Wrestler of the Day – May 28: Seth Rollins

We’ll pick things up a bit today with Seth Rollins.

Black got his start in a local promotion in Iowa under the name Gixx. I actually have his debut match here from sometime in 2003.

Gixx vs. Jerkel

I really hope I just couldn’t understand the other guy’s name. Apparently this is 2/3 falls for no apparent reason. They lock up to start and kick at each other without breaking the grip. Jerkel hits some nice armdrags but Gixx blocks a spinwheel kick and puts on a front facelock. Back up and Jerkel gets low bridged to the floor, and since this is an indy in the early 2000s, Gixx follows him out with a big flip dive.

Back in and Gixx jumps into a boot to the face to knock him to the floor, setting up a big spinning dive off the top. Totally unnecessary spins and the fans didn’t seem to care all that much. They head inside again with Circle stomping away, only to have Gixx nail a big kick to send him outside. Gixx brings him back in for a double underhook piledriver for two, because why should a big move win a fall like that?

Jerkel comes back with a DDT for two of his own before hammering away on the back of Gixx’s head. Gixx rolls through a top rope cross body for two before hitting a dropkick to the back of the head. A pair of neckbreakers by Jerkel set up a choke of some sort but Gixx slaps the mat to get the crowd on his side. An Angle Slam into another neckbreaker gets the first fall for Jerkel.

No break between falls as Jerkel hammers away to start the second. Jerkel crotches himself on the middle rope and gets caught with a reverse DDT allowing Gixx to miss a top rope flip dive by literally six feet. We hit the chinlock from Jerkel for a few moments before Gixx is sent to the apron. He bounces up for a bad looking springboard neckbreaker and two, followed by an AA onto his knee. A standing shooting star gets another near fall as this just keeps going.

Jerkel gets two off a spinwheel kick and a kind of suplex that I couldn’t see because the referee was in the way. Gixx grabs a hurricanrana that Jerkel was nice enough to stand perfectly still for and things stop for awhile. Back in and Jerkel hits a way overdone headscissors for two folowed by a running senton to the back for the same. Gixx escapes a top rope hurricanrana and hits a tornado DDT for one as the match still won’t end. A collision puts both guys down before they slug it out.

Gixx reverses whatever stupid spin Jerkel was trying to do into a spinning Cross Rhodes for the second fall. A top rope hurricanrana (looked bad) sends Gixx flying and the camera focuses on a very fat man who has come down to ringside. Apparently this is a big deal and he says if they want to mean something in SCW, follow him. Gixx goes to follow him but Jerkel punches the female referee down before leaving with the fat guy. Seriously, that’s how the match ends.

Rating: F. Oh sweet goodness I hate myself now. I don’t even know where to start on this mess. First of all, the ending was ridiculous as they basically said screw the match and start I guess a heel stable. After FIFTEEN MINUTES that’s the best they can come up with? Also, this was the opening match of the show. You’re supposed to open a show with something quick and exciting, not something WAY too long with a gimmick that didn’t need to be there and a mess like this. It’s the definition of a spotfest in every bad sense of the term. I haven’t been this miserable in a match in a very long time and can’t wait to watch ANYTHING else.

Next up was a spot in WSX, where he would be in action under his most famous name at the time: Tyler Black. From February 13, 2007.

Team DIFH vs. Disco Machine/Joey Magnum Ryan

DIFH is Tyler Black/Jimmy Jacobs and stands for Doing It For Her, since Jacobs is in love with some chick. Black gets double teamed to start while Jacobs is hitting on a girl in the front row. Tyler comes back in with a great looking springboard double clothesline before throwing Jacobs into the corner. A doomsday rana takes Ryan down but he takes a distracted Black down. Black comes back with a sunset bomb attempt but there go Ryan’s trunks. Joey spears Black through the ropes and Disco powerslams Jacobs off the middle rope for two. Too short to rate but Black stole the show.

We’re going to jump ahead a good bit to Tyler Black’s time in ROH. He’s one of the top young stars in the company at this point and made it to the Survival of the Fittest finals in 2009.

