Top WWE star Seth Rollins appeared on Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories to discuss various topics, including his first meeting with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Rollins said, “I never met Vince before I was on the main roster, No. I met him briefly backstage when I did like — so when you signed a developmental, you’re basically like stuck in a little warehouse down in Florida. And then at this time it was like a claw game. You felt like — because you didn’t really have any connection with the main roster, with any of the office there. there. It was like two separate worlds. So it just felt like every once in a while you’d hear rumors, and then this claw would come down from Connecticut and just yoink whoever up from developmental. And then they would just be gone and you never see them again. But I never met him. He never came down to Florida, so I never met him there. I would go up to do extra work — which like, I would be backstage if they needed somebody to do a pre-show match or something, I would do that. And I probably met him and said, ‘Hi,’ or shook his hand then. But I never met him like until the the day we debuted which was Survivor Series in 2012. I didn’t meet him until then, like officially like sit in his office and introduce myself.”
On his mindset coming into developmental:
“That was very tricky actually, because I felt like I was ready when I got there. I had been wrestling for six years when I when I arrived. I felt like I was ready, but I also was actually ready. I was better than everybody when I showed up in developmental like, by a mile. And it took me — it was actually a good exercise in patience for me. I had to wait for two years before I was up on the main roster. So for me, what I had to learn was how to play the political game. That was the part that I had never — on the independent scene, it was very much a meritocracy. To a point there’s a little bit of the politics you have to play. But if you go out and the crowd responds, you’re going to get more bookings, you’re going to get a better position on the card, you’re going to make more money, all that good stuff. But WWE, it’s a different animal. And you have to work backstage the same way you had to work out in the ring. So it didn’t matter that I was having the best matches on the show, or that there was a little bit of a following behind me. That only mattered to a point. I still had to work to get these people to give me the opportunity on the bigger stage.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
