Seth Rollins’ monster 2018 began the moment he hit a surprise Curb Stomp on Finn Balor to end a January RAW. Ever since that night, WWE has renamed Rollins’ finisher several times, and now they’ve found a permanent solution.
From now until the end of time, Seth Rollin’s finishing maneuver will be called “The Stomp.” This means we can officially retire “The Blackout,” “Peace of Mind,” and the original “Curb Stomp.”
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While the name is important to Seth Rollins and his brand, it’s far more important that the Kingslayer can use the move again. Until being reunited with his old weapon, Rollins borrowed Triple H’s Pedigree then gave the Ripcord Knee a try. Neither came close to the originality nor the explosiveness of The Stomp and Rollins felt like a lesser wrestler because of it.
WWE banned Rollin’s patented move soon after he became WWE Champion at WrestleMania 31. Citing its contentious name and inherent danger for fans trying to recreate it in the backyard, Vince McMahon ordered the decree that the Stomp was gone.
Rollins shared the anecdote on how The Stomp took a hiatus during an appearance on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast.
“No more blonde and The Curbstomp is gone, guys. It’s not my fault. Trust me. It’s not like I was [saying], ‘oh yes, I want a new finisher.’ No, they snatched it from me. They took it from me. No, so this is what happened, okay? After WrestleMania, I had won the [WWE] title, and I flew across the country to do the Today Show. For the Today Show, they put together a package of all of Seth Rollins‘ awesome maneuvers. At the time, my finish was The Curbstomp.”
However, since Rollins and his then Curbstomp now had national media attention, Vince McMahon decided it wasn’t the best look for WWE.
“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 Curbstomp 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.”
This story is developing…
