Seth Rollins Proving He Is Better Option as WWE Top Star Than Roman Reigns

While WWE hopes, projects and is set to bank that Roman Reigns will be its next company cornerstone, Seth Rollins is busy proving that he's ready for that role right now. 

On Monday, Raw rolled into New Orleans, the site of last year's WrestleMania. It was the man who broke up The Shield who looked most ready to thrive at the top of the card of that pay-per-view for years to come. 

Reigns is a work in progress. He needs to loosen up on the mic and is still proving himself as an in-ring performer. 

Rollins, meanwhile, has nailed every major at-bat WWE has given him. He did so again in front of the fans in New Orleans, sharing the stage with Brock Lesnar and John Cena, looking like he belonged in the same class as those two powerhouses.

Both Reigns and Rollins had opportunities between the ropes and with a mic in hand. Reigns did fine; Rollins flourished.

The Match

Reigns took on Luke Harper toward the middle of Raw. The bout explained why Reigns has so many backers.

Electric athleticism merged with hard-hitting shots to make for good action. Reigns threw in a neckbreaker to his usual array of high-impact moves. 

It wasn't a great bout, but impressive nonetheless.

Now project ahead. Put Reigns on a bigger stage, aid him with pre-match buildup and chances are, he will come through.

Still, there's some uncertainty about how he will perform in a longer, more high-profile match. He's unproven in that department.

His former partner, on the other hand, is a more reliable commodity at this point. 

Fans saw that again as Rollins clashed with Cena in a Lumberjack match. Every time these two collide, the result is excellent. Rollins' fiery energy meshes perfectly with Cena's brawl-heavy style. 

Up against WWE's benchmark, Rollins looked tremendous. 

The story of the match was that the lumberjacks surrounding the ring were all clearly pro-Authority and anti-Cena. Even with that narrative element being so overpowering, Cena and Rollins managed to engage fans with the action in the ring. Near-falls pulled the crowd in, and a crisp, fluid performance made this the match of the night.

At this point, Rollins' resume is stacked.

Comparing his standout performances to Reigns' just isn't fair at this point. Rollins can brag about an instant classic Falls Count Anywhere match against Dean Ambrose on Aug. 18, one of the best Hell in a Cell matches in recent history and numerous high-quality TV bouts against Cena.

Reigns may get to that level, but he doesn't have the track record that Rollins does. 

As we have seen throughout WWE history, though, it's not solely in-ring performance that elevates a star to the mountaintop. While Reigns has Rollins beat in the looks department, he has yet to fully blossom when the lights get bright and he is armed with only a microphone.

The Moment

Reigns confronted Big Show on Monday's Raw. Rollins followed with a showdown opposite Lesnar, Cena and Paul Heyman.

In Reigns' turn in front of the camera, he delivered another odd, goofy promo. WWE certainly did not help him by handing him a script that asked him to ramble on about fairy tales, but he's just not connecting in these moments.

He's getting more comfortable as a talker, but it's slow progress.

Grantland's David Shoemaker was one of many watching who had criticism to hand out. He tweeted:

That is not what you want folks to be saying about someone who is on the fast track to marquee status. With performances like Reigns' on Monday, it's clear he's a good distance away from being dependable in these situations.

If WWE had no other options, it would make sense to plow ahead with the Reigns-as-top-dog plan. The problem is that there is another emerging star continually providing evidence that he's ready to be "the man" right now.

Rollins stood in a crowded ring as Raw wound down. The men involved in the upcoming WWE title match all waited to sign the contract for that contest.

What followed was Rollins' best performance to date, a moment that served as a loud, clear proclamation of his arrival to the top tier.

He was brash, came off as a convincing threat to Lesnar and most importantly, exuded star power. At times, Cena faded into the background as Rollins demanded fans focus on him. He more than held his own with Heyman.

Benjamin Tucker of Pro Wrestling Torch certainly noticed, tweeting the following:

In the inevitable brawl that erupted between the three foes, Rollins provided the punctuation, namely two successive Curb Stomps. He laid out Cena and pounced on a woozy Lesnar.

Rollins standing among the human debris didn't feel forced, as a case of a star not ready to be portrayed that way might have. Instead, everything felt right about it. That puzzle piece fit right in.

While the discussion this year has so often been whether Reigns should get a crack at the WWE crown or if the company should restart what it began with Daniel Bryan last year, Rollins has been charging forward.

Vince McMahon famously said on Steve Austin's podcast that he didn't think today's stars want to reach for "that brass ring." Well, Rollins has been reaching for it. 

One could argue that he grabbed it during his feud with Ambrose, when he was such a key component of the Team Cena-Team Authority rivalry or when he became WWE's go-to heel when Lesnar was away. He yanked that ring down on Monday's Raw, allowing New Orleans to witness the moment when a much-discussed future becomes the present.