Seth Rollins is injured... again.

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

“Seth Rollins’ right knee was re-injured during Samoa Joe’s ambush at the conclusion of this Monday’s Raw, WWE.com can now confirm. The attack occurred as Rollins was heading to the ring to finally confront Triple H, who cost The Architect a WWE Universal Championship opportunity back in August.”

Is how it reads on wwe.com

Work? Not a work?

If it's not a work this is a truly horrible blow to Rollins who may miss his second WrestleMania in a row. Plus one of the premier Mania matches would be off the table, what would this mean for Triple H?

 

[Dave]

Ah, shit!

First of all, I don't think this is a work. I don't think it'd be reported so soon after the fact if they weren't sure that it was serious and that he probably needed a little time off. But the real question is how much time off will he need? There's 9 weeks until Mania and I would suggest that if it isn't that serious, he would definitely be ready for Mania. Obviously, if the injury is a re-occurence of the injury he had before, then that's a tremendous loss for the WWE and Seth Rollins.

However, if he needs a few weeks off, I would not be against Rollins taking on Joe at Mania. If the plan was for Rollins versus Joe at Fastlane and then Rollins versus Triple H at Mania, they should forego the Triple H match and just have Rollins versus Joe at Mania instead.

Of course, the silver lining of this is that it makes it looks like Samoa Joe is for real. He's been anointed as The Destroyer and now he has did just that - destroyed Seth Rollins. This ought to be the unfortunate launch pad for Samoa Joe going forward. And whilst it's sad that Rollins may be injured, at least Joe will get a rub from it.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

Looks real to me. I think it happened when Joe dragged Seth down before the Clutch and Seth's knee just buckled. Not sure how bad it is yet, but I fear to worst. I hope Seth gets better soon. This fucks EVERYTHING up for Mania.

My guess is a Grade 2 Sprain (the hardest to judge a timetable for, naturally) of his MCL.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Main site says its not a work, its legit. Well, at least they can elevate Joe more now other then being just HHHs lackey. That is if they dont decide to pull a plug on him and demote him after this. Though maybe he can still work Mania, think even WWE doesnt know how severe it is.

 

[Navi]

Well this is a PITA if it's true. Shame for Rollins, he's done almost nothing since he returned and we've all be waiting for this blow up with HHH since August now. Rollins wasn't even in the Rumble this year because of it and he could have been a contender to win it, but because of this Mania feud he was kept out.

Neither Rollins or Sasha Banks seems to have a good pair of legs between the two of them. If he is out for awhile, wonder where this leaves him going forward, and what the hell happens to the Mania match with HHH now. Not only that Samoa Joe and Rollins at Fastlane is finished. Gee it's horrible that it happened and the worst time of the year on the wrestling calendar.

 

[Hard Hit Prince]

I'm going to be honest, as a fan and in my personal opinion I'm not mad about this. I wasn't feeling this Triple H vs. Seth Rollins feud in the slightest, this whole 'daddy's issues' storyline has been a drag and the match was just there for me. I don't believe Seth Rollins would be a bigger star for beating HHH and neither would WrestleMania be a better show for it. I understand if people were hyped for this, though.

With that said, it sucks for the guy. He's an helluva performer with the wrong gimmick at the moment. Maybe they can turn this into a storyline and finally unleash Rollins to play the heel that he is. Frustration must be in there for missing 2 WrestleManias in a row. He won't be reliable for management for a few years and he knows it. He'll adapt his style and be more story oriented and that's the best thing for him as an heel.

I see this as an opportunity to spice the card a little bit. I don't know about Finn Bálor condition, but the latest news we had on him pretty much guaranteed the guy would be a "go" for WrestleMania so let him take his spot. He already has a backstory with Samoa Joe and he could easily get arguments to go against Triple H. He does indeed need a high profile feud to establish him as a main event player and this could actually be time put up in good use.

When Rollins's fit again to return, he can come back, fight Bálor for taking his spot and all would be right with the world. Rollins returns as an heel, Bálor gets a shot to be the babyface RAW desperately needs and to freshen up the main event scene. Book it.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Intriguingly, Joe is drawing attention to it on twitter (".@TripleH I believe I have delivered as requested.") and of course there's the presence of WWE's cameras at the hospital and a press statement to go alongside it so there is definitely something of a work aspect in there. Perhaps they have the results back from any evaluations that need doing and they know that it isn't that bad and he'll be ready to go for Mania?

If it is severe and he'll miss WrestleMania, you've got to feel for the guy. I know some people are talking about how this is 'poetic justice' or whatever for Rollins injuring Sting and Balor, but that's pretty messed up. Those were clearly accidents and the guy's going to miss the biggest pay day of the year for the second year running, not to even mention the absolute emotional wreck he'll probably be, especially given what we saw on that WWE 24 documentary they ran following his return last summer.