Survival of the Fittest Finals: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Chris Hero vs. Delirious vs. Roderick Strong vs. Colt Cabana vs. Tyler Black

Now for those of you that haven’t heard of Delirious, this guy is freaking INSANE. He babbles incoherently and has been known to wrestle matches in slow motion. What does that tell you? Oh and he’s awesome in the ring by the way. He and Punk had an AWESOME match in I think IWA-MS that got me into both guys.

The cool thing about this for me is I legitimately don’t know who is going to win. Most of the time I know the results but here I’m completely blank on them. Black sells the injury to his neck from earlier on the way in which is nice. I hope there are tags in this.
Claudio and Hero used to be in a team that dominated indy tag wrestling for awhile called the Kings of Wrestling and Delirious and Black were in the Age of the Fall together. Ah good it is tagging. Delirious, Strong and Hero have all won. Black and Delirious start, and my money is on Black to win it.

They start with a lot of technical stuff before Cabana comes in for Black. Let the comedy begins. Black is criticized for never being able to win the big one, which is a common criticism that there was for ROH. I’m not going to list off all the tags as they’re going rather fast. We get Castagnoli vs. Hero, which is a battle of the skyscrapers in ROH as both guys are 6’5, which is enormous in this company.

A thing I like about indy wrestling is you can use other stuff than signature moves in a match. For example, they trade full nelsons. That move makes sense, but in WWE no one but Masters can use it. See what I mean? Now I don’t mean everyone uses the FU or the Pedigree, but a transitional move like the spinebuster shouldn’t be only reserved for HHH and two other guys.

In a WEIRD looking spot, both guys interlock their legs and then wind up standing on their heads. They shake hands while in this position. That’s rather…uh…yeah. It’s Black and Claudio now as we’re definitely in for the long haul here. Everyone is still in at this point. Prazak is in love with Hero I think. He refuses to shut up about how awesome he is. In a PAINFUL looking spot Claudio spins Black around by the hair.

That has to hurt badly. In a great sequence that gets the crowd going, Delirious drills Claudio with about 10 clotheslines in the corner before Hero saves him. Cabana comes in and we get a mini tag match. The Kings of Wrestling are thrown to the floor and get stereo suicide dives, but then Strong and Black get in and launch themselves over the top rope at both guys. Very awesome and fast paced spot.

It’s Delirious vs. Claudio now and the crazy masked man is in trouble. In a movie I haven’t seen before, Claudio uses a hip toss from the second rope. That’s different if nothing else. I like Hero’s facial expressions. Delirious goes for a backslide on Claudio but Hero knocks the European’s head off with the elbow, allowing Delirious to get the backslide and the pin. Immediately as in less than 5 seconds later, he rolls up Cabana and we’re down to four. I’ll give this match this much: it’s not boring.

After an elbow from Hero he covers Delirious and the referee does that same thing he did earlier on with the count stopping at two even though the kickout hasn’t happened yet. We hit a messy segment and Strong hits a big kick into the chest of Delirious to put him out. Immediately after he kicks out of the elbow from Hero and a Liger Bomb.

We have Strong, Hero and Black left in case you weren’t sure. If I remember right Strong is known as the Messiah of the Backbreaker, as he uses a ton of them. That’s unique if nothing else. Hero and Black just pound the tar out of each other with forearms. And there goes Hero to a move called God’s Last Gift. Think of a Perfectplex but instead it’s a really compact DDT where he just hooks the legs into a small package for the pin. I like that.

So it’s Strong vs. Black for the title. Works for me. Black gets a NICE flying elbow from the top for two. They’re cranking up the speed here and I’m digging this. Strong hits a bunch of backbreakers and then we hit the Strong Hold: a Boston Crab. That’s psychology, even though Black has a bad neck. It’s passable though as his finisher is a back submission.

