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Seth Rollins is a name that is almost synonymous with the WWE. For the new generation of fans, he is one of those competitors who sets the benchmark in terms of performance.
Be it as a face or a heel, Rollins has made an impact both backstage and in the ring. Ever since his Shield days, he has been destined for greatness and was handpicked by the authority to represent the WWE as the face of the business.
He has held the WWE and Universal championship titles twice already in his short career and is on his way to becoming a future WWE legend in his own right.
The former Shield member recently sat down with long-time friend Jimmy Jacobs for the Jimmy Jacobs Doesn't Know podcast. The interview wasn't your traditional wrestling question-and-answer session with routine questions and canned responses. Instead, 'The Architect' veered away from professional wrestling and spoke openly about philosophy, his love life, and what he thinks about religion.
In the process, Rollins revealed a personal side that the WWE Universe doesn't often get to see on television. Join us as we examine five things wrestling fans don't know about Seth Rollins.
#5 He's generous to those he loves
Seth Rollins was once one of the most evil heels in professional wrestling history. He broke the collective hearts of wrestling fans everywhere when he betrayed his Shield brethren only to join forces with the evil Triple H led Authority. Along with a fiendish maniacal laugh, he played the role of villain like a master composer and we hung on every word.
He soon turned face and became a fan favorite. But the WWE universe were still not convinced as Rollins is as conniving as they come. They did suspect right as he then became the 'Messiah' and is currently one of the top heels on Smackdown.
His social media presence is strong and fans spend a lot of time carefully dissecting every comment he makes on various platforms. Rollins was so convincing as a heel that some wrestling fans might never believe that he is an exceptionally good human being.
Real-life babyface: The architect 'takes care of those he loves most.
He told Jimmy Jacobs,
"One thing about wrestling that's great - it's provided me with this life, but also people that I care about, my circle....I just recently purchased a house for my grandparents and my parents. It's nothing major - I'm not buying mansions for these people. My grandparents are old. They are in their 80s and now they have something they don't have to worry about. This is a place they can live out the rest of their lives and be happy. That's super gratifying to me that I've been able to do that through beating the crap out of myself for the last twenty years."
Rollins continued,
"I'm overworked, underappreciated, but I'm content. I've got a great setup. I'm as in the moment as can be - thrilled and very grateful. I'm able to provide for most of the loved ones around me to make sure they are as well taken care of as they can be."
#4 He's a deep thinker
WWE superstar Seth Rollins cuts one of the best promos in the business. He's a master of the mic and is one of the most talked-about wrestling personalities, due to the carefully crafted words he chooses.
The former Universal Champion is intelligent, but also might just be a philosophical genius.
Rollins summoned his inner Nick Bockwinkel and went deep with long-time friend Jimmy Jacobs,
"I think when I first drifted into the idea of nihilism or determinism - determinism is basically everything happens because something else before it happened and that is infinite. [It's a chain reaction] back to the Big Bang. All things being exactly the same in the Universe twenty seconds ago - nothing else could have been any different then it was right after that moment. That's determinism."
With the acuity of an esteemed professor, Rollins went into further detail about determinism,
"It was a weird turn for me. My whole life had always been the opposite of that. I was the one determining it. I, me, myself - I was the one making the decisions. I was the one who was saying, 'You work harder than everybody else. You make these decisions. You're responsible for everything. This is why I'm successful.' Then I started looking at things from an outside perspective and sort of ended up being a determinist and a little bit nihilistic in the sense that I didn't think anything happened for a specific reason. It just happens because it happens and we're kind of watching it go by. That terrified me, but I think I'm still on that."
The mind is officially blown.
If you're a philosophy buff, there's much more where that came from, and readers can catch the Jimmy Jacobs Doesn't Know podcast in its entirety at the end of the slideshow. If you have no idea what the former Universal Champion is talking about and are now left pondering your existence, I'd like to officially welcome you to the world of philosophy.
