WWE Rumors on Seth Rollins Injury and Changes to SNME XL, Gunther Blasts Goldberg

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Rollins Reportedly on Crutches After SNME

Seth Rollins looked the worse for wear after his loss to LA Knight at Saturday Night's Main Event, and the former world champion wasn't playing it up for the purposes of furthering a storyline.

Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp reported that Rollins was wearing a knee brace and needed crutches backstage at Evolution. Triple H also said on Sunday that Rollins will undergo an MRI on Monday and that it "doesn't look good."

On the episode of Wrestling Observer Radio immediately after the show, Bryan Alvarez reported Rollins suffered a legitimate injury. Co-host Dave Meltzer chimed in to add that "everyone was told it was legitimate." The conversation begins at the 4:25 mark of the video below.

Alvarez reported some backstage are still "skeptical" but that "there are people who would be very upset if they found out it wasn't legitimate."

Some fans believe the inciting incident may have been an attempted moonsault midway through Saturday's match. Announcer Michael Cole speculated Rollins may have aggravated an injury that originated last Monday on Raw, so the moment could've been intended to provide a kayfabe reason for a serious situation.

The latter scenario was undercut by Mike Johnson of PWInsider.com, who reported that Knight's victory "was a last-second call" because of what happened with Rollins.

Looking ahead, this could force an audible for whatever WWE had planned for SummerSlam.

Especially since the premium live event is going to be split across two nights, it's safe to assume Rollins was going to be involved somehow. From a narrative standpoint, Bronson Reed or Bron Breakker would be an easy replacement, but The Visionary's absence would take a little bit away from the match.

Rollins' Injury Impacted Goldberg's Farewell, Second Half of SMNE

Beyond potentially altering the outcome of Knight vs. Rollins, Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that "the last 40 minutes were changed on the fly" after Rollins was injured.

That would explain why Goldberg and Gunther went more than 14 minutes in the main event. It was Goldberg's longest singles match since returning to WWE in 2016.

The abrupt end of the legend's farewell speech in the end may have some more context as well. The Saturday Night's Main Event closing credits started to appear on the screen as he was speaking and the broadcast ended with him seemingly still talking to the crowd.

Sapp reported additional details on the changes that occurred after Rollins' injured:

"The NBC feed ended up cutting away mid-speech leaving many unable to see it. This clearly wasn't intentional, and a number of people within the company felt bad that happened. It was claimed that at least one higher up apologized to Goldberg for that. WWE had a hard out on NBC. We were told after the show by sources in WWE that they quickly planned to post Goldberg's speech in full, which went up Sunday afternoon."

A live television show needs to be meticulously planned down to the minute. If Triple H and the WWE creative team had to pad out Goldberg vs. Gunther to account for the remaining air time, it may have disrupted the timing of the finishing sequence and when Goldberg's in-ring goodbye would begin.

Gunther Blasts Goldberg after SNME

Once Saturday Night's Main Event was off the air, Gunther offered his candid assessment of Goldberg's career in the ring.

The world heavyweight champion was a guest on WWE's SNME recap show with Sam Roberts and Megan Morant and had the final word on his rivalry with the Hall of Famer.

At the 19:08 mark, Gunther asserted that Goldberg is "not a Mount Rushmore wrestler of this business or anything." He went on to say the 58-year-old is a "Mount Rushmore character" in terms of the overall package.

The Ring General praised Goldberg for carving out such a wide legacy in the ring despite never being a great mat technician, which sounds like a backhanded compliment but didn't appear to be intended as such.

Gunther did veer more into kayfabe, though, when he said (27:00 mark), "I gave him the honor of being retired by one of the greatest to ever do this."

It's tough to script a better way to draw this story to a close.