Strong gets knocked into the crowd and Black goes up with a flying clothesline into about the third row. I love the shot of the fans just moving backwards for them. I like that for some reason. I love Black’s springboards. He doesn’t use a bunch flips or anything but just launches himself at Strong. We’re back in the Strong Hold and the fans chant tap.

Somehow he kicks out and then Black hits his two finishers for two. This is great stuff here. Strong gets the loudest kick to the back of Black’s head that I’ve ever heard. Fans are WAY into this. Strong just goes insane on Black with knee shots and an AWESOME kick to the head for TWO.

The kicking out is getting to be a bit much here. I get the survival thing, but this is getting to be a bit much. Ok yeah three straight superkicks gets two. The fourth gets it but Strong kicked out anyway, so the fans boo the finish. That’s never good. Black wins and then gets on the mic and says thank you to Strong in a cool moment. He then says that Cornette was wrong. These guys aren’t the future, but the future is now, and Strong deserves a rematch to end the show.

Rating: A-. This was about 45 minutes long and awesome throughout. The fans were way into it and by the end I was buying into it also. The key thing for me was that all 6 guys looked like potential winners and while based on the way Black had been built up throughout the night it was kind of clear he would win, it was never a lock, which makes the match instantly better. Very fun stuff here and while I usually don’t like multi-man matches, this was an exception, which is saying a lot for me.

Black would soon win the World Title and defend it at Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies 2.

ROH World Title: Chris Hero vs. Tyler Black

Hero is one half of the tag champions here. Black is mostly over. I’ve only seen a little of him but he’s not bad. Hero is solid of course so this should be pretty good. Hero is doing the whole knockout forearm thing where his arm is likely loaded in some way. The fans seem to like Chris more.

Allegedly Black is starting to feel the pressure of being champion which says HEEL TURN to me but whatever. It’s all Black to start us off here. See WWE? See how to make a champion look strong? Is it really that hard to do? I certainly wouldn’t think so. Hero does something very innovative and just grabs Tyler’s face. Actually it’s not innovative as George Steele did it at Mania 2 to Savage so there we are.

We even get basic heel cheating from Hagadorn on the floor. Hero is whipping Rollins all over the place at the moment. Hero kicks him on the floor and Black just collapses in a great visual. This match is just kind of plodding along but I’d bet that we have a lot to go in it so I guess that’s fine. Also I’m expecting the whole finisher-fest to start up in about ten minutes here.

Hero REALLY likes arguing with the referee. Here comes the first comeback and there goes Black as he gets knocked to the floor by a big old elbow smash. He stays on the floor to ten and then I remember that we go to twenty which is just not something I’m anywhere close to being used to. He got popped in the jaw by an elbow and covered for two when he got back in at 19 so there we are.

There is absolutely no feeling of drama in this at all. It’s just not there. Black throws him to the floor where his head slams into the railing. A nice somersault plancha takes Hero down as we hit the floor for I believe the third time tonight. Both guys try springboard moves but neither work at all. The fans again think it’s awesome and again I have to disagree.

Black signals for the superkick by stomping on the mat so thankfully Hero blocks it. I’ve always hated that whole stomping or clapping thing as it just acts as a way to get the other guy knowing what’s coming. Hero hooks a Cravate (headlock from the side. Think of the start of a snapmare kind of) and then he lifts him up and uses it as a neck crank. NICE LOOKING move.

Hero keeps using the elbow which makes the big elbow smash as his finisher seem a bit weaker. We slug it out in the middle of the ring and Hero asks why Black won’t go down. Black punches him in the face. I love that. Black busts out an F5 in a nice move. We go to the corner and they slug it out for position but Hero gets caught in a Tree of Woe. DOUBLE STOMP OFF THE TOP!

Nice one again as that looked like it hurt like heck. They’ve cranked it WAY up in the last 4 minutes or so. Black’s eyes are great here as they just roll back in his head here. The spinning elbow hits twice and Black kicks out to almost no reaction. See what I mean? No one thinks the title is going to change here.

