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

-No witty subtitle for this one as the name says it all here. Hopefully that’s not a sign of this one being lazily thrown together. Let’s get to it!

-Air Date: 09.23.20
-Run Time: 42:34

-Aug 29, 2016: The day after SummerSlam and HHH turns on Seth Rollins to help Kevin Owens win the vacated Universal Championship on RAW. The crowd pop was great as everyone was dying to see KO get the win.

-NXT: Aug 29, 2012: Seth Rollins beats Jinder Mahal with the Blackout to become the first NXT Champion. HHH heads into the ring to congratulate Rollins and raises his hand. I can’t help but smile seeing Dusty in there as well.

-Nov 18, 2012: Survivor Series: The Shield debut by destroying Ryback and Cena in their Triple Threat match with CM Punk. The Hounds of Justice took the WWE by storm and they were a breath of fresh air to the roster. For 16 months they ran through everyone and had some great matches with the likes of Bryan, Kane, Ryback, Punk, and The Wyatt Family. They eventually turned face and had a wonderful series of matches against Evolution.

-Payback 2014: The blowoff as The Shield and Evolution have a war all over the building in an elimination match and The Shield wins in a clean sweep. You can’t say they didn’t put them over strong.

-The next night on RAW, HHH and Orton head down to face The Shield. HHH mentions he adapts better than anyone and tonight is Plan B. Rollins then decks Reigns with a chair and Ambrose’s sell of the confusion is great. Ambrose then gets destroyed with the chair and eats a Curb Stomp.

-Rollins lets everyone know he created The Shield and is the one that destroyed it. Rollins gets help from Kane and wins a great MITB match where Ambrose looked like the biggest babyface, but it was Rollins with the rocket strapped to his back.

-WrestleMania 31: Brock Lesnar crucifies Roman Reigns for our enjoyment and the WWE gets themselves out of the match by having Rollins cash in and pin Reigns to get the WWE Title off Brock. A rare instance where a heel going over to close Mania sent the fans home happy.

-Rollins runs hard as a double champion and again, you can’t say they didn’t give him a monster push. Seth was running too hard perhaps as a freak in ring injury destroyed his knee and he was on the shelf for 7 months.

-Rollins returns at Extreme Rules 2016 and attacks Reigns to a thunderous reaction from the crowd. No way the crowd was going to boo him and especially when attacking Reigns.

-We skip past Seth winning the WWE Title back from Reigns and Ambrose cashing in on him and just jump to where the show started. HHH interrupts the Universal Title match and Pedigrees Reigns on the floor and Rollins pins him to eliminate him from the match. It’s down to KO and Rollins and that’s where HHH turns on Rollins to give the Universal Title to Kevin Owens. Steph and Foley are stunned and Rollins isn’t sure what to think either.

-Rollins wants answers and asks Steph who doesn’t have them. Perhaps HHH is tired of Rollins ruining his name. Rollins says he will be their worst nightmare.

-Night of Champions 2016: Owens vs Rollins and Seth gets pinned thanks to a ref bump costing him.

-RAW: Cole asks Rollins how he feels about being replaced by Kevin Owens. You can’t replace Seth Rollins. KO is just a cog in the machine and Rollins is going to tear that machine down. Seth is going to prove to everyone that he is still the man.

-RAW: Dec 26, 2016: Seth interrupts Stephanie McMahon and asks if she gave HHH his manhood back for Christmas. Rollins is annoyed as he keeps calling out HHH and instead he is all in his office wearing a suit and tie.

-RAW: Jan 23, 2017: Rollins vs Zayn in a Royal Rumble qualifier match and Seth makes the mistake of turning his back on his opponent when HHH’s music hits. Sami gets the roll-up and wins the Rumble spot.

-NXT Takeover: San Antonio: In a great moment Seth storms the ring and tells us “I am taking this bitch over.” Man, this Seth has great fire and crowd was going crazy for him. HHH comes out rather annoyed and has security escort Rollins out of the building. HHH then leaves as Rollins attacks the security and tries to get to Gorilla, but the numbers prove too great.

-RAW: Jan 30, 2017: Rollins and Steph again as Rollins brings up his history with HHH going back to NXT. The man in the suit the had him tossed from the building was a scared dude and not The Game. Steph counters that HHH is afraid that Seth is going to keep poking the bear and bring out the dark side. She promises that HHH is on his way to the arena.

-Later that night HHH arrives and lets us know he plucked Seth from obscurity and made him a star. He handed him the world and he became the WWE Champion standing by his side. All Seth had to do was hold up his end of the bargain and he couldn’t hang as his poor leg gave out. When Seth returned, he was a failure as they show Ambrose pinning Rollins for the WWE Title. There’s that moment! HHH doesn’t want to be that guy that crushes people and he wants to be more. His job now is to be a creator and he wants to create the next Seth Rollins. He is done trying though and wants Seth to get to the ring to meet his destroyer. Rollins is out and gets attacked by a debuting Samoa Joe. I was losing it watching this live as it was set up perfectly! HHH just walks away and then Rollins gets injured as Joe takes him to the ground with The Clutch.

-The injury was a torn MCL and his status for Mania was left in doubt. HHH played it great as he mentions the WWE does all they can to help their injured stars, but no doctor was going to clear Seth for Mania.

-RAW: March 13, 2017: HHH and Steph dress down Mick Foley as they are one to do. Mick shows some backbone though and catches HHH with The Mandible Claw. Steph gets in a ball shot and Seth Rollins, on a crutch, walks out. HHH tells him to bring in, so Rollins ditches the crutch and it’s on! They throw angry fists at each other and Rollins gets an advantage, but a crutch shot to the knee turns the tide.

-RAW: March 20, 2017: HHH tells us that Rollins will be missing Mania for a second year in a row and all the blame is on Rollins. He had to listen to the fans and bask in their cheers and it made him weak. HHH will face Rollins at Mania in a non-sanctioned match if he signs a hold harmless agreement. HHH being the one to lay out the challenge seemed kind of backwards in this one, but they got to where they wanted to go.

-RAW: March 27, 2017: Contract sighing as HHH promises Seth won’t be walking out of Mania if he signs the contract. Seth doesn’t like the person he became after meeting HHH. They accomplished a lot together, but at what cost? Mania is about redemption and nothing will stop him from tearing HHH apart. Rollins signs the contract and HHH gets in a cheap shot. Rollins avoids the crutch though and gets in a few shots of his own as HHH takes a powder.

-WrestleMania 33: Orlando, FL: Like most of HHH’s recent Mania matches they have a technically sound match that went way too long and bored the crowd to tears. For whatever reason they feel long means epic and that has not been the case in recent years with HHH Mania matches. Really, the last great singles match he had was Bryan at XXX. The match with Sting was a lot of fun but had all the nostalgia and smoke and mirrors with it. Even the match in highlight form is kind of boring which is impressive considering how great they are at editing these things. Steph gets involved and ends up going through a table and that gets the biggest pop of the match. In the end HHH does the right thing and Rollins gets the win. Again, technically fine and solid, but went a bit too long.

-Things wrap up putting over Seth for winning The Rumble and beating Brock and it apparently all happened because he regained his confidence getting this win over HHH.

-Probably the weakest episode in the series. Their history is long, but there’s only been 1 singles match between the two. This was fine and all, but nothing I would say go out of your way to see. Thanks for reading!