Seth Rollins Doesn’t Feel Like He Can Be “The Guy” In WWE While Roman Reigns Is Active

Seth Rollins believes Roman Reigns will always be the primary star in WWE while he is active.

In a new interview with Ariel Helwani of BT Sport, Seth Rollins reveals that this is not a new feeling for him, as he always felt as though he was never set up to be the face of Ring of Honor when he was working for that company. Seth would also discuss the Imposter Syndrome he felt while being pushed as a world champion, feeling like he could never be “the guy” while Roman was active in WWE.

“I just feel like, in some ways, I’ve never gotten my just due. I’ve never been the guy. You know, I’ve never been the one on the marquee at WrestleMania. It was John [Cena], it was Roman [Reigns]. In some regards, when I was at Ring of Honor, it was Nigel [McGuinness], or it was Bryan [Danielson]. I was always the guy like, on the come-up or underneath, or I was kind of the second, or the next big thing, and that always just eats at me, it eats at me so much. I don’t know where that competitive spark comes from, but it drives me insane. The thing is if I was that guy, I don’t know if it would just go away, I always would find some way to put the chip there. It’s just the way I operate best. I have to have it for some reason. In everything, for better or worse sometimes,” 

“I was a young 26, I think, when I first won the world title — maybe 28, something like that. I was young and I was working with guys after I won the title who were a lot more experienced than I was. Not that I wasn’t adding anything to stories, but I didn’t feel like I was thinking about it the way — and this is all in retrospect, I don’t feel like I was thinking about it the way that I would think about it now.

“I never felt like even when I had won the title at WrestleMania, cashed in, great moment. I still felt like I was the second fiddle to Roman, I still felt like he was the guy. [It felt] just kinda, ‘You’re the placeholder until he’s totally ready, and we’re totally ready to put the ball in his hands. But for now, you’re a step ahead. So we’re gonna give you this, and then you know, we’ll move on to where we really want to be. But this is going to take a few months.’ So now I’ve never ever felt like, in my time in WWE, that the company was like, Yep, he’s our guy put his face on everything.”

“I don’t know, man. I wonder if because I live in the Roman era, that’s just never going to happen, you know? The only time I was ever considered, I think, for the main event of WrestleMania is when Roman got leukemia and he was out from August to February see, and I was kind of second behind him in the babyface column there, so I got slotted in. So I feel like it’s going to be one of those things that the best I can hope for is to be the Edge to his John Cena or the Savage to his Hogan. Sometimes I just feel like that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Doesn’t mean that I don’t think that I’m better than he is or that I can perform or that I can draw at that level, I certainly think all of those things but it’s not my sandbox. I don’t make those decisions.”

Seth Rollins to BT Sport

Seth Rollins last faced Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble in January of 2022. Seth Rollins would actually win that match by disqualification. There has been no follow up to this feud however, despite Seth teasing it on several occasions.

H/T to Fightful for transcription

Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter

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