WWE: Don’t Look Now, But Seth Rollins Is The Top Babyface

Last night on WWE Raw, Seth Rollins pinned Roman Reigns and John Cena in a little over an hour, earning the nickname “Monday Night Rollins”. But his Gauntlet Match performance was about more than just bringing the crowd to its feet. It was confirmation that Rollins is now WWE’s top babyface.

“Roman Reigns will win the Elimination Chamber and defeat Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WWE WrestleMania, earning yet another coronation at the Show of Shows.”

But what about Seth Rollins?

“Jason Jordan and Dean Ambrose both won the Raw Tag Team Championships, and both are out for WrestleMania due to injuries.”

But what about Seth Rollins?

“Finn Balor has a chance to become the sixth man in the Elimination Chamber by competing in a second chance Fatal Four-Way on WWE Raw.”

But what about Seth Rollins?

“Roman Reigns is the WWE’s top babyface, whether you like it or not.”

But what about Seth Rollins?

Up until last week when Rollins and Balor both pinned Bray Wyatt in a Fatal Five-Way match to make the Elimination Chamber match a seven-man affair, “The Architect” didn’t even have a match scheduled for the pay per view. Worse yet, his WrestleMania plans were completely up in the air.

That’s quite puzzling, considering Rollins is a two-time WWE Champion. Surely, the WWE would have something big planned for one of its top stars.

Rollins’s character played off of those frustrations by cutting a tremendous promo before last night’s Raw that you can watch below.

The title of that video? “Rollins is tired of being underappreciated.”

After last night’s Gauntlet Match on WWE Raw, nobody under-appreciates Rollins.

Rollins put together one of the gutsiest performances I have ever seen in the history of WWE, and I know I have a tendency to be hyperbolic, but I fell in love with “The Man” all over again. And so did the entire crowd. After he was eliminated by Elias, exhausted from defeating both Roman Reigns and John Cena cleanly, the crowd gave him an ovation, chanting “Thank you, Seth!”

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I cannot stress that enough. In the same night, after fighting for an hour, Rollins beat Reigns and Cena clean. In. The. Same. Night. He countered the Spear into a roll-up to eliminate Reigns. He kicked out of an attitude adjustment, hit Cena with an attitude adjustment of his own, and blasted the 16-time champion with a “Stomp” all in the same match.

After Cena was eliminated, he confirmed, in an interview no less, what the WWE had been playing up all night – that Seth has earned the nickname “Monday Night Rollins.”

Let me say that again. John Cena, the WWE’s biggest draw today, just said that the WWE’s flagship show is Rollins’s show. If you want to gloss over that, then that’s on you.

This year, Finn Balor was the WWE’s “Ironman” in the Royal Rumble, and the company clearly cares about Balor. Not only did the Kliq put the Balor Club over at Raw 25 in a cool segment to close the show, but they made sure he was in the Elimination Chamber.

Yet, Balor couldn’t beat Cena in a one-on-one match the night after the Rumble. Meanwhile, Rollins beat Cena after already exerting himself to the nth degree in order to take out Reigns. You know, the Reigns who has beaten Balor and just about everyone who has crossed his path, with Cena included in that list of victims.

I like to be bold, and if I’m going to be wrong, I might as well do it in as forceful of a manner as I can. In that spirit, I believe the WWE has just confirmed that Seth Rollins is their top babyface. I’m not saying he’s a bigger deal than Reigns, but he is the WWE’s top face.

Think about it. Who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to “save” the main event of WrestleMania 31? Who beat Reigns cleanly for the WWE Championship soon after Reigns defeated Triple H during a failed WrestleMania 32 coronation? And who beat Triple H at WrestleMania 33 after “The Game” screwed him out of the Universal Championship?

The Rock. John Cena. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Brock Lesnar. Seth Freaking Rollins. That’s the list of WWE2K cover stars since WWE2K14. Keep that in mind, because being the cover guy is a big deal, and that’s certainly elite company that Seth is in.

Per SEScoops.com’s Jon Fuentes, Dave Meltzer had this to say on Wrestling Observer Radio about Rollins defeating Reigns during the Gauntlet Match:

"“Roman’s loss is not just a loss. A lot of the time I get mad when they have a top guy lose for no reason whatsoever. It’s kind of like if you’re a top guy and you lose, it should only be for a reason and this had a reason, I think. I think the reason is that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins will be working a program down the line. If they’re not, then it was for no reason.”"

Recall that Reigns eliminated Rollins in the Royal Rumble. Note the rumor that Reigns could become the next “Paul Heyman guy” after WrestleMania 34 when Lesnar presumably leaves the WWE for the UFC.

That, of course, sounds too good to be true. But as Meltzer said, Rollins beating Reigns and Cena clean in the same night right after cutting an amazing scrappy, babyface promo has to mean something. This is especially true if you take into account Rollins’s career to this point, as he’s been scraping as a babyface after once being the best and most fearsome heel around. He excelled as the Authority’s poster boy, and now he’s excelling as a hard-nosed babyface who took down the leader of the Authority at WrestleMania 33.

I could see Reigns becoming almost on a different level from the usual babyface/heel dynamic or everyday performer. They’ve already taken steps to do that by calling him “The Guy”. By this, I mean that Reigns becomes something like the Undertaker or Brock Lesnar.

He won’t be exactly like those guys, but he isn’t the top babyface, per se. Rollins will be the top babyface who is the star of the show every night and the guy the crowd gets behind, but Reigns will be the respected top guy (or heel, if we’re still in dreamland). But Reigns will indeed be more black-and-white (and likely more dominant) than the top babyface.

Either way, Rollins is the top babyface that the WWE Universe has been clamoring for, and beyond the fact that he absolutely tore the roof off in a historic performance last night, he also sounded like a top babyface.

In an interview after the match, Rollins didn’t gloat about beating Reigns and Cena. He didn’t care. Why didn’t he care? Because he knows it doesn’t mean anything if he can’t win at the Elimination Chamber. That’s how a babyface should act. When John Cena started dancing around during his entrance instead of coming in to fight, Rollins took this as disrespectful and laid out Cena because Rollins is on a mission and doesn’t have time to waste. That’s how a babyface should act.

Keep your fingers crossed for a Triple Threat Lesnar/Reigns/Rollins match at WrestleMania, but even if that doesn’t happen, just know that the WWE did indeed put over Seth in a huge way last night and got a perfect response from the crowd to boot.

Next: The Top 10 Greatest Moments In Elimination Chamber History

That performance, though, wasn’t jut an isolated moment. It’s been the culmination of steady performance by one of the best and hardest working superstars in the WWE, because Rollins has earned the fans’ respect each and every night. Again, there’s a reason why he’s this year’s 2K cover guy, and there’s a reason why he beat Triple H at WrestleMania last year.

Roman Reigns is “The Guy”.

But Seth Rollins is “The Man”.