafe worker after Wrestling/FinnBalor became the third wrestler to get injured wrestling him. Others feel Seth had gotten stale during his return since they refused to turn him face immediately and he stuck with the same chickenshit heel character he had before his run with no signs of changing for several months until the Bálor injury happened, then proceeded to turn him face with an unsympathetic motivation and a storyline that was held in limbo for several months. Much like Wrestling/DeanAmbrose, opinions are all over the place regarding him. That being said, both are still far more popular than Wrestling/RomanReigns the majority of the time.
12	* BrokenBase:
13	** Rollins' SellOut FaceHeelTurn has elicited this reaction from the IWC. Some believe this is a logical booking decision that keeps the Evolution/Authority/Shield angle fresh, given that the Shield has already prevailed over the rivals twice and have no other stable to match them, as well as an opportunity for Rollins to go over as a singles star. Others consider it an illogical twist right out of Vince Russo's playbook that broke up one of the most popular stables in WWE way too soon. Others believe that the angle was done right, but that [[AxCrazy Ambrose]] or [[TheChosenOne Reigns]] should've turned on the group and not Rollins.
14	** Rollins' record and actions since becoming the WWE Champion (see BadassDecay) -- Result of poor booking and writing, or him not being a credible champion on his own merits as opposed to, say, Wrestling/BrockLesnar?
15	** There has been a growing segment of the fanbase that has turned against Rollins based on the idea that he is an unsafe worker. In the span of little over a year, he broke John Cena's nose, dealt Sting a career ending back injury, blown out his own knee, and dislocated Finn Balor's shoulder, putting him on the shelf for potentially up to eight months. Bret Hart has been especially vocally critical of Rollins, noting that as the top guy it is his responsibility both not to injure anyone and to make sure he doesn't suffer an injury, himself. Rollins took this very hard, being a life-long fan of Bret's, and priding himself on how careful a worker he is. Rollins' defenders cite that it is simply a string of bad luck in a high risk business and none of the events can truly be seen as Rollins' fault, at least not completely — with even Sting himself claiming it was his own poor judgment in taking the move a second time that resulted in the injury, and praising Rollins as the best wrestler he's ever worked. Lance Storm takes a third option and attributes the injuries not to Rollins specifically, but just the faster paced, harder hitting, more athletic style of wrestling in the modern age being too dangerous by nature.
16	** Seth's ring work since his return from injury. Most agree that he's a bit held back as the knee injury means he can't rush around the ring like he used to. Some think that he's fine regardless of the compromise in his ring style, while others feel he isn't the same old Seth Rollins from before and he puts on more average matches than good ones.
17	** Everything surrounding Seth and {{finishing move}}s since Vince's ban of the Curb Stomp shortly into his 2015 title reign. Some agree with Vince's reasoning that it is too easily imitable by kids and even add that it may be a bit dangerous in execution, while others point out that most wrestling moves can be copied fairly easily and it's up to proper parenting and common sense to take care of that, plus the fact that it can be done to anyone is a good thing for the move and for Seth as a character, and claims of danger are often put down with stating that Seth has never legitimately injured anyone with the Curb Stomp. Him settling for the Pedigree afterward as a connection to Wrestling/TripleH, some say it fits because of the story being told, others say it doesn't look as good on him as it does on Triple H and in fact makes him look more like a hopeless lackey. Some wanted him to get away from the move as soon as he left the Authority, while others were satisfied with the reasoning he gave in a video at his wrestling school that it's a message to The Game. After he broke out God's Last Gift for the first time in years against Finn Bálor at [=SummerSlam 2016=], many wanted him to go back to the Last Gift and the Phoenix Splash per his Tyler Black days, especially given that he's occasionally used the Phoenix Splash in big matches in WWE and the Last Gift was NOT the move that injured Bálor at [=SummerSlam=]. After [=WrestleMania 33=] he deliberately teased the Pedigree only to stop in favor of doing a Wrestling/KennyOmega-esque ripcord knee strike. While most no doubt like the shift back into his own identity, many have been decrying the move itself as not looking high-impact enough to be a finisher — especially the Last Gift, Curb Stomp, and Phoenix Splash fans — and being a poor man's ripoff of Omega's execution of the move against Wrestling/KazuchikaOkada at Wrestle Kingdom 11. [[AuthorsSavingThrow Then he got the Curb Stomp back at the start of 2018 and all was right with the world again.]]
