WWE Not Portraying Seth Rollins as Enough of a Dangerous Force as of Late

WWE is veering off in the wrong direction with Seth Rollins. The world champion has looked plenty slimy, arrogant and deluded, but not enough like a fearsome predator lately.

Rollins, who has expertly played his role as cowardly heel, just needs to bear sharper fangs to complete his character. It's hard to take a villain seriously when he suffers all the bruises and doesn't create any of his own.

Even rats bite when they are forced into a corner.

In recent weeks, WWE has taken the bite out of Rollins. Here is a man who crushed his former partner's head against cinder blocks, who put Randy Orton out of action for months and broke Brock Lesnar's ribs. He hasn't been creating that kind of violent lasting image as of late.

Instead, he's been a doormat and the butt of jokes, as he was on Monday's Raw, 

Early in the night, he bickered with Kane once more. In one moment, Rollins was stuttering, afraid of The Director of Operations. Seconds later, Kane incited a "Justin Bieber!" chant directed at the world titleholder.

It's fine to insult the company's top heel. It's okay to make him look foolish. He has to respond strongly, though.

The ideal cowardly heel backpedals until he can't anymore and then strikes like a cobra. Ric Flair slithered out of harm's way many a time, but he so often left a man limping. Rollins isn't doing that.

In this moment and in the match that capped off Monday's Raw, Rollins not only didn't hurt his enemies, but he faded into the background. The spotlight during that opening segment moved from Rollins to Orton, Roman Reigns and Kane. 

That would have been a non-issue had Rollins left more of a scar on his opponents later that night. He didn't.

Orton and Reigns teamed up to face Rollins and Kane. Rollins wasn't the one WWE played up to be wary of. Kane was the one throwing men around, leaving victims in his wake.

The match ended with an enraged Kane flinging Rollins into the ring, leaving him to be torn apart by the babyfaces. Reigns landed a Superman punch to Rollins' jaw, and Orton followed up with an RKO.

After the match and after Kane announced that Rollins would defend the WWE title in a Triple Threat at Payback, Reigns floored the champ with a spear. The night ended with Reigns celebrating and Rollins doing the dead man pose on the mat.

That's the second time in the last week that someone pinned the champion in non-title action.

It follows a victory at Extreme Rules, where Rollins needed a chokeslam from Kane and to use a banned move to win via escaping the cage. All the help Rollins leaned on should have been counterbalanced by him doing more damage to Orton.

Rollins would have drawn more heat and been more compelling had he ground The Viper's face into the cage wall or zeroed in on a part of the body and left it in need of medical attention afterward. 

During Rollins' climb to championship status, WWE showed him to be a man worth fearing. Turn your back on him, and you chance getting a knife plunged into your vertebrae. Since holding the gold, he's been doing more punch-taking than backstabbing.

Credit: WWE.com

This is weakening Rollins' character. It makes him look like more of a pushover.

He needs to start mixing in more savagery with his gutlessness. If Kane is going to leave The Authority, let Rollins oust him in such a way that we feel pity for Kane and unsettled about what Rollins is capable of. And at Payback, WWE can't just have Rollins survive against Orton and Reigns; he needs to dig his claws into them.

Strong villains make for strong stories, and Rollins is in need of character strength training.