I hope he's back fighting fit sooner rather than later and I most certainly hope he's ready for Mania, regardless of who he's going up against.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

I'm hearing Seth will be out about two months. Silver lining time? Seth v Joe at Mania is far more attractive than Seth/HHH (which they can now just do at Summerslam), and no one will bitch not when Seth beats Joe (like they would have at Fastlane.)

 

[WorstWrestlingExcrement]

Like I said the WM 33 match has been scrapped and it won t be Seth Rollins vs HHH
It will be Seth Rollins vs Samoa Joe WM33 as it is more interesting than HHH hogging the damn spotlight every WM

 

[Psykohurricane55]

If it's legit and they have to scrap the HHH match at mania because it's serious enough that he has to miss a lot of time off. You could just spin it either we're Joe didn't want to injured Seth, he just wanted to teach him a lesson and that leads to Joe vs HHH at mania, or to less popular choice would be to drop everything they had planed for roman reigns and have him come defend seth's and take out joe at mania.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

I'm hearing Seth will be out about two months. Silver lining time? Seth v Joe at Mania is far more attractive than Seth/HHH (which they can now just do at Summerslam), and no one will bitch not when Seth beats Joe (like they would have at Fastlane.)

If you hearing that, it pretty much mean that Seth won't make it in time for mania because mania is in 2 months and knowing WWE, they won't take a chance on promoting something that might not happen so if he's missing 2 months of action, they need to find a replacement match for HHH at mania.

 

[L@RISANO]

If it's legit and they have to scrap the HHH match at mania because it's serious enough that he has to miss a lot of time off. You could just spin it either we're Joe didn't want to injured Seth, he just wanted to teach him a lesson and that leads to Joe vs HHH at mania, or to less popular choice would be to drop everything they had planed for roman reigns and have him come defend seth's and take out joe at mania.

I get where you are coming from with regards to having Reigns come in for Seth and I saw it mentioned on other forums also.

However, Roman Reigns as US Champion caught loads of criticism due to him filling in as Top Babyface in the absence of Finn Balor. Also, at the Rumble, he had 2 great possible feuds setup against Taker/Braun.

As a huge Reigns fan, I'd find it a slap in the face if he has to end up covering for Seth Rollins thereby dropping his own feuds as a result.
Yes, I want to see the 2 Samoan Joes "kill each other", but that can wait till later, lMO, as poor Roman would get even more criticism for something beyond his control related to poor booking yet again.

 

[Dmbfantomas]

If you hearing that, it pretty much mean that Seth won't make it in time for mania because mania is in 2 months and knowing WWE, they won't take a chance on promoting something that might not happen so if he's missing 2 months of action, they need to find a replacement match for HHH at mania.

6-8 weeks, he can do promo work during the lead up. I'm being told all systems are go, they're just not sure who he will be facing. It's not a major injury, they're just being careful.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Like Randy Orton's shoulder, the one he injured in a motorcycle accident years back, Rollins' knee is something that may well give him issues for the rest of his career.

It's unusual that Joe is taunting Rollins via Twitter if it's a legit injury as that's not SOP in WWE. That doesn't mean it isn't legit, of course, but it's a departure from how Vince generally likes things done.

At any rate, it's a damn shame if he's injured and will have to miss WrestleMania again

 

[OYDK]

Probably definitely legit. Did everybody else miss the little hiccup when Joe had Rollins in the Coquina? He went one way, Joe went the other, his knee buckled and Joe almost let him go until Rollins said something, most likely to keep the hold on if I had to guess. I'm thinking if they're playing this thing up, it's likely that he'll be ready to go for Mania. All things considered, this isn't a terrible thing to happen, unless of course Rollins is forced to miss Mania. It's almost poetic after HHH's promo on Monday. They can play this up and act as if Rollins is going to miss Mania, HHH can gloat to his heart's content, and a couple weeks before the event, Rollins can ditch the crutches and miraculously be 100% to set up the match.

As for where Joe goes, he can just move on. HHH can send him after someone else and the Rollins/Joe thing can pick back up after Mania. It's not like WWE hasn't done stupid shit like that before. Actually, they're notorious for it. As long as Rollins is good to go for Wrestlemania, everything works out pretty well.

 

[Vanilla Midget]

The dirt sheets reporting this as legit is not a confirmation whatsoever. A lot of this smells like an angle, a lot of this could be legit.

It's odd they would film him walking on crutches unless the intention was to sell an injury. WWE isn't above using medical staff and equipment to sell an injury. What it really comes down to though, is that it does not matter at all if this is legit or a work.

There's no point in debating it. If it's a work, we get Triple H vs Rollins anyway. If it's legit, Rollins misses another WrestleMania and Triple H has no opponent.

This battle of The Pedigrees has been brewing since August and it's suffered a bit accordingly. We shouldn't have been made to wait nearly six months to find out why Trips screwed Rollins.