18	* CreatorsFavorite: Not to the extent of his Shieldmate Wrestling/RomanReigns, but apparently Wrestling/TripleH marked Seth out for greatness back in FCW and has been grooming him to be a main event talent ever since. This, in turn, informed Seth's kayfabe character once he betrayed the Shield and became the Authority's handpicked top star.
19	* DesignatedHero: He got hit by this hard in late 2019. Despite being pushed as the top male {{Face}} on Raw, audience reaction became increasingly negative, partially due to his booking and partially due to his [[DearNegativeReader antagonistic]] interactions with fans and critics on social media, and the audience turned on not only the character, but also [[XPacHeat the man]]. It got to the point that when he attacked Wrestling/BrayWyatt in the Firefly Fun House, many fans believed it was intended as a double turn. For once, WWE leaned into the crowd response and turned him {{Heel}} rather than stubbornly staying the course as they would normally do.
20	* EpilepticTrees: In the aftermath of his betrayal, heartbroken Shield fans took to desperately inventing theories that would explain Seth's treachery in a way that would allow him to rejoin his brothers. This usually took the form of him being a FakeDefector trying to bring Wrestling/TheAuthority down from within, or him being [[ForcedIntoEvil blackmailed]] into it by the Authority. A couple months down the line, though, this has mostly died off as Seth has been more firmly solidified as a heartless heel unlikely to have a sympathetic reason for anything he does.
21	* FanNickname:
22	** Due to him being sponsored by Crossfit and the fact that he looks like the popular image of Jesus, the fans have given him the nickname "Crossfit Jesus". This especially fit when he wore white on PPV against Wrestling/JohnCena. The name became more solidifed after ''[=WrestleMania=]'' XL where he gets hit by a chairshot from Roman Reigns -- recreating the famous "There's always a Plan B" scene from a decade prior -- and it looks like he was crucified to atone for his sins.
23	** The white & gold tights that Rollins wore at ''[=SummerSlam=]'' & ''Night of Champions'' in 2015 are affectionately referred to as his “[[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers White Ranger tights]]” due to the color scheme & Seth’s penchant for [[WholeCostumeReference cosplay-esque attires]], despite not actually being such an attire.
24	** "Iron Man" Rollins: [=WrestleMania=] XL has been nicknamed ''WWE Endgame'' due to Cody Rhodes fight against Roman Reigns being compared to Captain America versus Thanos. Rollins becomes Cody Rhodes' shield and dons his Shield uniform akin to Iron Man's armor and ends up sacrificing himself to Roman Reigns so Cody can get the pin.
25	* FanPreferredCouple: Ambrollins. The sheer amount of tension between Dean and Seth is a sight to behold, especially when you think of all the HoYay that comes with it during their days as teammates. It is also more popular than his canon in the ring love interests.
26	* FashionVictimVillain: His FaceHeelTurn post-Shield gear was something of an acquired taste. When photos first leaked, the phrase "90s era X-Men knockoff" showed up ''a lot.'' [[http://oi61.tinypic.com/24dhv9w.jpg This photo]] of Wolverine in almost identical gear didn't help (though the photo itself was from 2009.)
27	** His 2021 return has seen him appearing on Smackdown in an... ''interesting'' array of suits. Black leather, hot pink, green plaid, black and silver jacquard...
28	* HilariousInHindsight:
29	** When Wrestling/TheShield first debuted, frequent jokes were made about them being members of the Creator/MarvelComics military organization, ComicBook/{{SHIELD}}. Fast forward to 2014, and the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse's S.H.I.E.L.D. were revealed to have been infiltrated by [[ComicBook/{{Hydra}} HYDRA]] in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' and ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', with the HYDRA defectors/infiltrators in ''Winter Soldier'' including a minor character named ''Jack'' Rollins and one of the titular Agents in ''[=AoS=]'' being revealed to be a HYDRA defector/infiltrator several months before Seth Rollins did the same thing. Additionally, both Rollins and and the Agent (Ward) have had vocal fans clamoring for either a FakeDefector scenario or a redemption arc to bring them back with their teams, and a reunion has been teased on both sides, only for them to solidly cement themselves as villains. However, where Rollins' booking as champion pre-injury has slid him so far back into sympathetic territory that a HeelFaceTurn and reunion with his Shield became an entirely plausible notion well before it happened, Ward's character has completely slid past the MoralEventHorizon, with any reasonable hope for his return to the heroes' side all but destroyed, and indeed he died an irredeemable villain.
