Top WWE star Seth Rollins appeared on Games With Names to discuss various topics, including his Mount Rushmore of wrestling heels.
Rollins said, “Wow, that’s a great question. I don’t know that — I’ve answered the Mt. Rushmore question quite often in my life in general, but not the heel Mt. Rushmore. I think you probably start with Ric Flair. What a wild man. He’s a nut job. He’s a full nut job. He’s one of the best heels of all time. Gosh — man, how far in the wayback machine do I wanna go? You know, there’s argument to be made that Triple H [is on the list]. [He was] extremely hated for a variety of reasons during his run. Strong heel, those are two great heels. Gosh, who else is in there that’s just really the worst?”
On Hulk Hogan being part of his list:
“You know what? I’ll say this. We think about him mostly as a babyface. But honestly, I think his heel stuff had the most impact on business long-term. It’s probably Hulk Hogan. Because the Hollywood turn was one of the watershed moments in our industry, when you took the biggest hero in the business. And yeah he had the black beard and everything. And he was a very detestable character at that time. I mean, he broke hearts, you know what I mean? He broke hearts, he crushed all those kids who were Hulkamaniacs growing up. You know, prayers, training, vitamins, all that gone.”
On Harley Race:
“I think I have to go further back. Maybe the King, Harley Race. Harley was nasty, man… Harley was like the ’70s. ’60s, ’70s, those were probably his big decades, I would say. But he was just — he was rotten. There was nothing about him likable, you know what I mean?”
On Race’s personal vs. kayfabe personas:
“But he was also… sweetest man you’ll ever meet too. I mean, he’s passed away now. But when he would come around when we would be into the St. Louis area or Kansas City area. He lived in Missouri, ran a wrestling school I think till his passing. But one of the nicest guys backstage you’ll ever met. And not one of those old-timing guys that was like, ‘Oh, today’s kids don’t know nothing.’ He was not like that. He was very cool, very easy to talk to. But man, as a performer, just mean. He was mean. He was like the embodiment of a bully. And he was mean, but when the time was right — the same with Ric — he would always give it back to his babyface. So, he would always allow his babyface — I mean, he was great at bumping around like a maniac and selling for his babyface and stuff like that when the time was right.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
