WWE television — and the build to WrestleMania 42 — needed Seth Rollins badly. But is the big, black hoodie hiding the fact that he’s not 100% yet?
There’s some grumbling from fans that WrestleMania 42 will feature aging legends in the main events. And yes, CM Punk (age 47) is defending the world title against Roman Reigns (40), and while we don’t know who else will be in the other match, Randy Orton (45) is challenging for the WWE Universal Title.
I don’t see it that way.
Punk is on his final run on top, and both he and WWE have put it right out there that he doesn't have much time left. Punk being older and fighting to make this last run count, not just for the history books but to make up for all that lost time, is part of the story.
No one is pretending he’s 25 years old and the longterm future of WWE.
Roman, meanwhile, is the closest performer to the Undertaker that WWE has now. He’s so over, it doesn’t matter if he has the title or not … but this is the first time he’s gone near the championship picture since he dropped it to Cody Rhodes two years ago.
It is time for Reigns to challenge for a title again.
And, aside from the “one more time” clash with John Cena a year ago, Randy Orton has also been kept away from the title picture for so long, it feels fresh to see him as a serious challenger once again.
Besides, it’s not like WWE didn’t elevate Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker, with the latter seemingly being a lock for challenging Punk at 'Mania before he was taken out by a legitimate injury.
WWE’s plans to introduce a new 'Mania headliner were blown up through no fault of their own — so they turned to the veterans who can still wrestle like hell and headline the biggest show of the year.
In my mind, Randy Orton is the ultimate “Break Glass in Case of Emergency” headliner.
But the injury bug is certainly biting huge chunks out of WWE’s spring plans.
Seth Rollins is an amazing athlete. He is built different, as the kids say. He’s recovered like Wolverine from serious injuries in the past and, yeah, you could joke that he’s recovered from his (legit) shoulder surgery almost as fast as he recovered from his (worked) knee injury last summer.
But, because I like and respect him so much, I worry the big black hoodie he's been wearing on TV is hiding the fact that he’s not 100% yet.
Colby Lopez — as I met him way back in the day — had previously stated that he was targeting a WrestleMania return, but with Reed and Breakker out, I worry if the desire to not miss 'Mania and be a good trooper for the company played a big part in his decision to come back to TV now.
WWE television — and the 'Mania build — needed him badly.
Rollins — and this isn’t some hot take that is in any way controversial — is a generational talent.
I am thrilled he’s back, I just want him to be his best and I want him back fully healed.
Seth’s reintroduction to WWE storylines has been strong. Him curb-stomping Logan Paul at Elimination Chamber and then Paul Heyman — and Heyman getting bloodied up — on "Raw" was dramatic.
Paul E. Dangerously doesn’t get beaten up by just anybody; he reserves that for top talent in top stories. I wonder if Paul getting taken away in an ambulance is a signal that he’ll be off TV for a while.
I am fine with blood in wrestling — as long as it isn’t overused. Historically, it is the babyface who gets bloodied up, which sets up just how serious he’s been injured and underlines he wants revenge. But I felt the angle with Paul getting beat up worked.
Either way, the angle with Seth and Heyman seemed to have set up Seth vs. Logan Paul for 'Mania. God knows there’s a lot of star power in that match.
Logan is such a despicable heel and obviously is mainstream in a way very, very few wrestlers have ever been. (He was mainstream before wrestling, I know, but the fact remains he’s a regular WWE character who is well known way outside wrestling.)
Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul may not have been WWE’s WrestleMania plan all along, but wow, it will be a hell of a match and have great co-main level interest.
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow on "SmackDown" what the other main event of 'Mania will be, but it could be Randy challenging Undisputed WWE Champion (it is disputed, but, y’know) Drew McIntyre, or a three-way with Cody Rhodes also challenging, or even a four-way with Jacob Fatu in the mix.
I’ll pop if Fatu gets his chance to be part of a WrestleMania main event.
I’ve only worked with him once, when I produced him for his match at the “Ric Flair’s Last Match” event a few years back. I was blown away by his talent, his perspective and his feel for the business.
Jacob Fatu is the real deal and, with Reed and Breakker out of 'Mania, he represents a golden chance for WWE to elevate someone new to the top tier.
The best wrestling characters are fully lived-in and fleshed out. They have real motivations that can be explained and understood and, hopefully, there’s real weight behind those motivations.
I don’t think there’s a more well thought out character in the game right now than Hangman Page in AEW.
Page was the worst of the worst, a vile, nasty heel who had nothing admirable about him.
And what AEW and he have done isn’t merely turn him babyface, they’ve given him a redemption arc that is equal in weight to the horrible things he did as a heel.
