Seth Rollins Feels WWE 'Is Taking More Chances in Different Ways' to Start 2020

Seth Rollins believes WWE has gone out of its way to think outside the box more often than usual in 2020.

In an interview with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Rollins gave some examples of what he feels are cases of WWE going off the beaten path:

"As for taking chances in 2020, we already started by taking a chance in 2019 with the Monday Night Messiah character. You look at someone like Drew McIntyre winning the Royal Rumble, you look at how things are setting up on SmackDown with The Fiend, you look at where the women are at, taking a chance with Rhea Ripley and Charlotte and weaving in NXT, so I think the company is taking more chances in different ways. I'm looking forward to seeing what these people who were given new opportunities can do to step up and take the business into the next decade.

"I'm always down for more chances and more character turns, but if you've got passion and you go out there and execute, that's what it's all about for me."

Although Rollins' heel turn occurred near the end of 2019, that was undoubtedly a case of WWE taking a chance as well since Rollins had been the top babyface on Raw and feuded with the likes of Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.

The risk has paid dividends, though, as Rollins is arguably doing some of the best character work of his entire career under The Monday Night Messiah gimmick.

In addition to the heel turn, Rollins has been given leadership of a stable that features some young, up-and-coming Superstars in Murphy and AOP. Working alongside Rollins has clearly already paid dividends for them and given them a far bigger spotlight.

Rollins discussed how the new character allows him to both be a more authentic character in his own right and elevate some other performers in the process:

"I suppose it's two-fold. The first is the ability to be able to have an open forum on the microphone and tell the truth about some of the ways I feel when it comes to my relationship with the highly vocal portion of our audience. The other part of it for me is being able to bring along Buddy and The AOP and watch them blossom into bigger stars.

"They've always had a ton of potential but have been sitting on the sidelines for various reasons over the past year, and now they're being thrust to the forefront. That is a position I'm familiar with from when I started back with The Shield. It's a lot responsibility, so I know what it takes to be successful in that role and I've been able to impress upon them some of the things that I learned during my time way back seven years ago when I first broke into the WWE and was making huge waves."

Turning Rollins heel was a risk for WWE since it had invested so much in him as a face, but the fact that so much of the crowd was booing him on a weekly basis was taking away from that. Rather than forcing him into a role that didn't fit him, WWE did the right thing by going with the flow and allowing Rollins to rebel against the WWE Universe.

That decision has helped make Rollins feel like a big star again, and it has also put a few other Superstars in position to break out.

Murphy is seemingly already in the process of breaking out, as he and Rollins became Raw Tag Team champions one week after Murphy joined forces with Rollins and AOP.

On top of his own angle, Rollins pointed out that WWE is going in some unexpected directions elsewhere as well. Drew McIntyre winning the Royal Rumble is seemingly WWE's way of making a new star, as is having NXT champion Rhea Ripley challenge women's Royal Rumble winner Charlotte Flair to a match at WrestleMania, which is something that has never happened before.

By and large, WWE feels fresh and different entering WrestleMania, and while that is often the case, there is enough new talent being pushed to create the belief that the fresh feeling can exist even beyond the biggest show of the year.

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