Seth Rollins Welcomes Back ‘Old Friend’ on RAW

After being banished for nearly two years, the Curb Stomp is back.

They may not have known it then, but when WWE banned Seth Rollins‘ patented finisher, they did considerable damage to one of their top stars. Rollins became an orphan of sorts as he tried to find new landing spots with The Pedigree and Ripcord Knee, but neither seemed to fit his character.

So when Rollins buried Finn Balor’s skull into the mat with the outlawed move, no one, not even Rollins knew how to react. As fun as it would be to think that Rollins was frustrated enough to uncork the move in a unilateral fashion, that’s not the case. The Curb Stomp is officially back, but it’s now being called the Blackout, the same name Rollins used for the move in his NXT days.

Pardon us, but we’re going to overreact to this. Rollins getting back his iconic finisher cannot be understated. The moves’ explosiveness an flexibility is enough to capture any casual fan, on top of it is perfectly tailored to fit the heel Seth Rollins character.

The move was originally banned because of its violent appearance and contentious name. Rollins told the story about the day Vince McMahon decided to strip him of the move on Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast.

“So Vince McMahon is sitting wherever Vince McMahon sits on a Monday morning and he’s seeing me on the Today Show and I look good in a suit. I’m representing the company. I look good in a suit. And I’m wearing the title and then he sees this package of me stomping another man’s head into the ground and it being called The Curb Stomp on national television. And he thought to himself, ‘well, that’s not a good representation of what I want my top guy to do,’ so he just had a meeting with some of his people, and they decided, ‘well, we don’t need it – we can figure out another finish for you’ and the rest is history. I get it. I hate it. I think it’s silly, but it is what it is and it’s not my company. I’m doing the best I can with it.”

Now that the move has been exiled only to return, its objectively the most stories finisher in all of WWE right now. This is worthy of getting excited about as Seth Rollins may be in for a big 2018.