In recent months, Seth Rollins, the character has been losing face heat—partially because of storyline with the emergence and popularity of Bray Wyatt’s “Fiend” character, but also because of all trash talk that he’s been dishing out over the interwebs, when it comes to independent professional wrestling promotions or “indies” like New Japan Pro Wrestling, Ring of Honor, AEW and the like, as well as a perceived hate towards independent wrestling in general. Now, while I won’t speak about the travesty that was the main event of this year’s Hell in a Cell pay per view, I do want to talk about the way that Seth Rollins has in many ways become a figurehead to what is so very wrong about the WWE nowadays, also about how Seth Rollins the character (formerly Tyler Black in the indies and NXT) has become a hypocritical mouthpiece for the WWE.
Seth Rollins, the current WWE Universal Champion started out in professional wrestling as among other names, Tyler Black. Tyler Black was once a member of the Ring of Honor roster, where he actually held the World title for the promotion. He was, in essence, the face of that company. A company he had no problem representing while he was a member of the roster. Tyler Black was fortunate enough to get a tryout with the vaulted WWE, which at the time was revamping their developmental promotion, which would become NXT. Because he is such a good wrestler, he was signed to a development contract and became a member of the NXT roster. I would argue that some of his best matches while with the WWE were when he was a member of the NXT roster—at least some of my favorites of his are.
Even back when Seth Rollins (then Tyler Black) joined NXT, it was slowly becoming clear that the main roster of the WWE needed new names and talents to bolster their ranks, and bring fresh personalities to their main shows, RAW and Smackdown Live. When the WWE couldn’t find those faces within their own homegrown developmental system, they made the choice to look to those same indie pro wrestling promotions that they even now often denigrate and insult as being little more than armory and high school auditorium dwellers. The thing is the WWE came from those same armories and high school gyms that once housed the shows of promotions like the NWA, AWA, and Mid-South Wrestling. In fact, the WWE (once known in its infancy as the WWWF—World Wide Wrestling Federation) made its start in those same warehouses, armories and auditoriums. So to crap on your own roots now, simply because you had the vision, and much more important financial backing to do something greater is very, very hypocritical. Because as most know, anyone can have a solid and interesting vision, but without the means and opportunity, vision isn’t going to get very far. We, as pro wrestling fans know how the WWE has grown into a multibillion-dollar business and dubbed themselves “Sports Entertainment.” The thing is they’ve forgotten their professional wrestling roots, and as a longtime fan of professional wrestling, I think it does them a disservice. Yet, as the pro wrestling fan has grown and matured to the game, it also has allowed those same indie promotions to rise to the occasion and cultivate their own wrestlers (some of who either have no interest in sports entertainment in preference of pro wrestling, or who have had a taste of what the WWE had to offer and found them wanting), and to create their own top-notch shows. Something that the WWE did not expect and doesn’t want.
Within the last ten years of professional wrestling and sports entertainment, something has happened that the WWE was not prepared for, and have yet to remedy—That being word of mouth. When I say that, I mean their reputation as being the top of the food chain has faltered, because of their product not being what it once was for many reasons that I’ve already covered in previous articles, a lapsing of fans of their product because of the failing of the WWE’s “creativity”, and also the fact that with the advent of the internet, cord-cutting and cable TV, now the so-called indies also have an audio-visual podium from which they can espouse their views on pro wrestling through shows like New Japan Pro Wrestling on Axis, CMLL, Lucha Underground, Ring of Honor, Impact Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, CZW TV and the reformed NWA Power among others. Now, there are stars like Okada, Shibata, Pentagon, Joey Ryan, Jay Lethal, Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, Rosemary, Nyla Rose, and Bullet Club who are finding major success without ever having stepped inside a WWE ring. Also, former stars of the WWE who have left the company because of varying reasons have found that they can garner just as much or in many cases more fame and financial success from performing in the indies, than they ever did while working for the so-called big brand, while being able to have increasing control over their own characters; allowing them to have their own voices, as they cultivate those characters. Something that has rarely happened within the WWE for years now, outside of the odd New Day exception. Now, for the first time in decades, professional wrestlers, many who have trained and worked years to perfect their styles and crafts within the sport feel and find that they don’t necessarily have to go to the WWE and wrestle their watered-down and heavily scripted version of pro wrestling that the WWE calls “Sports Entertainment” in order to make a living in the profession that they dreamed and worked so hard to achieve. They can now actually care about their characters and the legacy that they want to leave behind that they helped to garner and cultivate, instead of going to a company that many wrestling fans in recent years have seen squander many talented wrestlers in the name of keeping them away from the competition—but I digress.
The moment that Seth Rollins started speaking down to and insulting pro wrestlers’ prowess and work ethic simply because they aren’t in the WWE system, it immediately not only shown him as a hypocrite but the WWE as well. As stated earlier, Seth Rollins the pro wrestler came from the indies to the WWE, when it was at the pinnacle of the genre, because for many wrestling fans it was the only big game in town. Before the indies had more of a public and international voice, the average, casual pro wrestling fan didn’t know about the New Japan, AAA, and Evolve Wrestling promotions of the world, because there was no easily reliable venue for the casual fan to view these promotions, so the WWE could boast that they were the end-all, be-all in pro wrestling, and many casual fans wouldn’t be able to argue the point. Also, at the same time, disgruntled professional wrestlers within the WWE’s ranks may not have realized that there were other ways to make a competent living at their chosen profession outside of the WWE, because of some of the same reasons. With the advent of shows like New Japan on AXIS, Lucha Underground on the El Rey Network and Netflix, and with promotions like Ring of Honor and the resurgent Impact Wrestling, professional wrestlers are now seeing that they can make a name for themselves and a good living from working for other promotions without having to work for the WWE, if they wish.
Now, the WWE are in a pickle, because there are top pro wrestling stars who don’t want or feel like they need to go to their brand, in order to make a name or living for themselves. They see that they don’t have to sign a contract to start over from square one in NXT, simply because they are told that they have to learn the WWE way of “Sports Entertainment” which has almost nothing to do with actual professional wrestling outside of the matches in the ring, which are filled with call spots not only by the wrestlers but also by the creative team backstage. Don’t get me wrong. NXT is the only brand under the WWE umbrella that has consistently given pro wrestling fans amazing entertainment on a regular basis, and in many ways has outshone their main roster counterparts for years now. I loved watching NXT for many years, and I have seen some of the best matches in professional wrestling, regardless of promotion unfold on their shows. Yet, with the move to a live show on the USA Network from a pre-taped one on the WWE Network, and in some pro wrestling fans’ minds the perceived tampering of the promotion from Vince McMahon, whether the perception is right or wrong, even NXT has seen a drop in its popularity, and I’m not even going to talk about the failed handing of 205 Live in the beginning. That show has never really recovered from its botched debut or their idiotic time slot, or the fact that they were live taped, instead of pre-taped like its predecessor, the Cruiserweight Tournament. Nowadays, the men’s matches of the WWE main roster especially are so predictable that the average casual fan can tell who’s going to win halfway through the match. There is little to no spontaneity in the WWE anymore. It’s not allowed to happen. There are no natural pushes anymore within the WWE. It’s not allowed to happen. In fact, natural pushes are now punished within the ranks of the main roster, as the wrestlers themselves are deliberately kept off of the main roster shows in order to quell their popularity. On the other hand, the rosters of the indies, for the most part, are allowed to grow, evolve and garner to the fans of the genre, which after all is the cash-carrying customer base.
Now, the casual pro wrestling fan may pay for tickets to attend a Ring of Honor, or NJPW house show. They may want to buy tickets to a live taping of AEW Wrestling when it comes to their town. They may tune in to watch the latest episode of CZW TV, Impact Wrestling or NWA Power. Something that may not have happened, if pro wrestling fans were not looking for something more spontaneous, entertaining and at its roots more based in pro wrestling, and less based in soap opera. Something that the WWE has lost when they decided to hang their flag, and base all of their main roster shows around “Sports Entertainment” to the detriment of their product.
Honestly, for me as a longtime wrestling fan, when it comes to the WWE, I only really care about the women’s division, which at one time was white-hot fire. Now, even that is starting to falter, because one the WWE refuses to make the Four Horsewomen (Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair) an official faction, and two, creative doesn’t know what to do with the rest of the women on the roster, even though there are VERY talented women on it—this coming from an unabashed Asuka, Nikki Cross, and Ember Moon fan. I’m looking at you too, Kairi Sane.
This using Seth Rollins as a mouthpiece to bash the indies only make him and the WWE promotion look like hypocrites. I don’t know—maybe Seth Rollins the character felt that the WWE was the only way for him to make a name, and now that even casual fans aren’t so high on the promotion, it’s making him worry about his own legacy as the supposed male face of the company. I say male, because for many pro-wrestling fans (me included) for the last year and a half the face of the WWE has been Becky Lynch, and to a lesser degree the Four Horsewomen, but for some reason (probably because of the long documented misogyny of the man at the top of the food chain), the WWE still feels that they need to have a male face of the company. The thing is the more Seth Rollins the character trash talks other promotion’s top wrestlers (especially wrestlers who refuse to sign with the WWE), the worse it looks for the big brand. It makes Rollins and maybe, more importantly, the WWE Corporation look petty and cheap because of others’ success. I never thought I would see that—but then again maybe I should have seen it coming, considering how the promotion has been treating its talent of late.
Regardless of the failing of the WWE, or maybe because of it, the indies are now flourishing, which is always good for the industry as a whole. It allows diversity to flow back into the industry, and with it returning fans, and even new viewers to the genre, and that can be nothing but positive. I just hope that this wave continues to flow and that more lapsed fans return to the genre. The funny thing is as a longtime fan of the WWE, I really hope that they finally wake up to what they are doing to themselves and change course, but I am only one pro wrestling fan, and apparently in today’s WWE I don’t really matter—not even my consumer dollars matter to them anymore.
What do you think? Do you think that WWE has shot itself in the foot, or do you see nothing wrong with the product? Do you watch any of the other promotions products and if so why? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for visiting my little area of the interwebs, and I hope you enjoyed your time while you were here.