The crowd is FAR more pro-Hero than Black. Black hits the Buckle Bomb as apparently the knockout shot didn’t have much effect on him I suppose. The third doesn’t even knock him down as Black hits the superkick immediately afterwards in a last gasp of breath which is pure AJPW stuff which I can’t complain about.

Another superkick gets another two. Yeah they’re doing more strikes here like in the Strong match but this is more entertaining for some reason. Hagadorn interference doesn’t work and a small package driver (God’s Last Gift which is a good name) ends it. In something that made me laugh for no apparent reason, Black gets Hero’s tag title and throws it to him, but has to make sure it’s the right belt first. Not sure why but that made me laugh.

Rating: B+. The ending 8 minutes or so made this match as they were entertaining enough for a high grade. However it once again falls under the problem I tend to have with big ROH matches: while they’re entertaining, there’s this level that they reach and then they stop. At the end for instance, Hero and Black started just hammering each other and while it was entertaining, you could feel them hit the ceiling and you knew it wasn’t going to get past it. A great match is one that reaches that point and then blows past it moments later. I’ve never gotten that in an ROH match and it’s a recurring problem in this company.

Black would soon go to the WWE as Seth Rollins, making his FCW debut on October 24, 2010.

Seth Rollins vs. Vance Archer

Rollins stares Archer down to start so Vance kicks him in the face to take over. Back up and Seth has to bail out of a dropkick but backflips to land on his feet. A powerbomb is countered by a Rollins hurricanrana but Archer knocks him off the top and out to the floor. Back in and a kick to the chest has Rollins in trouble and we hit the chinlock. Something like a Rock Bottom into a Stunner (Archer sit down instead of laying out) gets two on Seth and Vince is getting annoyed.

We hit the chinlock for a bit before Archer misses a legdrop. Seth comes back with some shots to the head and a one knee Codebreaker followed by a kick to the back of the head. Archer bails to the floor but gets caught by a runnung flip dive for two back inside. A Lionsault misses so Seth hits a running shooting star for two. Archer hiptosses him off the middle rope but misses a moonsault, allowing Seth to hit a low superkick (Avada Kedavra) for the pin.

Rating: C. Not a great match here but it was good enough for a debut. The low superkick (great name too) was a solid finisher for someone of Rollins’ size and Archer was a good foil for him. This was so much better than the Gixx match as Seth had learned how to structure a match and actually sell stuff.

Rollins would become the Florida 15 Champion, meaning all of his title defense would be in 15 minute Iron Man matches. Here’s such a defense from FCW TV on July 31, 2011.

FCW 15 Title: Seth Rollins vs. Rick Victor

They trade rollups to start before Rollins chops away in the corner. Some leg work doesn’t get Rollins very far though as he walks into a hot shot and Rick slaps on a chinlock. Back up and Rollins scores with some clotheslines and a suplex followed by a downward spiral into the buckle. The curb stomp gives Rollins the first fall at 4:00 in.

We take a break and come back with 8:45 on the clock and the score tied at 1-1 due to Victor hitting a running elbow in the corner. Rick puts on a chinlock for a bit until Seth fights up from his knees, only to be put in a sleeper. Back up again and Seth nails an enziguri followed by a springboard clothesline to send Rick out to the floor. Dean Ambrose, who has been wanting a title shot, is watching from the back. Rollins dives outside in something we didn’t see and both guys are down.

Back inside and a standing Lionsault press gets two for the champion but Rick takes him to the top rope. Five minutes to go. Victor can’t superplex him but Rollins can’t sunset bomb Rick. Victor escapes a buckle bomb with four minutes left before sending Rollins face first into the buckle. Rollins comes back with a rollup for a fast pin, even though Victor’s shoulder was up.

Three minutes left and they slug it out until Victor hits Winds of Change into a backbreaker for two. There are less than two minutes left when Rick hits a wicked running uppercut for another two and we’ve got a minute to go. Seth gets crotched on the ropes and hit with a springboard uppercut for an even closer two. Rollins breaks the count by getting his foot and hand on the ropes. Victor runs into two knees in the corner and time runs out to give Rollins the win.

Rating: C+. I could get into this gimmick if they gave it some time on a show like this. It would never work on WWE TV but for a developmental territory it’s a nice little gimmick title. Rollins was getting much better as the small underdog who makes the most of every move he uses and he would make that an art in the future.

This is a match that could headline a PPV today. From January 12, 2012.

Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins

Reigns is known as Leakee here but that looks better as a title. The winner gets a title shot next week. Ambrose stops to look at William Regal, who he’s been having a long feud with at this point. We’ll get there eventually. Leakee pulls Dean down as Regal talks about how glad he is that his children don’t have evil in their eyes. Rollins gets double teamed but Leakee slams both of their faces into the mat to take over.

Now it’s Leakee getting double teamed as we take a break. Back with Leakee still being double teamed as Regal talks about how great it is for he and Ambrose to be evil but he’s trying to control his hatred. Ambrose rolls Rollins up for two before getting sent to the floor. Leakee knocks Rollins out of the air for two but Ambrose takes Leakee down into the Regal Stretch as part of an obsession with getting a rematch. Leakee makes the ropes but Rollins springboards in with a clothesline to Dean. The low superkick sends Leakee to the floor but Dean counters another attempt into a wheelbarrow slam for two. Ambrose misses a knee trembler (Regal’s finisher) and Rollins hammers away, only to miss the curb stomp.

Instead he dives through the ropes to take out Leakee before heading back inside to slug it out with Dean. Regal admits that he knows Ambrose will be the end of him as Ambrose turns Rollins inside out with a clothesline. Leakee comes in and Samoan drops both guys at the same time before Checkmate (a running bulldog, a terrible finisher for him) ends Ambrose for the pin.

Rating: C+. All this really did was make me want to watch Ambrose vs. Regal in a match that tears the house down and shows more emotion than anything WWE has done in years because they’re both old school workers like that. The match itself was your usual triple threat. Leakee changing finishers was the best idea he could have had.

FCW would soon turn into NXT and Rollins would be a big deal there too. He would advance to the finals of the Gold Rust tournament to crown the first NXT Champion. Here’s the title match from August 29, 2012.

NXT Championship: Jinder Mahal vs. Seth Rollins

They have a ton of time for this. Fink may be fat and older now (he’s only 62 so he’s hardly ancient), but that voice is still perfect. Mahal won’t shake Dusty’s hand before the match. Rollins tries to take him to the mat to start but Mahal gets back up quickly. A dropkick puts Mahal down again and Rollins hits a hard chop. Mahal gets sent to the floor but he avoids a dive and sends Rollins face first into the apron. A suplex onto the ramp has Rollins in trouble and we head back in.

We take a break and come back with Rollins in even more trouble. Mahal stomps him down and hits a backbreaker to start setting up the camel clutch. Rollins gets choked against the ropes and the fans are behind Rollins now. He tries a comeback but gets kneed in the face by Mahal to take him back down. The camel clutch is escaped so Mahal pounds him in the back again. An enziguri out of nowhere puts Mahal down and Rollins punches Jinder down.

Mahal goes up for another knee but Rollins knocks him off the top and out to the floor. Rollins hits a HUGE dive to the floor and both guys are down. Back in and Seth goes up again, only to get crotched and superplexed from the top. We take another break and come back with the two of them slugging it out. Mahal might have a bad knee but he pulls off a sitout slam for two. A full nelson slam is countered and Rollins goes to the apron.

Seth hits an enziguri to the head and a running knee for two. The near falls are getting closer and closer here. A running forearm in the corner staggers Mahal but he manages to drop Rollins face first into the buckle. The low superkick (I think he calls it Avada Kadavra, making Rollins awesome) gets two. Phoenix Splash (moonsault into a 450) misses and Mahal hits the full nelson slam for two. Rollins gets to the rope before the clutch can go on and Rollins rolls him up for two. Rollins comes back with the buckle bomb and the Blackout out of nowhere for the pin and the title at 14:24 shown of 21:24.