This match hasn't held any special interest for me personally. It'll be interesting to see how they handle things with Triple H, considering he now lacks an opponent. Will he sit out Mania or will they create a new angle?

It's too bad considering all the build this one has had (if the injury is indeed legit). There is a lot of potential for big matches for Triple H. His character isn't restricted to Raw, he could easily show up on Smackdown where there are a lot of potential opponents without clear WrestleMania trajectory.

A Triple H vs Samoa Joe match could be built out of this. I'm not sure who you turn face, most likely Joe. What's Finn Balor's status? If he is indeed healthy and they're saving him for after Mania, they could bring him back now. Braun Strowman needs a Mania match, though I think that match is highly unlikely.

They'll likely want to have Shane McMahon in a WrestleMania match. Triple H makes logical sense as a proxy for Stephanie in a brand supremacy match. The two have feuded before, but never at Mania. It wouldn't be the best thing, but certainly has Attitude Era all over it.

Speaking of Attitude Era, what about HOF inductee Kurt Angle? There's a ton of history between Triple H, Angle, and Stephanie. If Kurt can pass a WWE physical, this is a marquee matchup.

Back to Smackdown, AJ Styles doesn't have an obvious Mania opponent. It would be interesting to see Styles vs Triple H, I could see Styles drawing a great match out of the Game. It would be easy to turn Styles face, even with only a month between the Chamber and Mania.

Other Smackdown guys who seem to have nothing to do are Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, and even John Cena if he drops the title. Cena Triple H has been done to absolute death though. I think they've had two Mania matches as is.

So if Rollins is truly missing WrestleMania, there really isn't a shortage of opponents. I think a match vs AJ Styles may be rushed, but could prove to be an excellent match. A match vs Shane wouldn't take logic leaps to set up. A match vs Angle or Balor are only possible if either are healthy enough to compete (by WWE standards in the case of Angle).

I feel bad for Rollins, but this does not hurt the WrestleMania card. The card will still have the two main event titles, Goldberg/Lesnar, an Undertaker match, a Cena match (if he loses his title), KO vs Jericho, as well as all the other title matches. Things will be ok.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

If legit then, like Barrett before him it could spell the end of Rollins as a serious bet for the main event going forward. Twice Wade was due to get the big push to replace his first...and twice he got hurt... Seth is now falling into that bracket - add to that the injuries he has accidentally caused and it's not looking good for him.

Many are looking at Joe replacing him but Sami Zayn also makes a lot of sense and could actually benefit more than Rollins from the push... The other person it lets in is Finn Balor. If he is ready for Mania then he is a great substitute and another version of the old Trips v Foley angle where he became Cactus... Foley could set the match up as his last act before he's fired...

Triple H WILL wrestle at Wrestlemania...and he's facing The DEMON! Cue the return of Balor in full regalia to freak Trips out.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

According to Wade Keller the fear is right now that he could be out 4-6 months which would obviously keep him out of WrestleMania and well beyond that, but even if it ends up being the latter, he'd be back JUST in time for Summerslam.

Not confirmed in any way but such a horrible horrible blow to Seth and WWE.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

This sucks big time.

So Seth is about to get his big Wrestlemania match and win 1-vs-1 against a legend, the feud just starts and he gets injured? Holy crap. I really hope this is a work. I really really hope that.

Who could replace Rollins though?
Definately not Joe vs HHH. Doesn't make sense. It was HHH who ordered Joe to take out Rollins in the first place. Reigns vs HHH happened just last year, although Reigns vs Joe would be cool, but the big picture here is Triple H's opponnent. RAW really lacks babyfaces at the moment.

From RAW, it's down to two superstars: a returning Finn Balor or a step up for Sami Zayn.
A) Triple H can keep bragging about pathetic wrestlers and underdogs being injured all the time - that brings out Finn Balor to confront the Game and Joe.
B) HHH can keep bragging about him being the maker of all the NXT stars and that they own everything to him - out comes Zayn to confront him.

It's fixable.

A long stretch would be for Joe to take the action to SD, calling out Styles for going immediately on the main roster. Of course the whole SD/RAW friction could lead to HHH/Shane and Joe/Styles.

It's a fixable problem. But it's a damn shame for Rollins if true.

PS: Joe mentioning Rollins on twitter means jack.. Rollins kept bragging about injuring Balor everywhere.

Guess karma is a b, Rollins.

EDIT: The craziest of them all is of course Angle vs Triple H.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

If legit then, like Barrett before him it could spell the end of Rollins as a serious bet for the main event going forward. Twice Wade was due to get the big push to replace his first...and twice he got hurt... Seth is now falling into that bracket - add to that the injuries he has accidentally caused and it's not looking good for him.

