Top WWE star Seth Rollins appeared on Jay Mohr’s Mohr Stories to discuss various topics, including his struggles with learning the politics of the wrestling industry during his early days in NXT.
Rollins said, “What I learned when I got there. What it took was yes, I had to constantly go, ‘Give me a chance, give me a chance, give me a chance.’ But also I had to not be so combative. Because I was very combative as a young — you know full of piss and vinegar. I was like, ‘No, my way. Just trust me, just trust me. I know what I know how to do this, just give me the chance and I can show you.’ They were like, ‘Well, yeah, but show us that you that you know how to take direction. Show us that you can work with us. Show us that we’re not butting heads all the time. It’s not your way or the highway. We’re going to work together and then you can get the opportunity to do what you want to do.’ Took me a while to process that as a 24, 25 year-old kid.”
On nearly getting fired:
“I was close. I was on the chopping block. They told me, ‘One more and you’re gone. One more. I don’t care how good you are. You’re not going to get a chance to show the world. We will fire you.’ I had that conversation with Triple H. I was sitting in Full Sail University… there was like a little auditorium. I remember sitting in the back and he was like, ‘Hey, I don’t care how good you are. You’re being difficult with this guy. This guy thinks you’re difficult.’”
On who he was difficult with:
“Terry Taylor. Red Rooster. He and I butted heads quite a bit when he got down to to Florida. And you know, Triple H didn’t appreciate it and my attitude wasn’t appreciated and it was like, ‘If one more negative report comes back, we will fire you.’”
On nearly leaving:
“And I was I mean I was ready to just — I was like ‘What am I doing here? What am I wasting my time? This is nonsense. I can go make more money elsewhere. I can get — I was close. I had a mentor down in Florida named Joey Mercury. He wrestled for WWE in the 2000s or so. And he was one of the guys who talked me down and said, ‘Listen, just do this and good things will happen. Play the game. Understand that [it] doesn’t mean you’re.‘ I had this this feeling like I was betraying my authentic self. You laugh because it sounds ridiculous, but that’s what you feel. You’re like, ‘No, you don’t get it. You don’t get this is who I am. This is how I got where I’m at.’ So I had this this sense that if I uh acquiesced to their their wants and needs that I was somehow betraying my authentic self. Yeah, I’m a sellout, I’m a corporate schlub, I’m a bootlicker, whatever.”
On what Joey Mercury told him:
“He painted it completely different for me. He’s like, ‘Dude, when you go out to the ring, you don’t you’re not yourself. You play a character, right? It’s the same thing when you’re talking with these people. You’re playing a character. When you go home and you’re with your girlfriend and your dog, you’re still you. You’re still the same person. It’s an act. It’s all an act. You’re always playing the game.’ And when I kind of framed it that way, it was much easier for me to be like, ‘Oh, okay. I can do that.’ And it worked.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
