Seth Rollins is proud to be World Heavyweight Champion and he’s not going to stop promoting that title until it’s seen in the same light as the World Championship gold held by Roman Reigns.
Rollins became World Heavyweight Champion at Night of Champions with a victory over AJ Styles. The title was created just a few weeks earlier to ensure that there was a World Championship on both Raw and SmackDown, with Roman Reigns being the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion on the blue brand.
This led to claims from fans and critics that the new championship would be seen as a consolation prize, given that it was essentially created because Roman Reigns is too good, an explanation also used on television.
However, since winning the gold, Rollins has been on a mission to prove its worth. In contrast to Reigns’ part-time schedule, The Visionary has been a fighting champion, even making a defence on NXT.
Appearing on Out of Character with Ryan Satin, Rollins opened up about his approach to building the title and admitted that it will be seen as secondary until it becomes established.
“I’m under no illusion that this title is the same as Roman’s title. That title has been around and so much equity has been put into it over the past few years. It means a lot. You saw how evident it was, even at Money in the Bank when [Roman] got pinned for the first time in three and a half years. You can’t just come in and pretend that all of a sudden this title is that important. No one is going to buy that crap.
The way that I always saw champions that I looked up to and that I aspire to be were the champions that took the title to every territory and every town and defended it, and then, over time, people believed that it was a big deal. I came in when Cena and CM Punk were the World Champions. I grew up watching Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, Triple H.
These were the people that did that for the World Title they were wearing, I’m trying as I might, to fill those shoes and make this World Heavyweight Championship as big as it possibly can be for myself and the rest of the roster,”
With regard to Reigns, Rollins said that if he wrestled more regularly, there wouldn’t have been the need for the new championship at all.
“Here’s the thing, if Roman was doing what I’m doing, there wouldn’t really be a need for a secondary championship. There wouldn’t be a need for another World Heavyweight Title on Raw because we would have somebody who was doing those things. It would give direction to the characters on the show and the show itself. Because of the route he has chosen and what he wants to do with his schedule and his title reign is not what I’m doing, somebody has to fill that void.
We did our best with the United States Championship for a little while, but it never really felt like a World Heavyweight Championship. There has got to be that person, there has to be that spot for everybody to get to and try to fight for. I’m very happy to be the carrot that is dangling there. I think it’s a good thing.
If Roman was doing all this stuff and defending the title all over the place, we wouldn’t have these problems or these issues, and there wouldn’t be a need for the title. One more little piece is, if the roster wasn’t so freaking stacked and there wasn’t so many people worthy of being World Heavyweight Champion on our roster, there also wouldn’t be a need for it.
If we were suffering and were a one star promotion, then fine, but we have stars across the board on both brands. Kevin (Owens), Sami (Zayn), AJ Styles, all of Judgment Day, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Edge, all of these people, and I’m leaving a ton off, who are capable of being World Heavyweight Champion, have been in the past or are ready in the future. We need a title they can vie for that is around and available.”
Seth Rollins Involved In Backstage Argument Following WWE Raw
Although not defending the World Championship, Seth Rollins was in action on the July 10th episode of WWE Raw teaming with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn against the Judgment Day in the main event.
However, there were some uncharacteristically clunky moments during the match and it was reported that an argument broke out backstage as a result. A follow-up report suggested that the issues stemmed from changes being made to the match even as those involved were making their entrances.
H/t to Fightful