WWE star Seth Rollins believes it's harder to be a successful villain long-term than it was during pro wrestling's past.
In the modern era of professional wrestling, with social media and shows like "WWE Unreal," fans have more behind-the-scenes access than ever. The consequences of this are far-reaching, and WWE's Seth Rollins spoke about one of the difficulties that comes along with it during an interview on "Games With Names."
"Our audience nowadays is so intelligent that they know you're playing a character, and if you do that too well, then they start to like you," Rollins said. "So you stop losing the ability to ... [be a] heel. ... Because we let everybody in on the secret, now they're just playing along with the heel."
Along with the audience being too clued-in, Rollins noted that modern day wrestlers aren't as willing to let their darker tendencies rise to the surface, while Rollins believes performers in the past had no problems doing this. He believes a heel's biggest goal should be to make the audience angry, and while that's still the case, the process is much different today.
"The way that the culture is, the way the media is, the way that everybody understands what pro wrestling is makes it more difficult to be a successful heel long-term, so I think you have to understand that," the wrestler continued.
Rollins was watching his 2022 Hell in a Cell match against Cody Rhodes, noting that he was a big heel at the time. However, by the end of that year, despite not changing anything about his character, Rollins was back in the good graces of fans, and WWE decided to make him a babyface again.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Games With Names" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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Category: General Sports