Seth Rollins was stunned, just like the rest of the pro wrestling world when Vince McMahon announced his retirement in July.
McMahon retired in disgrace back on July 22nd as WWE continued to investigate his sexual misconduct payoffs that he had made over the course of his career. The payments would end up totalling at around $20 million.
While speaking with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Seth Rollins made it clear that he couldn’t believe Vince McMahon had retired.
“I was just, I couldn’t believe it. It is one of those things that you will never forget. I was in the airport, we were heading out to a live event. We were flying out on a Friday. The thing went out at like three o’clock central and so I got the text. I was coming through the security line and I got the text ‘check your app for a note from the chairman’.
I click it and sure enough, he just was retired. I was like (shocked face), and Becky (Lynch) was with Rue looking at a statue of a deer in the airport in Iowa. She was looking at the deer statue and I was like, she just saw my face from a distance and she’s like ‘what’s wrong?’.
I’m like, ‘did you get the text?’ and she’s like ‘no, what?’. I had her look at it and she was like ‘oh my God.’ I think both of us were just like ‘what?’. I always thought, you know Vince is older, so I thought at some point in my tenure in 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. Emotionally, it got me emotional because I love Vince. He’s been like a father figure to me over the past ten years. He’s someone that his approval means a lot to me.
Seth Rollins to BT Sport
How did you react to finding out Vince McMahon had retired from his position within WWE? Let us know in the comments or on our social media pages.
H/T to RingsideNews for transcription
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