Seth Rollins Needed to Stay Heel in WWE Return
By Sean Neumann
WWE made the right call in keeping Seth Rollins heel.
When Seth Rollins returned in the closing moments of Extreme Rules, he made a statement. He was coming to reclaim his WWE World Heavyweight Championship from the man he originally stole it from. The problem was that most of us mistook Rollins’ pedigree for a man on a mission: to absolve the WWE Universe of its problem with Roman Reigns.
Yes, the immediate payoff for Rollins to reveal his face turn the next night on Monday Night RAW would have been a sweet one. In fact, it was for the first few minutes of his promo that opened the show. There was something about him that turned his cockiness into a savior-like attitude – you know, the one guy to finally rescue the Internet Wrestling Community from its Roman Reigns purgatory. But Rollins it took (literally) less than five minutes for his character to soak in the heat of the spotlight and turn into his old, fiery self again – a natural heel seemingly bound to forever smirk while he stabs others in the back.
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But why can’t you cheer for him if you think he is that savior – the one who returns to dethrone the Roman Empire and reclaim what’s rightfully his? Why can’t you, as a fan, pick who you want and ferociously deny who you don’t? Hint: You can. And in this new era of the WWE, that’s the whole point. Rollins doesn’t need to be a face for the crowd to be able to cheer him. Common sense tells us that and if you can’t hear what it’s saying, JBL is there to remind you every few seconds. Reigns, who by this point is obviously not flipping sides anytime soon, needs a heel Rollins over the next couple of months more than the crowd needs a face Rollins.
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More importantly, Rollins keeping put in his moral ground acts as a pivot point for other major storylines leading up to Summerslam. With Stephanie McMahon’s power struggle with her brother Shane keeping quiet for now, there’s no doubt it’s coming to a head at Summerslam in some sort of winner-take-all showdown between Shane and The Authority. Rollins is still their guy and he’ll be a major player when Triple HHH and Stephanie decide enough’s enough and look to reclaim control of RAW – perhaps some unexpected involvement in the main event of Money in the Bank or Battleground?
Also, Rollins might not be the face to take the title off Reigns – the IWC savior – after all. It’s still likely that spot is being kept warm for Dean Ambrose, who’s in top contention to win the Money in the Bank briefcase and overcome two of his former brothers to capture the world title at SummerSlam.
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Reigns and Rollins are both established champions. They’re handpicked top dogs – one in storyline and the other in reality – but Ambrose has yet to get the nudge over the upper-mid card and permanently into the main event. With Rollins remaining the heel and Reigns still the guy with feet on both sides of the line, Ambrose is the face that everyone can cheer for when it comes time to crown a new WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam.