Seth Rollins says Roman Reigns’ hostile reception from WWE fans played a major role in the plan that led to one of the most iconic moments in WrestleMania history.
During an interview with ESPN, Rollins looked back on his Money in the Bank cash-in during the WrestleMania 31 main event, where he inserted himself into Roman Reigns’ title match against Brock Lesnar and escaped as WWE Champion. Rollins revealed that he had been pushing the idea of cashing in during the main event months ahead of the show. However, Reigns’ reaction after winning the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia made the situation feel much more urgent.
“I had come up with the idea to do the cash-in in the main event of WrestleMania probably a few months earlier and really put it into people’s minds.”
Rollins said he felt Reigns winning the title at WrestleMania while fans were already rejecting him could have been a damaging way to begin his run as WWE’s next major babyface.
“Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns had won the Royal Rumble in Philadelphia to a really bad reaction, and I felt like him winning the title at WrestleMania might not be great. I felt like for him, you know, as a guy who was going to be cornerstone babyface of this company, you don’t want your first major title win to be resounding boos.”
The plan nearly did not happen at WrestleMania at all. Rollins recalled waiting in Gorilla position as the clock continued to run down, fearing the show would end before he could make his entrance.
“We had it all laid out. Everything felt good. And then the time just starts tick, tick, tick, tick, ticking away. And I’m sitting in Gorilla and I’m looking over at the table and I’m going, ‘Oh man, this thing’s not going to happen. We’re just going to go off the air and we’ll have to do it tomorrow on Raw After Mania, which is fine, but it’s not quite as awesome.’”
The signal finally came, and Rollins rushed to the ring to pull off what WWE would later brand “The Heist of the Century.”
“Luckily, I got the go-ahead, the music hit, and I was on my horse as fast as I could.”
Rollins did not hesitate when asked about the importance of that moment in his own career. He believes the cash-in was the night he stopped being viewed simply as a former member of The Shield and became a made singles star.
“I think it’s the most iconic moment of my career. Certainly the moment that put me on the map as a singles star, and you could argue, you know, it was a culmination of events that led to that moment, but I mean that’s the one where I think catapulted me into superstardom, where I was kind of a made man after that.”
The WrestleMania 31 cash-in was already a career-defining moment for Rollins, but his explanation adds another layer to the story. WWE was not only creating a shocking title change that night. Rollins believed the move also saved Reigns from having a championship coronation overwhelmed by fans who were not ready to accept him.
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