Seth Rollins was less than thrilled with his Hell in a Cell match against The Fiend.
It was in spring 2019 that Bray Wyatt introduced the WWE Universe to his Firefly Funhouse. After months of anticipation, The Fiend character made his in-ring debut at SummerSlam 2019 defeating Finn Balor. He would soon after set his sights on Seth Rollins and the Universal Championship, setting up a Hell in a Cell match that October.
The match ended in a referee stoppage and saw The Fiend buried under weapons. During the bout, Wyatt was hit with everything from Sledgehammers to countless Curb-Stomps. Reception of the match, the production, and everything in between were not well received.
Rollins appeared as the latest guest on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions (available now on the WWE Network and Peacock) and commented on the infamous encounter. According to Seth, he saw things happening a lot differently than they did.
"My vision for what that match was going to be was a lot different than what we had to go out there and do," he said. "We went out there and did what we were told to do to the best of our ability. Obviously, as it was ongoing, I felt...you watch it back, it's boos piled upon boos piled upon boos and at the end of it, the reaction when the audience didn't get the result they wanted, that's a real tough pill to swallow. It sucks. It's a sucky feeling. You go back to it now, we talked about the Drip God character, that character doesn't exist without that match. That's really the catalyst for what happened later that year. That happened in October, by the time December and January roll around, I'm no longer 'Burn It Down' Seth Rollins, I'm a totally different being."
Though he puts a positive spin on it now and asserts that it led him to where he is now, Rollins admits that immediately after the match ended, he was ready to strangle Vince McMahon. He added the following:
"Things happen for a reason, they happen the way they're supposed to happen. It was what it was, but here we are. Where we are now doesn't exist without that match.
I put a positive spin on it now because I can look back a year and a half later, but at the time, I came through that curtain and I was ready to strangle Vince McMahon. I'm not kidding you. TJ Wilson was there to hold me back. I stared right into Vince's eyes, I looked at him, he looked at me, we didn't say a single word to each other and he walked out. I sat down with Paul Heyman, who was creative director at Raw, I sat down with him and we had a conversation. He 'Paul Heyman'd me,' if you will. The next day, I went into Vince's office, I was much calmer, and I said, 'Let's talk about this. We need to figure out what we're doing here because that can't happen again.' It was civil, but it took me a night. I was ready to go. If somebody wasn't there making sure I was okay, my temper and the adrenaline.
In my head, if you go back to the match, I'm convinced that if it would have went our way, it wouldn't be (voted Worst Match of the Year in the Wrestling Observer)."
Rollins would defend his title against The Fiend yet again just three weeks later at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia. This time around, however, Wyatt would win the belt in a falls count anywhere match. He would hold the title until the end of February where he would lose to Goldberg at Super ShowDown.
On July 31, 2021, Wyatt was released by WWE after twelve years with the company.
Rollins is currently feuding with Edge and is set to come face-to-face with the Hall of Famer next Friday after sending him off on a stretcher just a couple of weeks ago.
If you use the quotes above, please credit the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
