Seth Rollins unsuccessfully challenged Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship this past Sunday at Clash Of Champions. The Prize Fighter retained the championship after a distraction by his best friend, Chris Jericho.
During the match, Seth Rollins suffered a rib injury after receiving a gutbuster from Kevin Owens. Rollins was also reportedly seen having trouble breathing backstage, indicating a rib injury. The next night on Raw, they played off the injury and made it into an angle which saw The Architect not being cleared to compete.
He even tried to confront Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho in The Highlight Reel but was stopped by security personnel and backstage personalities like Fit Finlay and Raw General Manager Mick Foley.
No clear indication was given as to what the exact issue was, but allwrestlingnews.com is reporting that Rollins only suffered a slight tissue damage. It is not a major injury, but WWE just played off of it, and will likely play off it next week as well. Allwrestlingnews also stated that had it been a broken or cracked rib, Rollins would likely have been on the shelf for the next six to twelve weeks.
It is indeed fortunate that it wasn’t a major injury, as The Architect is now positioned in the top babyface role of Raw. The issue with Raw is the ambiguity over the faces and heels, and the lack thereof. Finn Balor was being pushed as the top babyface of Raw but was unfortunately injured at Summerslam, and is expected back only around Royal Rumble or some time on the road to Wrestlemania.
If Rollins gets injured now, it would mean that WWE would be forced to put Roman Reigns back in the top babyface spot, something which the fans still continue to reject the idea of. Despite this, it is being reported that Reigns will be back in the main event picture by Royal Rumble at least, if not earlier than that.
Though Rollins is in that spot, he is not yet a full-fledged babyface. He still has heelish tendencies, but the turn is slowly happening. Perhaps when they decide to start building up his match with Triple H, the turn will be cemented.
However, as always, he is a key player. He is one of the top 3 acts in all of WWE and him being injured again would be absolutely devastating for the company.
