LAS VEGAS – Seth Rollins said the WrestleMania 41 Night 1 main event between him, CM Punk and Roman Reigns is a battle for the “soul” of the company.
Rollins has feuded with both competitors for a long time. He was in the main event of WrestleMania 40, which saw him and Cody Rhodes defeated by Reigns and The Rock on the first night.
Rollins tried to get a last lick on The Rock on Night 2 of that event, but Reigns prevented that from happening.
The performance Rollins has put on over the last 18 months could go overlooked. He tried to convince Rhodes to challenge him for the world heavyweight championship at WrestleMania 40, but Rhodes declined.
Instead, he lost to Drew McIntyre. He returned to the ring after a short break to attempt to excise some demons in his bitter battle with Punk. A Royal Rumble mishap and Reigns’ involvement in a subsequent steel cage match thwarted those attempts.
While Heyman and Rollins feuded on screen, the WWE Hall of Famer praised “The Visionary” and came around to the notion he’s been the “MVP” for some time.
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“To be blunt, and perhaps out of character, proud of Seth Rollins, because Seth Rollins could have easily been the forgotten man in all of this,” Heyman told Fox News Digital. “It became, as the internet would joke, as if Roman Reigns and CM Punk are fighting over Paul Heyman who has become the baddie in this situation — I’m the hot girl.
“Seth Rollins could have been the odd man out, could’ve been the opponent for CM Punk and the former partner of Roman Reigns. Instead, in many ways, Seth Rollins has eclipsed us all with the level of his performances opposing Roman Reigns and CM Punk and Paul Heyman in this story. He has upped his game at a shocking level of mobility that I think has caught us all off guard.”
Heyman said he was always “proud” of someone who achieved lifelong dreams like Punk getting to the main event of WrestleMania for the first time while Reigns continues his story of being the “Tribal Chief” in a post-Bloodline world.
“At the same time, I admittedly stand in awe across the ring from Seth Rollins, who last year The Rock called the ‘MVP of WrestleMania weekend,’ and I enviously and jealously didn’t like that. And experienced it so up close this year, I have no choice than to agree with him.”
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Heyman dismissed fans on social media who have failed to give Rollins his flowers, saying he’s seen pro wrestlers fail in the ring and seen praise on social media for them while others spout nonsense while ignoring historical facts.
“When you can find detractors of (Abraham) Lincoln or you can find proponents of people who blatantly suck, at some point you have to say these are not the opinions of those that matter,” he said.
On the final “Monday Night Raw” before WrestleMania 41, Rollins stood tall in the ring as he delivered stomps to Punk and Reigns. Punk even took a spear from Reigns.
Heyman was already put through a table last year by the Bloodline faction. Could he see himself taking another finishing move this year?
“Am I prepared for it? I understand the possibility of it and perhaps the probability of it, and I’m hoping to escape the inevitable as I have managed to do for most of my career,” he told Fox News Digital. “But if the storyline calls for a stomp or a spear or a GTS or a referee knocking me out, then that’s what the public is gonna get to see.”
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