WWE Raw Superstar Profile: Seth Rollins

Seth Rollins was the first overall pick in the 2016 WWE Draft. Does that make him the best overall performer in World Wrestling Entertainment? He just might be.

The “Superstar Profile” series will take a look at an individual performer or team that’s currently part of the WWE roster by breaking it down into different categories. It will be Workrate, Promos, Charisma/Look, Character and then the Future Outlook leading to an overall grade. Could there be more categories? Sure, but those are the ones that will do the best job of covering everything.

To begin the Superstar Profile series, the best person to start with is the number one overall draft pick from the recent WWE Draft, Seth Rollins.

Name: Seth Rollins

Age: 30

Career Accomplishments: WWE World Heavyweight Champion (2x), WWE Tag Team Champion (w/Roman Reigns), WWE United States Champion, 2014 Money in the Bank Winner, First ever NXT Champion

Main roster debut: November 2012

Workrate (In-ring Performance)

Rollins is one of the best athletes in WWE because he wrestles a style that works against any opponent. His mix of power, speed, and technical wrestling is top notch. He’s had great matches with all kinds of different opponents whether it’s power guys like Cena or Lesnar or speed guys such as Zayn or Styles. It’s a fair comparison to say that he is like this era’s Shawn Michaels because it doesn’t seem like he’s capable of having a bad match.

His offense looks credible with moves like the top rope somersault dive, the Buckle Bomb, the superplex into a Falcon Arrow spot that looks so cool and the Pedigree finisher has a lot of credibility obviously. In terms of selling, he’s excellent at being in the right place at the right time, selling a body part if that’s part of the story and always working at a fast pace. You don’t hear “boring” chants during Rollins’ matches.

The only time he messed up a bit in the ring was when he broke John Cena’s nose with a stiff knee to the face. Sting also wrestled his last match against Rollins, but Sting didn’t blame Rollins for the injury he suffered after a Buckle Bomb. Other than that, he’s considered a safe worker. Grade: A

Promos

When he was with The Shield guys he didn’t get to talk that much. Then when he turned heel in June 2014 he was suddenly doing promos on nearly every Raw and Smackdown episode. That’s what happens when you’re a top heel in WWE because they get to talk more often. During that second half of 2014, he was just okay at promos, but as he got through 2015 it was obvious that he improved a lot. Out of the Shield trio, Dean Ambrose is probably the best talker although Rollins is pretty close to him. He’s improved a lot.

He comes off as a guy that is a more natural promo as a heel. If he goes face, would he be like the typical WWE good guy that makes jokes or pokes fun at his opponents? It may not be a natural thing for him since he doesn’t have that over the top personality. In his current role, he is very comfortable with a microphone in his hand. Grade: B+

Charisma/Look

Rollins doesn’t come across as an extremely charismatic guy. He does all the basics right and portrays himself like a true pro wrestler the way a guy like Bret Hart did, but he doesn’t have that extra level of charisma that a guy like The Rock had. It’s not like many people are like that, though. When you’re a heel, the job is to make the crowd angry and Rollins is good at that at least. Maybe if he was a face he’d be allowed to show more charisma.

His theme song really doesn’t make him stand out. It’s just a generic rock song that doesn’t come off as memorable. When he enters for a match he doesn’t go to the ring with fireworks blasting off everywhere or anything like that. It’s pretty basic. Think of Edge before he became the “Rated R Superstar” with the pyro and the great song. His intro was basic. Then they tweaked it, made it cooler and it became one of the best entrances ever.

As for his look, Rollins is usually on camera wearing a t-shirt with his tights on everywhere he goes. There were some times where he might wear a suit or something different, but mostly he just dresses like the pure wrestler that he is. Grade: B-

Character

Rollins is locked in as the top heel on the Raw brand that will likely be in that spot for a long time unless WWE feels it is time for a face turn. They could do one soon if they were to try a double turn with him and Roman Reigns, for example.

As a character, they still need to work on some things for him. He could really use a catchy nickname that people can really hold on to. “The Architect” didn’t really catch on like WWE wanted to. “The Man” isn’t strong enough as a nickname either.

A face turn could really help him just because the heel act really isn’t that strong without the backing of The Authority. At least when he had Triple H and Stephanie out there along with Kane, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble to assist him, it was easy to hate him due to all the cheap wins. Now he’s out there by himself having these incredible matches all the time, so why should we boo him? WWE needs to do a better job of making Rollins more of a jerk because right now that’s not being pushed enough. Grade: B

Future Outlook

Since he just turned 30 years old, it’s fair to say he’s in his wrestling prime with over a decade of experience. Rollins probably has another ten years left as a top guy in WWE (as long as he’s healthy) and he could go down in history as one of the best performers ever. He had that potential when they signed him to a deal six years ago. Now he’s living up to it.

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Rollins was arguably the top WWE performer in 2014 and 2015. He may not get that honor this year since he missed half the year coming back from major knee injury, but he’s going to be in considering for being the best performer of his generation as long as he can stay healthy. Prior to that torn ACL/MCL tear he really didn’t get hurt that often, so hopefully he can avoid major injury for the rest of his career.

In the immediate future, he’s facing Finn Balor at SummerSlam to see who will be the first WWE Universal Champion. Long term, he could remain as the top heel on the Raw brand or perhaps they’ll go a different route with him by turning him face later this year or early next year. Considering how good he is offensively, he should thrive as a face.

If you look at the entire roster in WWE, he may have the brightest future of them all because we already know how good he is and it’s very likely that he’s going to get even better in his 30s. If he was a stock, he would be a great investment.

Overall Grade: A

Next wrestler profile: Smackdown’s Dean Ambrose.

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