Last night on RAW, what should have been painfully obvoius to me all along, became crystal clear – Seth Rollins is still a heel.
RAW is wrestling’s bizarro world. Our friends at Top Rope Press wrote a piece last week pointing out that the biggest difference between Smackdown and RAW is the clear definition of Heels and Faces. While it’s very easy to see who the “good” and “bad” guys are on Smackdown, RAW’s morals are much more ambiguous. RAW’s top heels Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho routinely draw cheers for hilarious quips while top faces Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins draw a mixed reaction at best.
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While many have said the modern wrestling era is void of faces and heels, I believe the WWE is actually weaving a M. Night Shyamalan-esque tale heading to a major twist that we, when looking back, will realize was filled with obvious clues all along.
Last night on RAW several bread crumbs were dropped for us to pick up and follow to the obvious conclusion that Seth Rollins is still the same heel he’s always been.
In his exchange with Stephanie McMahon, First, Seth told Stephanie that he “knew the way she looked at him.” Would a virtuous hero accuse a woman of adulterous thoughts? I think not. Next, Seth asked Steph “what happens when he shows up on her front step” looking for Triple H and “one of your little kids answer the door”?
“What happens when I show up at your front step and one of your little kids answers the door, @StephMcMahon?” – @WWERollins #RAW pic.twitter.com/m10c1W8mBz
— WWE (@WWE) January 31, 2017
WHOA! That’s not even subtle heel talk. That’s a page from Jake the Snake Roberts’ super creepy heel playbook!
Later in the evening Triple H responded (to a cheering crowd) to Seth and pointed out what the WWE universe had mostly forgotten; when Seth Rollins returned from injury he still expected the Authority to have his back.
Seth Rollins never had his moment of redemption that usually signals any babyface turn. His return from injury included a pedigree to his former Shield-mate followed by a promo telling the crowd not to cheer for him.
Then, when Triple H handed the Universal Championship to Kevin Owens, it wasn’t because Seth Rollins had a change of heart and refused to do his evil bidding. It was simply that Trips no longer felt Rollins was worthy of being the top guy.
At that point, Rollins became the “good guy” by default. He was simply out of “bad guy” options. And now, outside of threatening a woman and her children, Rollins has been hunting down a man in Triple H who is, for the most part, retired. A man who doesn’t want to hurt his employees by getting in the ring with them.
When Samoa Joe made his main roster debut last night, the RAW crowd went nuts. This was mostly because they had been waiting on him to show up ever since the Royal Rumble started, but there is certainly a large portion of the audience that is finding it hard to cheer for Seth Rollins. Besides being awesome in the ring (and at crossfit), he really hasn’t given us much of a reason to.
Seth Rollins never turned babyface. We just freakin wanted him to.
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