In an interview with Brian Fritz of Sporting News, WWE RAW superstar Seth Rollins discussed appearing in his first WWE Studios movie, interacting with Wesley Snipes on-set, WrestleMania, being cheered by the fans and more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On the experience of appearing in his first movie role: “Yeah, this is the first one, it was cool. Honestly, it was a good experience, I had no idea what it was going to be like going in, I had no preconceptions or anything like that. I was going in with an open mind and it was a lot different than what I’m used to doing live shows all the time. It was super-interesting and a fun experience, a learning experience for me.”
On interacting with Wesley Snipes on the set of the movie: “I one hundred percent asked him about White Men Can’t Jump, absolutely and Demolition Man as well, those were the two for me. We talked about Blade a little bit, just because he had done Blade 3 with Triple H, so he had a little history with our industry. I was a big White Men Can’t Jump fan as a kid, so I was asking him about Woody Harrelson. I even had a Simon Phoenix action figure, I still have it to this day. I had my brother send a picture of my action figure beating the crap out of his Simon Phoenix action figure, which he was very amused by.”
On tweaking his knee and how touch and go it was for him to appear at WrestleMania 33 earlier this year: “I went to Birmingham the following day. I thought it was the same injury, I thought I was going to be out another 6 months. Once we got the MRI, the possibility was going to be to make it back by WrestleMania and it was just a matter of if the powers that be in WWE were going to be okay with me working at a certain level, but I knew my knee would be healthy, especially in a brace. It was just about me packing my bags and moving down to Birmingham and rehabbing and making sure it was as strong as it could be going into WrestleMania.”
On originally returning as a heel and transitioning into a fan favorite: “I think it’s been a nice, organic change in my character. We had an opportunity, I could have been a babyface when I came back, but it didn’t feel right at the time, then we had stuff go on with Finn Bálor’s injury and stuff like that, it felt from a television perspective watching it back and thinking back on it, it felt like a good, slow burn, as opposed to all of a sudden I flipped the switch. People will say what they want about it, but I think it’s gone well so far, I think it’s only going to get better as we keep moving forward. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to shed my old skin and try this new thing out, it’s something I haven’t done on the main roster since I’ve been up here, I haven’t been a good guy since NXT. It’s definitely a different change of pace, but something I’m looking forward to continuing to develop as we move forward.”
On being cheered by the fans now: “It doesn’t feel strange. Sometimes, I watch our bad guys, our heels and see how much fun they’re having, being goofballs. Man, I miss that, but it’s a new challenge, especially in 2017 to be a babyface in professional wrestling. I’m trying my damnedest and hopefully, we’ll keep moving forward and keep things going in the right direction.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
