Every Monday and Friday I have new column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Today’s looks at Seth Rollins having to vacate the world title due to injury and what this means. Here’s an excerpt:
Injuries are unfortunate, but can provide a golden opportunity.
Seth Rollins, WWE World Heavyweight Champion, had torn nearly every ligament in his knee and will now be out 6-9 months, forcing him to vacate the title. It’s unfortunate for Rollins, who was the consistent star and workhorse for WWE in 2015.
However, two things can come out of this. The first being that when he returns, Rollins can and should have a hero-type comeback that could elevate him to the next level of his career which is being the ultimate babyface people cheer. Had he not gotten hurt, I think we were headed that direction anyway on a quicker timetable. He eventually would have lost the title in the next two months, had a big match with Triple H and then felt the crowd turn to his side.
The second thing to come out of this situation is WWE has been granted a reset button. When writing weekly episodic television based around conflicts being settled in a professional wrestling ring, it is hard to just get out or change a story in a matter of days or a week. Some conclusion to the stories have to be given and there are so many performers and moving parts that all go into consideration.
What this means is that while Rollins was a quality performer as champion, WWE has seen its ratings fall and lost Randy Orton to injury. John Cena is taking time off and there’s an overall feel being discussed in the wrestling community that something big or fresh needs to happen. The company is developing one the greatest rosters it has ever had with the success of NXT and depth of the roster.
Rollins being out has made WWE announce a tournament, which will take place in two weeks at Survivor Series to crown a new champion. It’s a chance to reset, change course of direction and roles performers have on the roster, and it all can be justified due to the legitimate and sudden injury of Rollins.
These past few days since Rollins got injured have been hectic for the creative writing team that had to travel to England for the current loop of television tapings. It’s exciting with the reset opportunity that is in front of them, but it also can be stressful. With time being precious to rewrite potentially much of the shows’ direction, it could be described as trying to bag leaves during a wind storm. Everything you try to do to make progress is quickly shot down or derailed.
CLICK HERE for the rest of column and what I expect to happen.
