Seth Rollins Reflects On In-Ring Return at WrestleMania 42, ‘Very Difficult’ Recovery From Injury

Seth Rollins made his in-ring return at WrestleMania 42, something he recently reflected on along with the very hard recovery process to come back from his injury. The WWE star competed at the PLE in his first match back from the shoulder injury that put him out of action at WWE Crown Jewel: Perth in October. He battled Gunther but ultimately lost due to Bron Breakker’s return and interference.

Rollins spoke with Michael Cole for a new interview heading into WWE Backlash and spoke about his return at the PLE. He noted that he had a difficult recovery from his shoulder injury and that it was hard for him to come back and not be in a main event or World Title match, but that the experience itself was “really good.” You can see the highlights below:

On How It Felt To Return At WrestleMania:

“Oh, man, that’s a loaded question. You know, being in the ring with someone like Gunther is an experience unto itself. First match back after six months on the shelf, so the physical side of things was a bit of a trial. You know, I don’t recover like I used to. When I was in my twenties, I feel like I could just reset every day. It didn’t matter what came before. Now it’s just a different animal. And this recovery from this surgery was, I think, the hardest recovery I’ve had. Even with the full knee that I did in 2015, I was just a young man. Like, nothing bothered me. This was hard. This was a very difficult recovery. It was painful, it was slow.

“I think I’m just getting better every day. I was really happy to get through WrestleMania and not have what I felt was a regression. I was concerned that just the physicality of the match with Gunther would cause some sort of regression or a re-injury. It’s so hard ’cause when you go into a match like that, you can’t be hyper-focused on taking care of yourself. You kind of gotta let it all go and just hope that your preparation has got you where you need to be. So I was very happy to come through that physically relatively unscathed.

On the Emotional Aspect Of His Return:

“I think the emotional side of me, I think it was bittersweet coming into WrestleMania not with the World Heavyweight Championship, not in line for a main event. I mean, that’s — at this stage of my career, those are what I’m chasing. And to know that I had it in the palm of my hand, lost it, and then had to come back in a different role was tough. But at the same time, there’s nothing like hearing the crowd sing the song, come back 50,000 plus, you get to go in there [and] do the thing that you love to do and show the world that you can still do that.

“Anytime you come back off an injury — and I know, I’ve done a bunch of them. Anytime you come back an off an injury, get a little bit older, there’s always that worry that you’re not gonna be able to measure up to the version of yourself from before. So all things told, I thought it was a really good experience. Obviously didn’t get the outcome I wanted, but it was a really incredible feeling to be able to get back out there after six months and do the damn thing.”

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