Rating: B. I’m still not wild on Rollins’ in ring work but the fans are into him and he’s not dull. He also needs a new finisher as the Blackout looks pretty forced to put it mildly. As for the match though, they did a great job of building both guys up as unbeatable and then having them go at it. The match was very good as far as making you wonder who was going to win and it turned into a good back and forth fight at the end. Not a masterpiece or anything, but for the first NXT Championship, this was more than acceptable.

Fink giving Rollins the NEEEEEEEEEEEEEW treatment makes the announcement much better. The roster puts Rollins on their shoulders to end the show.

Of course Rollins would debut as part of the Shield in late 2012 and run roughshod over WWE for years to come. Here’s one of their first steps, from Extreme Rules 2013.

Tag Titles: Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins vs. HELL NO

This is Texas Tornado rules, meaning all four men are in the ring at the same time. The fact that there were some deaths a few days ago due to tornadoes in Texas makes this bad timing for this gimmick. Kane and Bryan are defending. It’s a big brawl to start as you would expect with the champions taking over. Bryan puts Rollins in the surfboard and Kane adds in a low dropkick for two.

Kane gets double teamed down in the corner and then Bryan gets the same treatment. Reigns loads up a powerbomb off the middle rope but Bryan counters into a rana to put everyone down. Kane grabs both Shield members by the throat before shoving them to the floor, allowing Bryan to hit the suicide dive to take both guys out. The champions take turn hitting clotheslines on both guys in the corners before Kane hits the top rope clothesline on Rollins, allowing Bryan to hit the Flying Goat for two.

Bryan gets the NO Lock on Reigns but Rollins finally makes the save. A chokeslam puts Rollins down but Roman catches Kane with the spear. Back up and Reigns shoves Kane into Bryan, only to get caught around the throat. Seth comes in off the top with a knee to Kane’s head, allowing Reigns to hit a second spear. Bryan makes the save but can’t get the NO Lock on Reigns. Rollins makes the save so Reigns can put Bryan in a torture rack. Seth comes off the top with a knee to the chest, good for the pin and the titles at 7:24.

Rating: C+. Again this was ok but nothing great. They could have used another five to ten minutes here but for some reason they’re flying through these matches tonight. Shield winning was the only logical conclusion as there was nothing left for Bryan/Kane to do with the belts at this point. Decent but not great here.

Rollins has had some singles matches on Raw as well, including this one from August 26, 2013.

Curtis Axel vs. CM Punk

It’s non-title despite Axel challenging him for a title match on Smackdown and Punk saying “I accept.” The third option of Heyman having to face Punk if Axel loses wins with 81% of the vote. Punk goes right after Axel and grabs a headlock but can’t hit the GTS. Axel bails to the floor so Punk charges up the ramp at Heyman, allowing Curtis to get in a cheap shot. Back in and Punk escapes a chinlock and gets two off the knee in the corner. Axel rolls to the floor before the Macho Elbow can be launched but Punk hits the suicide dive as we take a break.

Back with Axel hitting a clothesline to the back of the head for two as Heyman is looking more confident. Punk comes back with kicks to the legs and back followed by a middle rope cross body for two. Axel snaps off a slingshot belly to back suplex for two followed by a snap Saito suplex for the same. Punk grabs a neckbreaker and the Macho Elbow gets two. The GTS is countered into a McGillicutter for another two count but the second attempt at the GTS is good for the pin at 10:52.

Rating: C. This didn’t have time to go anywhere but the ending shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s not like Axel is allowed to win non-title matches and there was no way he was going to win a match over Punk without shenanigans. Still though, not a terrible match or anything but it was part of a story instead of a match.

And this one from December 30, 2013.

Seth Rollins vs. CM Punk

Rollins bails to the floor from an early GTS attempt and we take a break 20 seconds in. Back with Rollins taking Punk into the corner but coming out with an elbow to the jaw. The announcers talk about the potential split in the Shield as Punk tries a sunset flip out of the corner but there’s no Rollins there. They do the spot again with Punk swinging around the ropes to put Rollins in the Anaconda Vice. CM lets go of the hold and slams Punk down to take over.

