Seth Rollins is set to compete in this year’s Royal Rumble as WWE’s premium live event on Saturday officially kicks off the road to WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas. If Rollins outlasts 29 other competitors, he will earn a spot in the main event of WrestleMania, where he can challenge for a World Championship.
During an appearance on SI Media with Jimmy Traina, Rollins discussed what it’s like to compete in the Royal Rumble and more. Here are the highlights:
On working a Royal Rumble Match:
“It’s just kind of different. I don’t know that it’s better or worse. I think in some ways, because you’re sharing the workload with 29 other guys, there’s like a little less stress, you know, it’s like a team sport. You’re kind of all in it together, so you do your part, and that’s why you have to really worry about it as opposed to a match, which is entirely yours. If you’re out there for, you know, 20-30 minutes, the microscope is entirely on you the whole time. And so you feel like you have to be on all the time, totally focused. Whereas, when it’s the Rumble, you just like a cog in the machine, you know, your gear that churns. And if you churn properly, and everybody else churns, you know, then you create a good little machine to go. So the pressure is higher, though, because there are so many eyes on it. You want it to be memorable. It’s the kickoff to our biggest part of the year for us, WrestleMania season, basically from January until April. Mid-April now is like, you know, that’s where the levels go up. So the pressure is high to deliver, but you get to share that pressure with 29 of the folks. So it’s kind of easier and harder in some ways.”
On when his body feels ready to wrestle:
“Anytime after five, I’m okay, like to wrestle like, I’m like, after five, we’re in the zone. I can do it. You know what I mean? You start going three o’clock or four o’clock. That’s aggressive, and it feels weird, like my brain is falling down. Three or five? I can do four or five. Six is good. You know, the Rumble. We won’t be going on for a little later, probably, so it’ll be good. But I like the early start time. I think it’s good for everybody.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
