Seth Rollins Explains Why He Formed The Vision, Felt He Was the Best Person To Be the Figurehead of WWE

Ahead of WWE Backlash Tampa 2026, WWE Superstar Seth Rollins sat down with Michael Cole about his match with Bron Breakker at tonight’s event. During the interview, he addressed forming The Vision, Bron Breakker’s betrayal, and more. Below are some highlights:

Seth Rollins on Why He Formed The Vision

“Maybe a little bit of insecurity. You know, I looked at the landscape, and I was starting to kind of pile up enemies: CM Punk, Roman Reigns. When you have Roman Reigns, you have the entire bloodline. So there was a lot of people who were sort of eyeballing what I was doing and what I was saying, and they didn’t like it. And so I felt like at that stage, there were a lot of, pardon the pun, visions for what the future of the company could or would or should look like. And to be honest with you, I just don’t trust Roman Reigns. I certainly don’t trust CM Punk. I don’t trust either of them to be kind of the figureheads and the leaders. And so I felt like I was the best person suited for that job. I felt like I was in a unique position where I had to kind of take care of those guys. But then I needed to insulate myself on the backside of that. And also I wanted to not just do this thing for me, but to pass it along to the next generation. And for me, Bron Breakker was the perfect fit for that. The Paul Heyman aspect of it is a little bit more interesting.”

On His Mistake Trusting Paul Heyman

“Yes, yes. That was a mistake on my behalf. I think Paul’s been a thorn in my side for over a decade, when he was the advocate for Brock Lesnar, when he was the wise man for Roman Reigns. This is a guy who has always latched onto people that would give him power. And at some point, it became necessary for me to have him on my side so that I didn’t have to deal with him on the other side. It was kind of one of those, you know, keep your friends close, enemies closer situation. And there’s always been a mutual respect between myself and Paul, but we’ve never sort of stood on the same side of the sand, you know? And so to have him on my side, I felt like I could control it a little bit better. I could handle him if I had him on my side. And if our visions were aligned, it would be, I guess, less for me to have to deal with on the back end.”

On Making Bron Breakker Part of the Group

“I mentioned in on Raw a couple weeks back. You know, when I won the World Heavyweight Championship, beat AJ Styles, I’ve got this new title, I wanna make this title, I want to defend this title as often as I can. One of the calls I made was to NXT to Shawn Michaels. I said, “I want to go down. I want your best. Who’s your best?” First words outta Shawn Michaels’ mouth, Bron Breakker, and Shawn Michaels is my wrestling idol, and we all know one of the greatest to ever do it. And if Shawn says Bron Breakker’s the best, I’ll take his word for it. So I got in there with Bron. He was everything that you would expect and more. Took me to my limit. I was able to get a win that night in NXT. But I saw firsthand what he was capable of as far as his preparation, his execution, his intensity. He had all the tools, but he’s a young guy. He’s still a young guy, a green guy. And I felt like if I could take him for a year or two, I’d be able to give him all of the information that I know, and we could really prepare him to take the next step and be one of the big money draws for the future of this company.”

Seth Rollins on Bron Breakker’s Betrayal

“Man, that was a whirlwind of a weekend. You know, you mentioned one of the biggest wins in my career, beating Cody Rhodes. Kind of finally getting that monkey off my back, and it’s the least talked about thing that happened that weekend. Late in the match, I took a big risk, did something I don’t normally do, paid for it, hurt my shoulder, got it looked at the following day. MRI results were that there was definitely an injury, but there was some conversation about whether or not I would be able to rehab, still hold onto the title, continue my role on “Monday Night Raw,” and move forward as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The following night, that all comes crashing down. The damage done from Breakker and Reed that night is what put me on the shelf, what put me on the operating table, and what made me forfeit the title, forfeit that WrestleMania Main event. And so when I was going home on the plane, I was in such a state of disarray.

“I felt disappointment and sadness and a lot of guilt that I was letting my fans down, that I was letting the company down. But beneath that, I also felt a lot of anger. And it was interesting because I understood it. I understood what Breakker was doing, but it didn’t change the fact that he took away something so personal to me. That title and the possibility of main eventing WrestleMania, I couldn’t shake that anger. Again, I understand it. I’ve been in situations where I’ve made really difficult decisions, you know? People weren’t happy with them. Sometimes I regretted them. But even through that understanding of why he did what he did, I couldn’t shake just that visceral anger from taking away something that. Look, I’m turning 40 this month, I don’t know how many of these opportunities I’m gonna have left. And so he doesn’t understand that because of where he’s at in his career. I do. And it’s so hard for me to just let that go. It felt like I was robbed of something that I had earned, and I can’t let that go.”

Seth Rollins will get his chance at payback against Bron Breakker later tonight at WWE Backlash. The premium live event is being held at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.

WWE Backlash will air live on the ESPN App in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally. The first hour will also be simulcast on ESPN2. 411 will also have complete live coverage of tonight’s show.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.