Seth Rollins didn't know his WrestleMania 38 opponent until "Kingdom" hit and Cody Rhodes emerged.
Rollins has been involved in a lot of WrestleMania moments, including cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the WWE Title at WrestleMania 31, and the return of Cody to WWE has now been added to that list.
Speaking to The Gorilla Position, Rollins reflected on the night.
"I've got a lot of mixed emotions about Saturday. It certainly was a moment that will live in time and history of this industry, but I lost, and losing at WrestleMania is not fun. I have been on the losing end of some very important matches at WrestleMania, I've been on winning said of some things as well, and losing sucks, no matter how you slice it. The moment will live forever though, that's how I have to remember it, the moment will live forever. I always tell people, those big stadium events, the ring is like the eye of the hurricane. It's very calm, maybe because it's like my zen space. For whatever reason, it feels very calm to me and it was very surreal watching him come down the ramp knowing everything he's been through the past six, seven years and everything he came back for. It was cool. It was cool to see the reaction and I was, in many ways, happy for him," he said.
Cody has said that his first opponent couldn't be anyone else but Rollins as Rollins was known as one of "Dusty's kids" when Dusty Rhodes worked as a trainer and producer at the WWE Performance Center.
Rollins said about Cody's comments, "To be able to be in the ring for his son's return, and really Cody did it his way, he left when he was unhappy, he did all the things that everybody said they wanted to do and he came back a bigger star than he's ever been and that's not easy to do that, it takes a lot of hard work. He learned that ethic from his father. For him to comeback, say those nice things about me, it was all very good. Except the bionic elbow."
Asked if he's watched the match back since it has received praise from fans, Rollins said, "I am my own worst critic. I can't watch it back because I'm so hard on myself. Watching my stuff back is pretty brutal. For me, it's an experience and I'm over it. if it was good, I know it in the ring and I can move forward. When I was younger, I'd watch my stuff back, I learned a lot from it and was able to figure things out. At this point in the game, it's more like pulling teeth. It ruins my week. If something was good, I can't do it. I can't go back and ruin it for myself. I heard nothing but good feedback for once in my life and I'm going to live with that."
Cody is the first major star to leave AEW for WWE after many WWE stars left for AEW.
Asked who he would like to see walkthrough "the forbidden door" next, Rollins said, "Anybody who wants to come work in the big leagues. [Laughs]. I said it to him [At WrestleMania], I've said it before, this is the premier professional wrestling company on the planet. I know, 'don't say professional wrestling,' doesn't matter. We have the best in the world and now we have Cody Rhodes on top of that and he is joining that club. If you want to be the best, don't go play rinky-dink, come here, do your thing here. We are the best, top notch, across the board. I'm not taking anything away from anybody else or anywhere else, I love it, do what you do, you guys are tremendous and there are great talents out there, but this is where you are the best. This is where you find out if you can hack it on the top top level.
Rollins closed by saying "the internet is going to be pretty mad at me. They don't like when I say words."
Rollins and Rhodes shared the ring once again on WWE Raw with Rollins saying "welcome home" to Rhodes and shaking his hand. During his promo to open the show, Rhodes made it clear that he was going to go after the WWE Championship.
If you missed anything from WWE Raw, check out Fightful's full report on the show by clicking here.
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