30	** The "electric razor" incident in storyline. Some, erm…pictures of Rollins ended up on the internet a bit later, and…maybe Rollins was telling the truth about the electric razor the whole time.
31	** He was shown at ''NXT [=TakeOver=]: Brooklyn'' with his then-real life girlfriend Zahra Schreiber[[note]](First infamous as the catalyst for the spreading of the pictures in the example above)[[/note]] in what was probably supposed to be an EarlyBirdCameo. She was fired 9 days later with no on-screen appearances after…certain posts she made 3 years ago were uncovered. Doubles as HarsherInHindsight, as the association has caused several fans of Rollins to change their tune about him.
32	** His real-life love (well-established on-screen) of ''Series/GameOfThrones'' made it all the more fitting when it was revealed that Rollins was dating Wrestling/BeckyLynch, a FieryRedhead with whom he had previously traded good-natured barbs on social media, not unlike that show's character Ygritte, the girlfriend of Jon Snow who originated the "You know nothing, Jon Snow" {{meme\|ticMutation}}. Bonus points for Becky actually having appeared as an extra on ''Series/{{Vikings}}'', a similarly-themed TV show.
33	* HoYay:
34	** Quite a few fans picked up on some early on between Ambrose and Rollins, dating back to their FCW feud. While Wrestling/RomanReigns did often spear people as part of his BigBrotherInstinct towards his teammates, Seth was usually the first to leap in and defend Dean during matches. Dean and Seth also walked together to ringside during their entrances (despite Roman being positioned as Seth's tag team partner for awhile), pulled one another to safety after matches, and generally would hang all over one another. During one Ambrose match with [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]], during which Bryan busted Dean's face open right under his eye, Seth Rollins acted like a concerned boyfriend, even trying to come to Ambrose's defense, risking both a DQ and a beatdown from Bryan's tag-team partner Kane. That the borderline-psychotic Dean Ambrose seemed genuinely fond and protective of Rollins is surely significant, as well. During the Shield's face run, Seth and Dean began doing stereo suicide dives, and even resorted to crazy dives to save one another from Wrestling/RandyOrton [[Wrestling/{{Evolution}} and]] Wrestling/TripleH's assault as the four fought increasingly further away from the ring during the six-man tag match at ''Extreme Rules 2014''. It seemed they were developing into a first-rate tag team of their own while working alongside a burgeoning singles juggernaut in Roman. This only serves to make Seth's actions since defecting back to Wrestling/TheAuthority even more dickish, as he seems to be relishing in taking advantage of Ambrose's borderline [[WomanScorned Man Scorned]] rage in order to screw him over in matches. Note this line from Dean after getting Seth in a corner:
35	--->'''Dean:''' [[TearJerker I loved you, Seth! You were my brother!]]
36	** Things between Ambrose and Rollins heated up even ''more'' during the summer of 2017 after both got into feuds with the Miztourage. After on-and-off teaming, bickering, and generally acting liking {{Tsundere}}s to each other, things culminated in the August 14, 2017 episode of RAW, which saw Dean and Seth acting like a pair of bitter, jilted, ex-lovers that ''both'' want to get back together but have burned each other so many times that they just don't know how to really forgive. The entire segment was ''dripping'' with [[BelligerentSexualTension Belligerent]] [[HomoeroticSubtext Homoerotic]] FoeRomanceSubtext, to the point even ''male'' wrestling fans were telling them to screw already, lampshading their support of said homoeroticism by mentioning how much they wanted to see two guys "[[DoubleEntendre fisting]]" each other. Eventually, the tension boiled over and the two got into a brawl, only to finally reunite and "fist" after getting attack by Sheamus and Cesaro. The following Sunday, they won the RAW Tag Team Championship, which only fuels the fire ''even more''. In fact, many wrestling fans commented that Ambrose and Rollins' reunion storyline was the second gayest storyline in 2017, after the reunion of the Golden☆Lovers Wrestling/KennyOmega and Wrestling/KotaIbushi, whose entire ''gimmick'' is based on the HomoeroticSubtext between them.
37	* HypeBacklash[=/=]MisBlamed:
38	** Not towards Seth himself, but his betrayal of Wrestling/TheShield has actually done a great job of quelling this trope in regards to former teammate Wrestling/RomanReigns, who was getting plenty of this due to the perception that he and Wrestling/DeanAmbrose were being used as stepping stones to Reigns' ascension to the main event with no consideration for their own careers. Even now that said fan dissatisfaction towards Reigns and his push has spiked up to eleven, Rollins' rise as one of the company's top heels and his potential to cash in and either beat Reigns to the title or cut off his run is arguably one of the few things keeping it from reaching a pitch of utter revolt.
39	** That said, Seth the character has gotten such intense hatred from vocal Shield fans since the betrayal that it could almost be mistaken for misblaming the performer—especially when they sank to {{ineffectual death threat}}s.
40	* LoveToHate:
41	** Fans embraced him as one of the most effective traitorous heels wrestling had in years after he turned on his brothers. This was especially true at [[http://www.cagesideseats.com/ Cageside Seats]], where mock hatred and nicknames such as "Traitorface" and "[[Franchise/StarWars Sith]] Rollins" are quite common whenever he comes up in the conversation. Being booked as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain for over half of his own World Heavyweight Title reign undermined this, though. During the worst days of his XPacHeat, some fans and commentators said he should go back to being a heel, and even that it suited him better than being a babyface.
42	** His run as the Monday Night Messiah started hot and only got hotter as things went on. Seth received a ''lot'' of love for giving underserved wrestlers like the Authors of Pain, Buddy Murphy and Austin Theory direction and major presence on the card, playing a charismatic DarkMessiah perfectly and showing dramatically-upped ruthlessness towards his opponents on a regular basis. He is often considered one of the most despicable yet entertaining villains on Raw.
43	* MemeticMutation:
44	** Three words: '''BURN IT DOWN!''' [[note]]Starting in 2017, Rollins entrance music was accompanied by this phrase in the transition between the drum intro and the guitar chorus.[[/note]]
45	** Did you know that Seth and Becky are in a relationship?[[note]]The announce team's constant (and sometimes unnecessary) remarks about the couple led to many people in the IWC parodying them.[[/note]]
46	** "I hate football" [[note]]He would tweet this whenever something bad would happen to his favorite team the Chicago Bears.[[/note]]
47	* MoralEventHorizon: On the last episode of Raw of 2014, Rollins forced John Cena to reinstate the Authority by threatening to break Edge's neck (the implication being that this will paralyze Edge at the very least, if not kill him). While Cena tried to talk him down, Rollins only screamed at Cena about how he'd made his life hell, and went into great detail about the fact that Edge would never be able to hold his child again and that it would all be Cena's fault. Cena gave in and agreed to bring the Authority back. Rollins laughed wildly, then stated in a very calm voice that Cena should know him better than this, and "I'm gonna kill him anyway." Which he very nearly did, if Cena hadn't been quick enough to stop him just in time. We've known for a while that Rollins is selfish, arrogant, and opportunistic - but attempting cold-blooded murder? That's a whole other level of villainy. It looks like we're starting to see what a dark, disturbed individual Rollins truly is.
48	* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
49	** "BURN IT DOWN!" These three words are enough to spark a frenzy in the crowd when Rollins enters the ring.
50	** The choir singing in "Visionary", which is guaranteed to get the crowd following.
51	** Seth Rollins' EvilLaugh, highlighting his maniacal, chaotic personality and fits his PracticallyJoker persona perfectly.
52	* NeverLiveItDown: 2019 ''Hell in a Cell'''s main event went down being seen as one of the worst main events ''ever'' with Seth getting the brunt of the backlash after the idiotically-booked finish that sent his already-faltering main event run cross into full-blown XPacHeat that saw a quick rematch at ''Crown Jewel'' crowning The Fiend as Universal Champion and a FaceHeelTurn as a desperate pair of AuthorsSavingThrow to try to contain the damage.
53	* RootingForTheEmpire:
54	** As part of Wrestling/TheShield before they turned face. He and Ambrose each had followings from before hitting WWE; and upon their debut, their immediate course of action was to defend their ultra-popular fellow former indy star Wrestling/CMPunk from transparently pro-establishment babyfaces the likes of Wrestling/JohnCena and Wrestling/{{Ryback}}. They were practically asking for this to be the case.
