Seth Rollins Confirms Original Wrestlemania 40 Plans, Comments On Recent Knee Injury

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Seth Rollins confirmed that the original plan for night one of Wrestlemania 40 was himself against CM Punk. Rollins will instead wrestle twice at the event, teaming with Cody Rhodes on night one and then facing Drew McIntyre on night two. Here are highlights:

On his recent knee injury before Wrestlemania: “It was not as serious as it could have been. My biggest fear when I felt my knee go in the direction it wasn’t supposed to go was that it was going to be a repeat of 2015 [when he tore the ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus in his knee during a match]. I’d have had to vacate the title, miss WrestleMania, all the hard work from the past few years was going up in smoke, and I’d have to start all over. That wasn’t the case. I was able to continue to work on the injury, continue to tell stories and continue to build rivalries. I always looked at it from a glass half full situation. The fact that we missed out on a few Seth Rollins matches on Raw breaks my heart as much as it does yours, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s all working out in the way it was intended to. I’m happy at full strength and ready to go for not one but two nights of WrestleMania.”

On the changes to Wrestlemania 40: “A match against Punk, that was never on my radar. I believed I would never see that guy again. I thought that until I saw him at Survivor Series. We are living in one hell of a timeline. It’s crazy to think about all the people in WWE at the same time. The Rock is back, and all that’s happened with him and Cody and Cody’s fans, it is incredible and I’m still making sense of it. Years from now we’ll look back on this; it’s going to create a moment that lasts forever.”

On performing in the ring: “I like all the other stuff, but in the ring, that’s where the lasting connection is built with our audience. It’s not something I take lightly. The guys I admire–Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Eddie Guerrero–they always won the audience over through their workhorse effort. I was a fan of the catchphrases and everything else too, but what really gravitated me toward this industry was that physical, ethereal connection through the in-ring performance. I’ve always taken pride in doing that to the best of my ability.”