One of the biggest success stories in WWE of the last 12 months has been the transformation of Roman Reigns from ‘The Big Dog’ into the ‘Tribal Chief.’ Reigns has laid waste to Superstars left and right since aligning with Paul Heyman following his return at SummerSlam, and now one of his former Shield brethren, Seth Rollins has had his say on the the WWE Universal Champion.
Appearing on WWE’s The Bump, Rollins was full of praise for his former partner, commenting that it was incredible to watch the ‘Head of the Table’ take control of his own destiny and do his own thing.
“He’s absolutely killing the game! He’s doing incredible things as the ‘Head of the Table’ and Universal Champion,” Seth Rollins complimented. “It’s incredible to watch someone take hold of their own belief system and their own career. He’s a guy who, you know, followed the path before him for years and did the right thing every step of the way. Now, he’s marching to the beat of his own drum. He’s really doing his own thing, and it’s paying dividends.
“Like I said, you can’t back down when people want to push against you. I think, you know, that’s something that’s big in our society today is people wanting to backtrack and not wanting to put their beliefs out there because they’re afraid they’re going to be judged with all this cancel culture going on out there. You can’t do that. You got to put your foot in the ground, and you got to move forward, or no progress will be made.”
Addressing his own future inside the ring, Rollins revealed that there’s one Superstar in particular he’d love to go toe-to-toe with one more time, a certain Daniel Bryan. Since returning to the Blue brand Rollins has already handed out a vicious beatdown to Cesaro, incurring the wrath of Bryan in the process.
Rollins went on to call wrestling Bryan a “painful treat” before explaining his actions on SmackDown.
“Oh, I would love to get in the ring with Daniel Bryan again,” he noted with a grin. “That’s always a treat – a painful treat – but a treat as it is. He’s somebody that I’ve learned so much from in my career, someone I’ve watched before I ever even stepped foot in a wrestling ring. He was also there for my first pay-per-view and part of my first pay-per-view victory.
“I think that, again, like Cesaro, I understood what Bryan was doing. I didn’t fault him; he had a big match later. He wanted to get in the Elimination Chamber to earn himself another Universal Championship shot. He had to come out to help Cesaro – I understood it. But again, if he continues to stand in my way of getting to where I want to go, which is the very tip-top, then you will see our paths cross whether that’s in a ring or elsewhere.”
Roman Reigns is set to defend his Universal Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, although not until his prospective challenger has earned their shot by winning an Elimination Chamber match.
Seth Rollins recently returned to action at the Royal Rumble following a brief hiatus for the birth of his first child with partner Becky Lynch.
h/t to Wrestling Inc for the transcription.