WWE: Seth Rollins is keeping Raw from sinking

It’s been almost 18 months since an hour long plus performance in a Raw gauntlet match made Seth Rollins the biggest name in wrestling. In that match he pinned both John Cena and Roman Reigns, clean as a whistle, one after the other.

We always knew he was special – his legendary Money in the Bank cash-in at WrestleMania 35 and subsequent title run as the most athletic and likable heel in the business established him as a top performer – but Seth Rollins was always behind somebody else in the pecking order.

Behind Cena. Behind Reigns. Behind Brock. He would open Wrestlemania 34 against The Miz and Finn Balor, taking all of that momentum straight into an Intercontinental Title run.

Now, from the first moment of 2019, Seth Rollins has been running the show.

With Cena gone and Roman Reigns out of action, somebody had to step up and take over Raw. The Architect was the man to do it. While Becky Lynch and Kofi Kingston grabbed headlines, Rollins grabbed hearts.

He came up against The Beast, but would not back down. Since April, when a well placed arm to the groin granted The Beastslayer the Universal Title, Seth Rollins has been carrying Raw.

Ratings are down across the board, but Rollins still rates highly. YouTube views are dominated by the Firefly Funhouse and the 24/7 Title, but The Kingslayer still draws high. When it comes to match quality, nobody has delivered like The Man has and by The Man, I mean The Man who is also a man rather than The Man who is simply The Man; Becky Lynch.

This is also the best Universal Championship run so far. Although, it’s not amongst great competition though, to be fair.

Finn Balor had to surrender the title. Kevin Owens was a paper champion who never won a match clean throughout his whole title reign. Goldberg was a champion with about half an hour of total TV time; two pay-per-views included. Brock Lesnar delivered great matches and vanished for months at a time while Roman Reigns had only two defenses before his reign was cut short.

The night after The Beast was slain, Seth Rollins took on Kofi Kingston in a high quality affair. He then went straight into an extremely exciting feud with AJ Styles; a best in the world showdown that delivered in a huge way at Money in the Bank. In one month, Rollins took on three top competitors and made huge contributions to what has become the Rollins Era of Raw.

Since then he has wrestled great matches with talent on the cusp of top runs in Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens and Baron Corbin. Yes, I know, Baron Corbin is unpopular, but he’s a heat magnet with a great move set and the world at his feet. Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar continues to sniff around the Champion of the Universe.

Seth Rollins has been one of the best wrestlers in the world for a long time. With Raw struggling in the ratings and under pressure when it comes to consistent quality, someone has to raise the banner and fly the flag. For all the building pressure, there is one man leading the locker room in the fight against SmackDown Live, All Elite Wrestling and their own complacency.

He might still be The Man after all.