Seth Rollins' Injury Draws Concern About Ability to Be the Future of WWE

Availability is the greatest attribute a wrestler offers his employer.

Unfortunately for Seth Rollins, his availability over the last two years was severely hampered by a torn MCL, ACL and medial meniscus. The injuries sidelined him from November 4, 2015, until his return last summer at the May 22 Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

After an eight-month journey back to the top of the card and a series of events that appeared to have him en route to a marquee match against Triple H at WrestleMania 33, The Architect was understandably riding high.

Then tragedy struck.

The Jan. 30 episode of Raw saw Samoa Joe's main-roster debut, attacking Rollins at the behest of The Game. What no one knew at the time was that Rollins had re-injured his knee, putting his long-awaited showdown with his former mentor in jeopardy.

WWE made the official announcement two days later on its website.

Another major push interrupted by the unfortunate timing of an injury to the same leg Rollins spent nearly a year of his life rehabilitating has created questions about his ability to be the future of WWE, as he labeled himself at the start of his singles push.

Poor Timing

The most crushing aspect of Rollins' knee injuries is the timing of each.

The initial obliteration of his knee occurred just before Survivor Series in 2015 and robbed The Architect of an appearance at WrestleMania 32. The WWE Network presentation of WWE 24, entitled Seth Rollins: Rebuild, Redesign, Reclaim, documented just how emotionally distraught he was over missing the opportunity to compete on WWE's biggest stage.

For the second year in a row, he finds himself facing the possibility that he will not appear on the card at the annual extravaganza.

This year, he was slated to battle Triple H in one of the night's most anticipated bouts. A year in the making, the contest would see protege battle mentor in an attempt to avenge a shocking betrayal that cost Rollins championship gold.

Now, that match, so hotly anticipated by fans eager to see The Architect topple the egotistical COO of WWE, may be put on the back burner as doubt casts its shadow over Rollins' availability.

None of it is preventable. None of it is his fault.

He was at the mercy of fate, and unfortunately for him, fate was a Triple H fan.

Likelihood of Re-Injury

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (h/t PhysioPrescription), there is a 30 to 40 percent chance that someone who has suffered a ligament injury in his knee will re-injure it at some point.

Those are not daunting numbers by any stretch, but they also are not zero.

The possibility that Rollins would swallow the bitter pill of injury was always there, particularly given his style of wrestling. He is a high-impact, high-risk worker who does not know how to slow down or give anything less than 100 percent.

Unfortunately, while that may earn him the praise of fans and management alike, it also opens him up to situations like the one he is currently experiencing.

His offensive arsenal consists of load-bearing spots, many of which involve him landing directly on his feet or knees. His finisher, Triple H's own Pedigree, is one he admittedly struggled with during recovery from the first injury. He confessed fear during the aforementioned WWE Network special but continued to use the maneuver.

There is no way to know if the strain from that move and from the escapes he incorporates, where he flies through the air, only to land perfectly on his feet, had any influence on this latest injury, or if it was simply a one-time twist, pull or pop that did him in.

Whatever the case may be, an agility-based sport like pro wrestling, where athletes are forced to endure impact and bumps five days a week, is always going to be conducive to re-injury.

The Future?

Rollins has carefully crafted a character for himself that routinely touts his status as the future of WWE. For the longest time, it was apropos. He had every tool necessary to be the star to carry the company into the next decade. More importantly, he had the backing of management and the support of fans who, love him or hate him, respected his work.

The major knee injury may have halted his career, but many still expected him to recover and move on to greater things as one of the marquee names in Vince McMahon's company.

This latest injury, whether it keeps him out of WrestleMania or not, is cause for concern.

A seemingly innocent angle was responsible for the sudden re-evaluation of the WrestleMania card, as reported by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. The emergency meeting WWE Creative held to come up with stories for Triple H in the event that Rollins cannot compete is the sort of thing that will cause McMahon and upper management to hesitate to hinge so much of their plan on someone who may not be as reliable as they had hoped.

Again, it is through no fault of his own, but Rollins would hardly be the first Superstar to suffer from injuries beyond his control.

Ken Kennedy was a Superstar many considered the surest thing in years when he arrived on the scene in 2005. Too many injuries made him inaccessible to Creative, and any chance he had at becoming a fixture in the main event picture evaporated.

On the flip side, Edge was another Superstar to routinely suffer injuries. Unlike Kennedy, he was welcomed back to the top of the card, where he stayed from 2006 through 2011, cementing his status as one of the top stars of the 2000s and a Hall of Famer.

There are realistic questions about Rollins' ability to maintain the quality of his work, not to mention be available to WWE without injuries sidelining him. It is a concern that he may not be able to carry the promotion on his back like so many foresaw him doing as late as two years ago.

But there is something to be said about his passion and drive, evident in any interview or documentary in which he has been featured.

It was on full display in the impassioned message he tweeted to fans.

He loves wrestling and is willing to put however much work he must into redesigning himself, rebuilding his body and reclaiming his spot as one of the top stars in sports entertainment.