55	** There's also a small degree of this from people who are looking forward to seeing a guy in Rollins' mold (who were more or less locked out of main event chases until 2011-2012 when guys like Wrestling/CMPunk and Wrestling/DanielBryan basically kicked the doors in) cash in and win the championship. Actually, the fact that this hasn't been nearly as much the case for him as it's been for previous young EnsembleDarkhorse briefcase holders speaks to the effectiveness of his heel work. Naturally, the crowd went ballistic when he not only cashed in, but did so ''in the middle of the main event of Wrestling/WrestleMania 31'' to take out both Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns to finally get the title.
56	** Happened again during the build to ''[=SummerSlam=] 2015'' and the match itself; since if Wrestling/JohnCena won he would tie Wrestling/RicFlair for most world title reigns (as recognised by WWE anyway) the crowd was almost universally in Rollins' corner.
57	** Rollins got this a ''lot'' during the latter half of 2015 due to being booked as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain despite being the champion. The only people they're willing to really boo him against are perennial ArchEnemy Dean Ambrose (who's gotten screwed over by Seth and the Authority about as much as Daniel Bryan has), and {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s like Cesaro.
58	** Rollins' return following ''Extreme Rules 2016'' had him insult the crowd for cheering him and welcoming back after they spent so long booing him during his world title reign. And there was only room for one man on the Seth Rollins bandwagon, and that was himself. This still hasn't stopped anyone at all from cheering Rollins against the hotly controversial Roman Reigns. The fact that WWE released a documentary detailing Seth's road to recovery from his ACL tear only helped him get over with fans despite his status as a heel. Again, the only time the crowd boos him is when he goes against Ambrose and {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s. Otherwise he's one of the most popular performers in the company
59	* ShockingMoments: The June 2, 2014 episode of Raw concluded with Rollins stabbing his own "brothers" InTheBack by beating them with a steel chair and rejoining Wrestling/TheAuthority as Triple H's "Plan B" ("Plan A" being the failed Wrestling/{{Evolution}} reunion which Wrestling/{{Batista}} had just put an end to). Because Seth was regarded as both the brains and the heart of the team, ''nobody'' saw it coming—especially not Ambrose and Reigns.
60	* SignatureScene:
61	** Turning heel on Reigns and Ambrose, joining Wrestling/TheAuthority and marking the end of Wrestling/TheShield as a group.
62	** Cashing in his Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank briefcase during Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar's championship match to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling/WrestleMania 31.
63	** Ending Lesnar's second run with the Universal Championship at ''[=WrestleMania=] 35'', with the help of [[GroinAttack a nutshot]]. Even moreso, beating him for the title again later that same year in the main event at Wrestling/SummerSlam, ''[[CueTheFlyingPigs clean]]'' this time!
64	** The birth of his Monday Night Messiah persona, which returned him to his heelish ways and [[WinBackTheCrowd turned around many people's opinions of his TV work]].
65	** Being the shield for Cody Rhodes and being hit with a steel chair by Roman Reigns in the same way he betrayed Reigns and Ambrose a decade prior at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' XL.
66	* StrangledByTheRedString: While Seth[=/=]Wrestling/BeckyLynch was a popular ship way before [[RomanceOnTheSet they actually started dating each other]], the implementation of their relationship in {{kayfabe}} didn't come without problems. For starters, the two were shoehorned together just because of the real-life relationship with no attempt to build to it and push their characters together through storyline. This created an awkward mess of stilted-looking interactions with the two where Seth looked like a chump who Becky led around to make herself look fierce, pushing the BadassDecay of both claimants to "The Man" even further (Seth even picked up the [[EmbarrassingNickname godawful nickname]] "the Man's man"). And then then there was the build-up to ''Extreme Rules 2019'', their first official feud as a couple on the shows, and they were set to feud with… Wrestling/BaronCorbin and Wrestling/LaceyEvans, a feud very few people cared about.
