Top WWE star Seth Rollins appeared on Club Shay Shay to discuss various topics, including his first real encounter with former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Rollins said, “When we first got called up in the debut, it’s Survivor Series. It’s 2012, and we’re in these stupid turtlenecks and these cargo pants. And we are called the Shield and they literally tried to give us riot gear. Like, shield riot gear, like these giant plexiglass shields that said “Shield” on them. And these clubs, like these batons you know that riot police beat people with. And we got rid of the the plexiglass pretty quickly. But we’re rehearsing during the day and we have these clubs. And I remember we’re running through the crowd, because we’re ambushing the show. We’re not coming and making an entrance, we’re running through the crowd. So we’re out in the back. It’s Indianapolis, Indiana. And we’re in the back and Vince is by the ring, and he’s running the rehearsals at the time. He sees us with these clubs, because the camera’s there and he’s watching the monitor. And he’s like — you could just hear his deep voice echo through the the empty arena. He’s like, ‘What? You need clubs to beat him up? Are you really that tough, hmm? We’re all just like [motions tossing to the side], dump the club. ‘All right, let’s go.’ So that was my first introduction to to Vince’s Vince-ism.”
On McMahon banning the Stomp:
“Yeah, he banned it. I win the — literally the day after I won my first world title at WrestleMania. We’re here in San Francisco, it was at Levi Stadium. I win it, I win the title. Get on a jet, fly to New York. I do the Today Show. Get back on the jet, fly back over here to San Jose for Raw. This is all in the same day. And I get back to San Jose at the Shark Tank and he like — you know, then ‘Vince wants to see you.’ So I go in the office, he’s like [Vince grunt], sitting there. And he does this thing [leaned over, hands folded on knees]. He’s like, ‘So, um, you know, the stomp, I think, um — I think we’re going to, we’re going to move in a different direction. We’re going to find — we’re find something else, you know, equally as good and uh equally as — you know, devastating. But uh, I think we’re going to go in a different direction.’ Yeah, he banned it.”
On why he Believes the Stomp was banned:
“I don’t know what — I’ve been doing it for years. This is what I think happened, and I don’t have confirmation. He watched the Today Show piece. He sees the stomp. He sees people referring it to the curb stomp. Somebody in his inner circle said, “Hmm Vince, I don’t know about that move. I think it might be a little too dangerous, there might be might be a connotation to it. I don’t know.’ And I’m like, ‘Brother, we’ve been doing it for years. It’s pro wrestling. None of it is — you can call it something else if you want. I didn’t come up with the name, you came up with the name. Call it the Stomp, call it whatever.’ So yeah, he like took it away with no explanation at the time. Just, ‘We’re not going to do it.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ And then left me with no finish. His World Champion with no finishing move for — it took me like a couple months before I decided to just steal Triple H’s Pedigree.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
