Seth Rollins on Not Having Any Animosity With Roman Reigns, His Love for Vince McMahon

– Ariel Helwani recently spoke to WWE Superstar Seth Rollins for BT Sport ahead of his match with Matt Riddle at WWE Extreme Rules. Seth Rollins discussed not having any animosity with Roman Reigns over him being at a higher level in WWE and his relationship with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. Below are some highlights:

Seth Rollins on his relationship with Roman Reigns: “Oh great. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s great … It’s very healthy competition. When we started The Shield, the goal was always to be the three of us at the top of the industry. That was always the goal, and it was never like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna help you, and you’re gonna help me, and we’re going to help him.’ We were all out, we were all using each other, not like helping each other, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, but we all knew what we brought to the table. We all knew our ultimate goal was to be the top top. The literal best. No one can touch us, but there was never any like any falling out, never any like jealousy, never any you don’t deserve this, I deserve this type of thing. It was — it’s never been like that. He is immensely talented at what he does, and he is incredible as champion, has been, and in his role like, especially obviously the last two years have been super special for him as a performer. And so I take nothing away from him, but I just can’t do it in my heart to tell myself that someone’s better than me or can do this better than I can. So at the end of the day, again, it’s not my sandbox , and these arent my decisions to make. But yeah, it’s always been easy smooth sailing between him and I.”

On his reaction to Vince McMahon retiring: “I was just — I couldn’t believe it. It was just one of those things you’ll never forget. We were in the airport. We were heading out to a live event. We were flying out on a Friday. The thing went out at like 3 o’clock central or 4:00 pm Eastern roughly. So, I got the text. I was coming through security line, I got the text, ‘Check your app for a note from the chairman or whatever. Sure enough, he was retired. I was just like — Becky [Lynch] was with Roux down looking up at a statue of a deer at the airport in Iowa, and she was looking at the statue and she saw my face from a distance. She said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I’m like, ‘Did you get the text?’ She’s like, ‘No, what?’ I just had her look at it, and she’s like, ‘Oh my god. What, what? Is that, is that it?’ I think both of us were just like, ‘What?'”

“And Vince is older, so I always thought at some point in my tenure with WWE, as I intend to be here for quite a long time, he would retire, be forced out, die on the job, who knows. But when it happened, it was so abrupt, I was not prepared. And it got emotional because I love Vince. He’s been like a father figure to me over the past 10 years. He’s someone that his approval means a lot to me. … When you have such a close relationship with someone, ups and downs, it felt like I was losing a friend and losing a mentor. I didn’t know whether to be excited or not. It kind of felt like a little inappropriate to be excited about something like that.”

On what Vince McMahon means to him: “I just told him that I loved him and I’m gonna miss him. He was just a mentor to me. This business doesn’t become what it is without him. This business doesn’t become what it is without him. Anyone on Twitter who’s got an opinion about pro wrestling, and it’s global reach, just it doesn’t happen the same way without Vince. Maybe it happens. Maybe pro wrestling survives without somebody taking it national or a company national. Maybe it prospers as it did in the territory days in some areas. But maybe it also just goes to die like Barnum and Bailey. Eventually, that just got smaller and smaller until it was gone. Who knows? The point is, we owe so much to him. Without him hiring me and paying me, I don’t have a wife that I have now, and my kid, all of that. My livelihood is a lot in part to him. He’s given me the opportunity to live out my dream with what he has created. So there is just lot of respect and a lot of love that I have cultivated and a good relationship with him over the years.”

Seth Rollins vs. Matt Riddle will go down at WWE Extreme Rules 2022. The event is scheduled for Saturday, October 8 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It will be broadcast live on Peacock in the US and the WWE Network everywhere else.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit BT Sport, with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription