How Seth Rollins has one of the most compelling character arcs in WWE today

In addition to his recent remarkable run as The Monday Night Messiah, Seth Rollins deserves credit for crafting the quintessential character arc throughout his WWE career.

A compelling character arc is crucial for any aspiring Superstar aiming to achieve success in WWE, but it’s amazing to think how many competitors on the current roster lack that pivotal piece of the puzzle.

While Seth Rollins’ road to super stardom since showing up at Survivor Series 2012 with the rest of The Shield hasn’t exactly been ideal, his various ups and downs over the years have given him one of the best backgrounds of anyone in WWE today.

For starters, he has been brilliant so far as the self-professed “Monday Night Messiah” for the past two months. There’s a very good chance he would still be the top face on the Raw roster right now had the WWE Universe not turned against him when they did, but the company was smart to read the writing on the wall and organically go with the flow by transitioning him into a heel role.

That is merely one example of Rollins capitalizing on fans’ reactions to him and in the process adding another layer to his already deeply-rooted character.

As stellar as The Shield was for the time they were together, Rollins was easily the biggest afterthought of the group. Dean Ambrose had major heel potential and Roman Reigns was basically the breakout star of the group with his strong showings at Survivor Series 2013 and Royal Rumble 2014, whereas Rollins’ sole defining trait in The Shield was that he was a talented wrestler.

That wasn’t going to be enough to get him over when the day inevitably came for them to go their separate ways. In storyline, he used all of that pent-up frustration as fuel to prove the world wrong, leading to his shocking betrayal of his brethren in June 2014.

Once he was on his own, the man now known as The Architect finally found his footing as a performer. Although his in-ring arsenal was more befitting of a babyface, he needed to go heel before he could reach his full potential as a fan favorite.

Rollins’ reasoning for turning on Ambrose and Reigns made sense and was what helped him establish an identity for himself post-Shield. The crowd chanted “You sold out!” at him for many months, but he didn’t coast off of that memorable moment. Instead, he used it to his advantage and honed his skills on the microphone (an area he had been underwhelming in prior to that point).

While his matches never ceased to deliver, he ensured that the crowd was always against him because he was a textbook heel. It wasn’t until he got injured in November 2015 and he went away for six months that the audience slowly started to turn in his favor.

After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Everyone expected him to come back as a babyface, but from a storyline standpoint, he had zero incentive to shift his character’s motivations so quickly (aside from the crowd suddenly wanting to cheer him). It seemed like a strange booking decision at the time for Rollins to return as a heel, but in retrospect, it was perfectly logical.

One night removed from his hot return on Raw, he cut an excellent promo explaining that he never needed the fans and that certainly wasn’t going to change even though he was gone for so long. He remained rue to his heel roots before being betrayed by Triple H on the August 28, 2016 edition of Raw, which served as the catalyst for him to turn face at long last.

Triple H and The Authority was the sole reason why he went rogue in the first place, and with that partnership in the past, Rollins was willing to see the light again. Besides, the WWE Universe was ready to cheer Seth Rollins again and this was the perfect opportunity for him to allow them to do so.

That paved the way for the “Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim” version of Rollins’ character, where he was determined to get back what he never lost (the WWE Championship) and transform into the rebellious anti-hero Raw desperately needed back then.

Unfortunately, his face run early on wasn’t well booked whatsoever. He failed to regain the top title every chance he had and suffered another knee injury at the onset of 2017. Thankfully, he recovered in time for WrestleMania 33, where he beat Triple H in an intense Unsanctioned match.

Rollins showed glimmers of greatness during this period but largely floundered. This was arguably when his character was at its least interesting because of how he bounced around from feud to feud with minimal long-term direction, but that changed once he set his sights on something worth fighting for: the Intercontinental Championship.

His pursuit of the prestigious prize, combined with his performances in February 2018’s Gauntlet and Elimination Chamber matches, caused his stock to skyrocket. He rode that wave of momentum into WrestleMania 34 and won the title before embarking on a reign for the ages.

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For the first time in his career, Seth Rollins came across like a true top babyface. From being universally hated as a heel to organically becoming a beloved fan favorite, his character arc was complete, or so we thought.

The more successful Rollins became, from winning the Royal Rumble to conquering Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania 35, the more fans grew tired of him. He didn’t do himself many favors with some of the stuff he was saying on social media and in interviews, which effectively turned him heel long before he actually did.

Rollins never intended to get people to hate him with those comments. He was simply misunderstood in most cases because fans didn’t agree with his opinion and thus his latest heel turn came naturally to him.

Roman Reigns, for example, has achieved a lot over the course of his WWE career and has competed in more marquee matches than anyone, but his character has very little depth because of how he’s been portrayed by the company.

Like John Cena, he never fed into the disdain fans had for him or bothered to evolve his character. When someone overcomes obstacles as often as he does, it hurts their connection with the crowd because it isn’t realistic. Rollins’ journey, on the other hand, is very relatable.

Few other Superstars on SmackDown or Raw right now can say they’ve had such a spectacular character arc where everything they did was done with a purpose. Whether he’s sporting Shield garb or boasting about being The Monday Night Messiah, it’s safe to say Rollins won’t rest until he’s exhausted every storytelling tactic imaginable.