67	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: How a lot of people felt about the company not taking advantage of his popularity and giving him a HeelFaceReturn, especially since then-top face Wrestling/RomanReigns was not getting over as a face and was instead widely despised by the audience. Just about the only reasonable excuse for not doing a FaceHeelDoubleTurn with Rollins and Reigns is because of the loose ends that still needed to be tied up in regards to Wrestling/TheShield's break up -- specifically, those regarding Wrestling/DeanAmbrose, whose character arc still needed to be completed (getting revenge on Rollins and breaking into the main event on his own), and who was arguably more popular than both of them (Ambrose is over with the smarks (who hate Reigns) and casual fans (who hate Rollins since he's a heel) thanks to being a face). The problem is that there was no sign of that really happening thanks to the company being so focused on Reigns all the time. Then Reigns violated the Wellness Policy and the brand split was reintroduced -- Ambrose won the Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank ladder match and later on that night cashed in on Rollins to win the title, finally getting his revenge on his former brother and ArchEnemy. He pinned both of his former Shield teammates clean to retain the title and cement his new main event status, and was the only one of the three to be drafted to ''Wrestling/WWESmackDown'' to become the face of that show. Now that Ambrose and his popularity is no longer a factor and Reigns is seemingly dropping down the card as punishment for his violation, many are hoping that Rollins will turn face, as there is a growing sentiment that he's in danger of becoming stale otherwise.
68	** They did turn him face eventually, partly out of necessity as [[Wrestling/FergalDevitt Finn Balor's]] [[GameBreakingInjury injury]] (which, ironically, Seth caused or at least aggravated) altered the RAW main event picture. Somewhat problematically, they've got him in an angle with [[Wrestling/KevinSteen Kevin Owens]] and Wrestling/ChrisJericho, both heels that nonetheless draws some pretty strong cheers from most crowds. Owens has been a dangerously cool heel whenever he's been a heel for years even before coming to WWE and is currently drawing accidental sympathy similar to Rollins as the champ last year due to not even being the main star of his own title reign; while Jericho, a future Hall of Famer, has arguably built up too much goodwill with fans to be booed outright and plus, he's ''extremely'' entertaining as KO's sidekick. As for Seth, they've failed to book his character to have any hint of epiphany or adjust his promos to contain even a touch more valor, creating the impression that his face turn is simply him being bitter that he's not in the circle of favor anymore. So while a lot of people want Rollins to win, it's not as many as it could be due to the flawed characterization, and they also don't necessarily want Owens and[=/=]or Jericho to lose.
69	* ToughActToFollow: Sure, the Kingslayer, ripcord knee, and that Faceplant DDT are cool finishers, but they're not the Curb Stomp.
70	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Seth's face turn can basically be explained as Seth being mad Wrestling/TripleH chose Kevin Owens to win the Universal Championship over him. When a character's motivation for turning into a good guy is "I'm pissed off that I'm no longer the corporate favorite", needless to say it's not gonna be a shock when a lot of fans claim to have found it hard to sympathize with him feeling cheated out of a title when his reasons are him whining that he isn't the Authority's number one pick anymore. Two other factors that don't help are that:
71	## Triple H has been nowhere in sight for months after turning on Seth, since the turn was made in August 2016 for a feud possibly set to first collide at the next year's Wrestling/WrestleMania, hence Rollins' already unsympathetic character motivation in the storyline has been stuck in a tiresome limbo.
72	## Rollins has been regularly teamed with Roman Reigns since the turn as well as had Shield reunions including Dean Ambrose because Wrestling/VinceMcMahon realized Shield teases are the best way to keep Reigns from getting booed.
73	** In-universe this reduces babyface Rollins to being the guy that throws insults at Stephanie, helps Reigns against Owens and Jericho, and is EasilyForgiven for all the crap of the last two years despite the fact that he never learned anything nor apologized to anyone he betrayed or hurt in the first place. Out-of-universe his character direction has been frozen in place and he's been turned into a glorified sidekick and heat [[{{Pun}} shield]] for the man who's replaced John Cena as the most hated top main eventer. This has taken a dump of cold water on Rollins' face turn, as while he still gets good cheers, the palpable excitement of when he first returned to action or when he first acted as a face is all but gone.