It is tremendous pro-wrestling and I am loving it.
Every year when I ran TNA — and even when I didn’t and was part of Jeff Jarrett’s booking committee — someone would float the idea of running a TNA show in the same city during WrestleMania week.
Where that makes sense is obvious — you go to a city where you know, for a fact, there are tens of thousands of wrestling fans looking for something to do. And you expose your product to new fans.
What stops you doing it is the optics. You don’t want to appear to admit you are happy to be in the shadow of WWE. It is literally admitting your level is scraps from the table.
Now, at no point was TNA ever a genuine “competitor” to WWE. But we had to act like we were — if we didn’t believe our wrestling was as good as WWE’s, why would anyone else?
As I announced last week, MLP is running a great show at the Palms in Vegas on the Friday of WrestleMania 42 week. But, of course, MLP is not presented as competition to WWE. We are so much more than an “indie,” but we aren’t WWE and never will be.
Which brings me to 2027’s WrestleMania, scheduled for Saudi Arabia.
AEW and Tony Khan certainly don’t need my advice, but if I were them, I’d absolutely take full advantage of WWE moving their biggest show of the year outside North America for the very first time.
I give Tony Khan a ton of credit for not only working with other promotions, but enthusiastically doing so. Tony created the phrase “Forbidden Door” by having working with other promotions be part of the DNA of AEW. It has been so successful that WWE has changed its “never admit other wrestling exists” policy that had been in place for decades.
“TK” is a genuine wrestling fan. When we worked together to bring AEW Champion Kenny Omega to TNA (Impact at the time) there was no money in it for AEW. Tony wanted to do it because it was cool. It was fun, and Tony knew the fans would love it.
Tony has great instincts for what the fans want, and I’m very interested to see what AEW does next April.
The man owns Fulham FC soccer club. He knows what an open goal is when he sees it.
At least part of the reason Chicago's Elimination Chamber audience was disappointed that it was Danhausen who came out of the “Don’t Open Until” box was the seemingly unkillable rumor that Chris Jericho will be returning to WWE.
There’s a horde of YouTubers and even more “insiders” on Twitter who have been claiming Jericho will return to WWE at Survivor Series … OK, on next week’s "Raw" … next week’s "SmackDown" ... OK, the Royal Rumble … actually, the Elimination Chamber …. WrestleMania …
Danhausen was entertaining on "Raw" and I have no doubt he’ll find his footing and be a great comedy character for WWE.
There’s plenty of room for a comic relief character in WWE and, trust me, Danhausen has the talent to really make that role his own.
I saw a video this week where the actor Matt Damon admitted he turned down the lead role in “Avatar,” even though he was offered a percentage.
Matt, I feel your pain.
I once turned down Colby Lopez — soon to be Seth Rollins — who asked me to manage him.
Not in a “Coach D’Amore, come be my heater as a television character who is part of my act” way.
No, he wanted me to be his real-life agent and for me to open talks with promotions around the world, including WWE.
A while back in this column, I told you about me spotting Colby at a seminar I ran in Chicago, years and years ago. I was so blown away by his talent and potential, I went to TNA owner Jeff Jarrett and said: “If you believe I know anything about wrestling at all, sign this kid, because he’s the next Adam 'Edge' Copeland.”
And Jeff OK'd me to do just that, but Colby told me he’d just signed with Ring of Honor.
Well, a few years later, I am at a ROH show and Colby comes up to me. He tells me his deal is up. He’d asked around and heard I’d helped a few wrestlers with their negotiations in the past.
That was true, but I’d not done that for a while, so I was all, “Thanks but no thanks.”
Ugh.
It seems like WWE is never going to elevate LA Knight to genuine world title contention, doesn’t it?
However, there are positive signs that Penta has upward mobility, after he beat Dom Mysterio for the Intercontinental title on "Raw."
As I mentioned in a previous column, I think so highly of Penta, I put the TNA World Title on him when we were left in a jam. It was a short run, but I got to know him a bit and he is such a great guy and, while there are a lot of luchas capable of doing great things in the ring, what sets Penta apart is that he almost does Shakespeare out there.
His performance is absolutely dialed in. There’s no one like him anywhere.
How far does WWE allow him to go? I don’t know. Where I think he could and should go is a WWE title run.
The D'Amore Drop is a weekly guest column on Uncrowned written by Scott D’Amore, the Canadian professional wrestling promoter, executive producer, trainer and former wrestler best known for his long-standing role with TNA/IMPACT Wrestling, where he served as head of creative. D’Amore is the current owner of leading Canadian promotion Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling.
Category: General Sports