Punk sends Rollins into the corner and tries a small package but they botch every bit of it with Rollins stumbling around instead of going down. We hit the reverse chinlock from Rollins as he stays on the back. Rollins stomps Punk down for two and it’s off to a regular chinlock. Punk fights up and suplexes Rollins down but gets knocked off the apron as we take a break. Back with Punk missing a charge into the corner to injure his shoulder and stop a comeback.

Rollins goes up but misses a backsplash, allowing Punk to get two more off a rollup. Punk comes back with the running knee in the corner but Rollins catches him coming and throws Punk into a buckle bomb. The Blackout misses but Seth enziguris him down for two. Reigns slaps the mat and tells Rollins to end this so Seth loads up a GTS, only to be shoved away and hit with a running knee against the ropes. Punk tries the Macho Elbow but Rollins rolls away, only to have Shield pull Punk face first into the middle buckle.

Seth goes up but gets crotched, only to block a Punk superplex attempt. Rollins hits a high cross body but Punk rolls through into the Anaconda Vice. Ambrose comes in but makes no contact so the match continues. Punk tries the GTS but Rollins reverses into the standing Sliced Bread. The referee is with Shield so the count is delayed and just gets two. Punk backdrops Rollins onto Ambrose and Reigns but Rollins blocks a suicide dive attempt. Seth tries a sunset flip but Punk catches him on the shoulders and puts Seth to sleep for the pin at 18:12.

Rating: B-. The match was solid and continued to make Rollins look great but there were some bad moments with the small package standing out. It’s still good stuff and with so many people gone, they had to have long matches like this to fill in the time. The Shield split should be interesting to watch.

Off to Smackdown just before Wrestlemania, from March 14, 2014.

Damien Sandow vs. Seth Rollins

This is joined in progress after a break with Seth in full control. Sandow gets in a few shots and Rollins heads outside for a second. Back in and Seth does his backflip in the corner into the downward spiral into the middle buckle. A running forearm in the corner sets up a dropkick but Sandow gets outside to avoid the top rope Black Out. Shield distracts him so Seth can hit a suicide dive, followed by the Black Out for the pin at 2:27. The announcers spent the match arguing about this being a conspiracy.

And this last one from after Rollins’ heel turn on June 6, 2014.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins

Seth chokes him against the ropes to start but Ziggler comes back with right hands in the corner. A quick suplex gets two for Rollins and he pulls on Dolph’s hair for a bit. Ziggler sends him outside and kicks Rollins through the ropes as things calm down a bit. Back in and Rollins easily punches Dolph down again before putting on a chinlock. Dolph reverses into a sleeper but gets caught in a backpack stunner. Seth kicks him out to the floor and we take a break. Back with Ziggler fighting out of a cobra clutch but getting caught in the Downward Spiral into the middle buckle.

HHH goes over to the announce table to brag about his new man but Rollins charges into the running DDT. They slug it out with Ziggler getting the better of it and hammering away in the corner. Dolph throws him outside and hits a nice dropkick followed by the Fameasser inside for two. Seth comes back with an enziguri from the apron but takes too long going up and gets caught in the top rope X Factor for an even closer near fall. Another enziguri stops a charging Ziggler and the buckle bomb followed by the curb stomp put Ziggler away at 11:10 shown of 14:40.

Rating: C+. This was a good but not great match. The problem here is Rollins had to drop all of the stuff that was going to get him cheered which leaves him with a less exciting although still good style. Ziggler continues to be a completely different wrestler on Smackdown and Raw and it’s getting a bit tiresome. These matches are entertaining but you know not to expect anything on Mondays.

Rollins is one of the young guns of WWE and a guy that is going to be a big deal in the future. I don’t think he has the star power or lasting abilities of the other members of Shield, but he could be the Jeff Hardy type and that’s quite the career, especially if you avoid the drugs. Awesome talent and a great high flier but he can do a lot more than that.

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