411’s WWE Rivals Report: Triple H vs. Seth Rollins

-We are back with episode two of our double feature this Sunday Night. Earlier we had Flair/Rhodes and my review can be found here. Let’s get to it!

-Gabriel Iglesias is at the table this time with JBL, Natalya, Cody Rhodes, and Kevin Nash. Again, weird they didn’t have Cody there for Dusty/Flair. The story of HHH/Seth is the teacher vs. the student!

-We start with Seth and see the home videos of him wrestling with his Hulk Hogan wrestling buddy. He notes he was a Hulk-a-maniac as a kid and then fell in love with wrestling again during The Attitude Era. So, what I’m hearing is he hated The New Generation! He spent many afternoons in detention for telling people to “Suck It.” I got kicked out of a high school basketball game for saying that once (I was a Freshman in college at the time).

-We get a rundown of HHH rising up the card in The Attitude Era and becoming WWF Champion. Seth notes he wanted to see someone kick HHH’s ass and that was the idea. JBL says HHH is that good and puts him over for all the guys he made. He made Batista and Randy. Well, he made Batista, but I am not sure I would give him credit for Randy. Sam Roberts goes over the story of HHH going up the card, marrying Stephanie and being handed NXT to apprentice as a booker.

-Back to Seth as Tyler Black is working the indies and making a name for himself. He only ever wanted to be in the WWE and all they offered him was a chance. Seth fought everyone in NXT and says all he wanted was growth. He knew he had a lot to offer the main roster and he was not afraid to ruffle some feather including those of The Red Rooster himself, Terry Taylor. He notes that Seth was an angry man that wanted it all and wanted it now. HHH was ready to call Seth up but Terry told him that Seth was immature and wasn’t ready. That made HHH reconsider, and he realized Seth would screw things up if called up too early. He sat Seth down and told him to get with the program, or “you can tell me how great you are somewhere else.” Nice! Seth says HHH told him he didn’t see anything special in him. Seth’s thoughts: “go fuck yourself.” Nobody was going to tell him how special he was or wasn’t and it lit a fire under him.

-NXT Gold Rush: Seth flipped a switch and started to buy in. He becomes the first NXT Champion and HHH shakes his had after the match. Dusty is there as well! Seth says it meant everything to him as they jumped over some hurdles together. HHH says it was his call and people questioned why it had to be him because of his attitude. HHH told Seth they were going to do business together, so “don’t make me sorry.”

-Commercials!

-The Shield make their debut in Nov 2012 at Survivor Series and they change wrestling history. They knocked things out of the park from day one. Cody says he was on the roster and there was such jealousy with the boys as The Shield just ran over everyone. HHH says they all stepped up to the plate and took their shot.

-Stephanie brings up The Authority and how they were the evil bosses. HHH was a villain on screen, but we all knew he was also in charge behind the scenes. Nattie says the story was thought provoking as you didn’t know how much was real and how much wasn’t.

-Evolution vs. The Shield! This was great as The Shield smoked them on back-to-back PPVs to make their even bigger stars. We go to Payback as they had one heck of an Elimination Match and The Shield won in a sweep. HHH credits Seth for making it so easy to do those matches.

-HHH says his thought was The Shield was as hot as they were going to be, so what next? The RAW after Payback we get Plan B and it’s the iconic moment where Seth turned on The Shield and cracked Roman with a chair. Crazy that moment gets paid off 10 years later at Mania XL! That was the best thing for Seth as I was worried he might get left behind by Roman and even Ambrose.

-Now Seth gets to work closely with HHH and gets to pick his brain. He also got to use The Pedigree as his finisher as The Curb Stomp was banned at the time.

-We jump to WrestleMania 31 where Seth cashes in Money in The Bank and becomes WWE Champion. We see backstage where HHH congratulates Seth and gives him words of encouragement. Kevin Owens talks about how great the moment was as that was his friend and we see him hugging Seth backstage. KO was still in NXT at that point.

-Seth wanted it to be the greatest Title run of all time. Graves thinks HHH saw himself in Seth. HHH says it was great to see Seth as Champion, but you can never take it for granted.

-Commercials!

-Seth says staying on top is much harder than getting to the top. A live event in Dublin, Ireland see Seth destroy his knee giving Kane a powerbomb through a table. It’s kind of nasty as you see his knee buckle and twist. He tore his ACL, MCL, and meniscus and needed surgery ASAP which ended his Title reign. We see the footage from the surgery and hear the doctor talk about how severe the injury was.