74	** After being screwed out of his Royal Rumble spot by Triple H's music in a match against Wrestling/SamiZayn, Rollins lost all patience and started going out of his way to goad Triple H into coming out to fight him. First by raiding ''NXT Takeover: San Antonio'' on January 28, 2017 and demanding Triple H come out and break into a main roster fight during a major NXT event, which caused Triple H to simply eject him from the arena with security and Stephanie to ban him from the Rumble event itself the next night. Fair enough on both sides. Two nights later on ''Raw'', Rollins called out Stephanie and did his best to goad Triple H into finally confronting him by threatening to interrupt a Board of Directors meeting…or even to show up at the Helmsleys' front door and have their kids see him (presumably to come in and beat up Triple H in front of said kids). The latter statement bombed badly to a lot of TV viewers: if it wasn't offensive because he brought up the kids in any manner beyond calling Stephanie and Triple H horrible examples, it was stupid for giving away a potential plan for what could've been an intriguing segment on a future ''Raw'' episode. To make things worse, Stephanie's ensuing ILied moment where she stated that Triple H was indeed on his way to deal with Rollins, which seemed to imply that Stephanie had gotten so enraged that she was actually calling off her previously-stated request for Hunter not to show up but disguising it as a lie, turned out to be 100% true when Triple H appeared…''and set up Rollins for an attack by the debuting EnsembleDarkhorse '''Wrestling/SamoaJoe'''''. So Rollins' raging call-out and audaciously stupid giveaway of what to some was a morally questionable plan to begin with was not only completely unnecessary by this point to get what he wanted, said prize came with a setup for an attack at the hands of one of the most popular and respected wrestlers in the world. Not surprisingly, the assault was met with cheers, "This is Awesome" chants, and a chant for Joe's name — and it took the final Coquina Clutch for proper heel boos to even join that.
75	** It took him being legitimately injured in that segment and recovering from that for the storyline to actually hit its points of resolution where Rollins would admit to remorse for falling away, confess to wanting to get back the man he was before Triple H corrupted him, actually start acting like a true face with a purpose, and then finally beat Triple H at ''[=WrestleMania=]''.
76	* WinBackTheCrowd:
77	** In the lead-up to Seth's Universal Championship match against Wrestling/BrockLesnar at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2019,'' he and WWE had to deal with the problem that, unfortunately, people didn't ''like'' Seth much any more. A combination of poor booking during Seth's initial run with the Universal Championship (most prominently his overly-long and stagnant feud against Wrestling/BaronCorbin, which did neither of their careers any favours and which also utterly ''butchered'' the in-series adaptation of his RealLife relationship with Wrestling/BeckyLynch), poor character writing in the lead-up to the Brock rematch (including an ''abysmal'' promo where they had Seth trying to do "[[Wrestling/JohnCena Cena]] material" and poorly-thought-out actions that made him look like an idiot) and some real-life blunders on social media that made him look like a corporate kiss-ass had completely cooled most of the audience off on him, to the point that at the start of the match against the widely-hated Brock, ''Seth'' was the one getting booed! And yet, over the course of that brutal 13-minute match (a far cry from their 2:30 GroinAttack-based CurbStompBattle at ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' earlier that year), Seth managed to win the entire crowd over bit by bit until the ''entire'' arena was cheering for him and exploded when he pinned Brock cleanly to reclaim the Universal Championship. While in no small part a reminder of how good Brock can be when he actually cares about a match and is willing to put in the effort, it was largely hailed as a testament to the sheer in-ring talent of Seth Rollins as a performer.
78	** His late 2019 FaceHeelTurn. After the infamous ''Wrestling/HellInACell'' match and further blunders on social media had completely ruined his babyface image, WWE began writing Seth as slowly becoming more and more unhinged and rude, culminating in him finally snapping in the weeks after ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'', becoming a KnightTemplar and recruiting the Authors of Pain as his muscle. Seth's new Monday Night Messiah persona was hailed as exactly what the doctor ordered to fix his career trajectory.
79	* TheWoobie: The night that Wrestling/RomanReigns announced his leukaemia diagnosis was the same night that Wrestling/DeanAmbrose finally snapped and turned on Rollins, immediately after they won the Raw Tag Team Titles. In the space of three hours, Seth lost both of his brothers in Wrestling/TheShield.
80	* XPacHeat: Gained this during the later half of 2019 in which fans have started to boo him despite being a face. This is because of a bad combination of questionable booking during his Universal Championship runs and comments he made in real life. The heat is so bad that it was often compared to the heat Roman Reigns had before he announced his leukemia reemergence.

Context YMMV / SethRollins