Many are looking at Joe replacing him but Sami Zayn also makes a lot of sense and could actually benefit more than Rollins from the push... The other person it lets in is Finn Balor. If he is ready for Mania then he is a great substitute and another version of the old Trips v Foley angle where he became Cactus... Foley could set the match up as his last act before he's fired...

Triple H WILL wrestle at Wrestlemania...and he's facing The DEMON! Cue the return of Balor in full regalia to freak Trips out.

Ultimate underdog story: Balor vs Joe and Triple H in a grudge match. Balor beats Joe and then tired, he faces Triple H. Triple H wins to get him some heel heat and keep him fresh for Balor, while Balor also goes down looking strong.

Same can be said with Sami.

 

[XXJJ]

His angle with HHH has been so lame and dumb. Just when it finally got a little interesting w/ Joe he gets hurt. I feel bad for Rollins

If this was part of the angle I think Joe would of been targeting his leg. I'm leaning that this is a legit injury.

Hunter is not going to be happy. This completely screwed up his Wm plans. Lol

 

[Stone Cold Tea]

I'm not a 100% sure if it's legit or not. It just seems a little bit too convenient really. I'm thinking they've gone the whole 9 yards with it to convince everyone he really is hurt. Who knows though I'm probably wrong.

If it's is real then I feel for Rollins. He was real down last 'Mania when he was there and couldn't compete. If it's the case again this year he must feel like shit.

He was hot when he came back but they screwed up his turn. He should have been face immediately. It's hard to feel sorry for a guy who we're meant to cheer for because HHH turned on him (Randy Orton 2004 anyone) after all the shit Rollins had done.

Roman Reigns is a mug as well for teaming with him after the brand split with there very recent history, especially considering Rollins didn't express his misdemeanours or show any remorse for breaking up The Shield.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

The latest reports allege that WWE officials have met to discuss alternatives and one reason why Triple H is so interested in wrestling this year especially is because WrestleMania is in Orlando, which is the home base of NXT. Allegedly, there's talk of possibly doing Samoa Joe vs. Triple H somehow, though no details have been provided.

Joe taking on Triple H could be an interesting twist when you think on it. The story could be Triple H brought Joe in to be his "destroyer" and his means of dealing with those who aren't worthy or aren't what's "best for business." Joe, however, being the loose cannon that he is, turns on Triple H and systematically slaughters him with the explanation being that he's Samoa Joe, that he's too much of a man and that he's too intelligent to let anyone think that he'll willingly be a puppet for anyone.

Of course, the problem with that is it potentially casts Triple H into the role of a babyface, even though Joe will no doubt get a lot of cheers regardless because that's just how modern fans are. So, maybe an alternative could be that Triple H brings Joe to the ring, congratulates him on a job well done, a job that far exceeded his expectations by taking Rollins out so decisively, and that he can head back down to NXT. Joe simply states that he's not going back to NXT, that he's on the main roster, he's there to stay. Perhaps a deal was implied that if Joe took care of Rollins at WrestleMania, then Joe would be in line for a title shot. However, since Rollins was taken out so easily, an executive like Triple H feels the deal is void now that Rollins is out of the picture and that it didn't happen at WrestleMania. You know, Trips trying to use some sort of technicality to worm out of the agreement. Joe turns on Triple H, beats him down, maybe spends the next few weeks antagonizing him like showing up at WWE headquarters, maybe even popping up at his house, etc.

EDIT - The WON is reporting that based on Rollins' evaluation in Birmingham yesterday, it looks like he's torn his right MCL and the word, as of right now, is that he'll be out of action for about 8 weeks. So, the match with Triple H, if this info is accurate, is POSSIBLE but not definite. I think WWE will have to take into consideration whether or not coming back so soon is the right thing for Rollins in the long run. If they give the OK, then they could maybe film Rollins training, doing rehab, addressing Triple H, etc. as part of the build up for their match. You know, really develop Rollins as a sympathetic babyface by giving fans a real perspective on how much the injury has meant personally to Rollins, to show how determined he is to get his career back on track & to take out Triple H.

 

[The Life Of Pablo Ren]

I don't think you can risk it. 8 weeks would put him back a literal day or two before WrestleMania if everyhing goes perfectly, which is a BIG if. This isn't like Reigns' suspension where you knew it would be exactly 30 days and you could still build around the match. If they take the risk and then Rollins isn't cleared by Mania, they're in HUGE trouble.

Find something new for Triple H, find something new for Joe. If Rollins is cleared have him show up at Mania, that would be cool. But they can't take the risk building up one of their top Mania matches with so much up in the air.

 

[Checkmate9113]

Other Smackdown guys who seem to have nothing to do are Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, and even John Cena if he drops the title. Cena Triple H has been done to absolute death though. I think they've had two Mania matches as is.

Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton for WWE Title is something to do. Lol it's all but confirmed.