-The table talks about the heartache of getting knocked out by injury and how hard it is to watch as the business moves on without you. Everyone feels bad, but the show has to go on and there are only so many spots.

-WrestleMania 32: Seth has to watch from a suite. He says it was really hard for him as he wanted to top what he did the previous year. He has to watch as HHH loses to Roman Reigns in the Main Event.

-Seth was cleared but didn’t know if he was ready. He had been out for six months, but the decision was to bring him back at Extreme Rules. More backstage footage as Seth says not knowing was a scary feeling. He had the same fear everyone does, who returns from injury: will them remember me? The remembered as Seth was given a hero’s welcome for attacking Roman and sticking him with a Pedigree.

-We skip Seth winning The WWE Title and then Ambrose cashing in on him and jump to RAW where a new Universal Champion needs crowned after Balor’s injury. Everyone figured HHH would help Seth, but that didn’t happen.

-Commercials!

-Back to RAW where HHH hits Rollins with a Pedigree and Kevin Owens becomes Universal Champion. Big face pop for HHH that night! They actually let this marinate and take it all the way to WrestleMania. HHH’s explanation for turning on Seth makes sense. Seth couldn’t handle the grind, got injured and gave up his title.

-NXT Takeover: Seth Rollins crashes the party in a cool moment and calls HHH out. The crowd loved this! Big E says it felt like crashing the fourth wall and entering a door they aren’t allowed. HHH says it was Seth’s idea and he was all for it. HHH has security escort Seth out of the arena so the show can continue.

-HHH accepts the match and tells Seth to get to the ring to meet his destroyer and Samoa Joe makes his Main Roster debut by attacking Seth. Fantastic moment and it nearly ended horribly as Rollins’ knee pops when Joe takes him to the mat with the choke. Sick sound as you can hear Seth groan in pain when it happened. Joe had to be a wreck knowing he is making his debut and now a main cog in WrestleMania gets injured.

-Commercials!

-Seth is back in Birmingham and you can tell he is annoyed and concerned. JBL says you realize the character of someone when an obstacle gets thrown in their way. Seth says there was no way he was going to miss another WrestleMania. The doctor tells Seth he feels it may heal on it’s won with a brace. He “only” tore his MCL, so staying out of the ring and rehab should repair the issue, but Seth notes that took him out of ring shape.

-March: Seth shows up on RAW with a crutch, but drops it to let everyone know he is healed. He brawls with HHH and the match for Mania is set. HHH breaks the crutch on Seth’s bad knee as they have a pretty easy story to tell at Mania. The match is made official once Seth agrees to sign a hold harmless agreement.

-WrestleMania 33: That stage set-up and big ass ramp was awesome! Cody says getting to Mania is hard enough and Seth had to fight back from two knee injuries. HHH says the moment with Seth at Mania was magical after all they had been through together.

-Commercials!

-The macth was solid, but nothing great as Seth says he was doing all he could to make sure he was healthy. Becky says Seth put so much pressure on himself as he didn’t want to let the fans down. The main thing I remember from the match is Seth getting bumped from the apron and through a table. Even on one leg, Seth gets the win. HHH says they will have a bond forever because of what they accomplished.

-We see Seth get teary eyed backstage as he reflects on the match and the moment. Seth says those years in his life were crazy and that story with HHH was emotionally taxing. He had thoughts of if his body would survive. He was happy to get on the other side it.

-Seth is now Seth Freaking Rollins and Cody notes he is consistent and a locker room leader. Nattie says Seth realized the vision HHH had for him and Seth shot past that vision.

-Night of Champions: Seth becomes the first World Champion and HHH is there to present him with the belt. Seth said it was full circle as he thought about HHH handing him the NXT Title a decade earlier. Seth says HHH is his wrestling father as he needed someone to be hard on him. He wants to be able to pass on what HHH has taught him and if he can find the Seth Rollins to his HHH, he will have honored what HHH did for him in the best way possible.

-This was fun, but it lacked what all the recent rivalries do, and that’s the passage of time. This series works best with older rivalries, but that’s not to say this one wasn’t worthy of being part of the show. I loved all the backstage and behind the scenes footage we got here. Thanks for reading! I am off to bed. Thanks for reading!