Seth Rollins is something of a gatekeeper for WWE right now. That’s meant not in a derogatory sense like for fandoms, but simply means that when he doesn’t like something or think it’s good for the company, he’ll tell you.
In character, Rollins dislikes his WrestleMania 39 opponent, Logan Paul, because he believes Paul is a glory hound who is simply using the WWE to line his pockets. And in real life, Rollins apparently has some issues with Cody Rhodes not deserving the spot he currently inhabits.
After Rhodes commented several days ago that he almost got into a legit fight with Rollins, Seth was asked for his side of the story by ESPN’s Daniel Cormier (h/t Fightful). He stopped short of a confirmation but suggested he does have some legitimate issues with the American Nightmare.
I can’t get into so many details on that. There is a level of truth to that. The bottom line is, I feel, based on my body of work and what I’ve contributed to this company over the course of this last decade; I should be in that position. I’m the one who has held it down while he drifted off and went and did his own thing, respect to him, great. He drifted off and did his own thing. I’m the one who held it down. Whenever everybody got hurt or did something else or went off or took part-time schedules or wanted to do less and ask for more or wanted to go somewhere else because they weren’t happy — you don’t think there has been plenty of times where I haven’t been happy or plenty of times where I haven’t felt like I’ve been on the short end of the stick? There are a ton of stories I could tell about that, but I don’t, I keep it to myself. I put my head down, I work hard, I vouch for this company. I feel like, what he’s getting … I’m just not entirely comfortable with it. That just creates some natural friction between the two of us. When tempers flare, tempers flare. There is a little truth to that, but I can’t get into too many details. There is some level of mutual respect, there has to be in this industry, but at the same time, there is animosity as well.
The admission of “friction” and “animosity” might come as a surprise when one recalls that Rhodes’ first extensive program after making his WWE return last year was with Rollins. It began at WrestleMania 38, when Rhodes was revealed as Rollins’ surprise opponent.
To say their careers have gone in different directions over the past year would be a bit of an understatement considering both will be in high profile matches this weekend at WrestleMania 39. Yet it’s Rhodes who gets the chance to close the show against Roman Reigns Sunday night, and the gatekeeper obviously feels like he should have been given more consideration to do that instead.