#3 He's an atheist....maybe
For years, Seth Rollins has considered himself an atheist and while that is still technically the case, he appears to be open-minded about changing some of his long-held beliefs.
Rollins told Jimmy Jacobs,
"I've been an atheist and I still think that I am, but again it's a story that I've told myself, that I've convinced myself and again, you have to strip all these things away, and that's kind of what happened. At some point, you have to ask yourself, 'What do you know?' You don't know anything. Even a lot of top level scientists, who profess to be atheists in some way are generally more open to the idea of being wrong."
Rollins is open to being proven wrong, although he hasn't personally seen enough evidence yet,
"If there was something that proved me wrong that there was a god out there then I would be willing to accept that, but I've seen no evidence for that....I've become more open minded recently to the idea of the unknown, I suppose. I think the stories of God or gods, or whatever, are for the most part nonsense, but the idea that there is something beyond us, or what we know, seems to be - you can't deny that the possibility exists. It would be very small minded to limit yourself that way.
#2 He's found the love of his life
Seth Rollins has been unlucky in love. After a well-publicized breakup with long-time girlfriend Leighla Schultz, Rollins dated former NXT Superstar Zahra Schreiber, but nothing seemed to work out for him, leaving him frustrated in the romance department.
Rollins told Jacobs,
"You've got to have some suffering to have the opposite. You have to. There's a balance to it, I feel like. There's yin and yang. I'm using Becky [Lynch] as an example, just because it's easy for me. I needed those terrible relationships before - and they weren't all terrible, but I needed bad experiences in relationships before to get myself to the point where I could be in a good relationship with her, and to be where I wanted to get married."
Lynch has entirely changed Rollins' outlook on love,
"Literally, before I was with her, at the end of my last relationship, I was considering all sorts of nonsense. I came to polygamy and open relationships. I was thinking, 'Maybe, that's it. Maybe this is what my lifestyle will be for the rest of my life. I'll never be lonely.' Then that happened and here I am in a whole different place mentally. You need suffering for happiness, I think."
Rollins and Lynch announced their engagement in August 2019 and the former Universal Champion considers Lynch to be the love of his life,
"I get to share the rest of my life with the love of my life, which I think has put me in a different place mentally. There's some crazy security to that I never thought I'd even care about having. To know that you don't have to do anything alone anymore is kind of cool."
If that doesn't warm your heart, you need to have your pulse checked. The couple are currently planning their wedding and have a daughter named Roux who was born in December 2020.
#1 He has struggled with contentment
In his twenties, Seth Rollins lacked contentment, not that it was necessarily a bad thing. Rollins was driven and relentlessly pursued his dreams. Hellbent on perfecting his craft, he became one of the best professional wrestlers in the world, but wasn't happy.
Rollins explained,
"When I got to that point [of being on top] I immediately asked, 'What's next?' Then, I was lost because I had dedicated basically my entire adult life to getting to that moment. What's next? Do I stay here? There was no feeling of like, 'Now I've done it. Things are great. I'll be here for the next thirty of forty years and then I'll die.' I don't know. There's no contentment. There was no moment. There was no, 'This is it. I've won the World Series. I won the Super Bowl. I won the World Title at WrestleMania.' I did it and it was cool, but I was like, 'What's next?'"
Despite reaching the pinnacle of his profession, Rollins was unable to find what he was looking for. This prompted Rollins to engage in some serious self-reflection. He repeatedly questioned himself and came to the conclusion that he didn't really know who he was.
After coming to terms with everything, he began to make changes,
"In a sense, I was trapped in that bubble of, 'This is all I want. That's all I wanted.' I didn't want anything else and I would have sacrificed anything else, personally, to get to that point. When I got to that point, I achieved my goal, and I was the top guy in the profession I had chosen. I thought that would give me everything I wanted. It has not. It left me unfulfilled and now we've got to figure this out."
Although he admits to not having things entirely figured out just yet, he's currently in a much better place.
(Transcription Credit: Michael McClead, Sportskeeda)
Readers may listen to the Seth Rollins interview in its entirety below:
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