During a recent appearance on the “Insight” podcast, Seth Rollins discussed a variety of pro wrestling topics, including Becky Lynch, CM Punk, his “Freakin” nickname, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On Becky Lynch: “My wife loves acting, she’s way better at it than I am. She has awesome stuff coming out, obviously she announced her being on Star Trek, which is going to be sick. She has another thing that I’m not allowed to talk about that will be coming out sooner. I can’t say anything. People are like, ‘Oh, she’s on hiatus, she’s taking a break.’ She has not been taking a break. She has not. She’s been working her tail off the last six-seven months. She’s been hustling. She’s been super busy.”
On who came up with his ‘Freakin’ nickname: “I give that credit to the old man, the middle name was his idea back in the day. I don’t remember why. I don’t remember how it came about. I think he was just bored with Seth Rollins, and he was like, ‘Ya, you’ll be Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins.’ OK cool. Sold a lot of t-shirts when we did it.”
On wanting to pull back on how often ‘Freakin’ was used: “The thing that killed me was when we first did it, brought the ‘Freakin’ back in, because it was just the Monday Night Messiah for awhile, then there was the Drip God which was never my idea, I didn’t like that nickname at all, and I tried to push the Visionary on him and he didn’t get that character at all, and added ‘Freakin’ in there at some point, but then everybody had to say ‘Freakin’ every single time they mentioned my name. On commentary, anywhere. And I was like, the first thing I did when I had the opportunity was to just pull back on that. How about I just say it, and if somebody is introducing me in a grandiose manner they can say it, but if they’re just talking about me, they can just say Seth Rollins, it’s OK. You don’t have to say ‘Tribal Chief’ Roman Reigns all the time.”
On where his real life animosity with CM Punk came from: “Occasionally I’d get asked about him over the years and see some of it slip out, but most of the time I just never wanted to acknowledge his existence because he was such a cancer to my career for many years while he was gone. An intentional one. He was a parasite. He really just wanted to just, take a pot shot at me, or the company, he was trying to. I never wanted to give that credence because I looked at him as a troll. I didn’t want to acknowledge these things because then it looks like they matter, and they don’t, but it did bother me internally, because we were trying. That roster, he leaves in 2014 I think. We were hustling. We were trying our best, and we were given garbage a lot of the time, and we were making the best of it, and he was in a position where he had made a bunch of money and just dip and go, and there wasn’t an alternative. AEW didn’t exist at the time, there was nowhere else to go, what are we going to do? Just pack up and leave because CM Punk’s feelings were hurt? Because that is what he wanted from guys. He didn’t want people who were his friends to stay and work for the company because he thought it was some sort of betrayal to him and I’m like dude, this is my dream job and how I earn a living. I’m trying to get to your level. I don’t have the luxury to just quit. I can’t just go anywhere else and get paid this kind of money. I don’t get to work until I’m 60 either. It was one of the most selfish things I’ve seen out of a human, leaving the way he did and kind of expecting other people to follow and then taking shots at the place from a distance when he wouldn’t even explain to his friends why he was so resistant to continue that friendship. I never got an answer out of him.”
On if he and Punk were friends up until Punk left WWE: “Yes, we were friends until he left. We had a mentor, mentee relationship. I was a lot younger, so I didn’t push, I sent him some texts and called him after he left, but I wasn’t comfortable enough with him to like, we were peers, but he was here and I was here, I didn’t want to push that envelope and after awhile I just let it go. And even over the years, I reached out to him a couple of times to try to engage and to see if he was interested in coming back, and nothing, no response, except whenever he would get a chance, he’d talk as much crap as he could.”
On if he ever thought CM Punk would return to WWE: “When he joined the broadcast team on FOX, when they were doing that Backstage show, I think it was, I thought to myself, OK, maybe there is an opportunity here. And then when he joined AEW, I kind of thought, maybe he’ll have a twilight run here. But then there were a lot of times because it wasn’t like, I know he makes it out like he didn’t like the other guy that was in charge, but the truth is he didn’t really get along with the current guy that’s in charge either. It wasn’t like they were pals as well. So I think even when Triple H took over, I didn’t think there would be an olive branch to be had, ya know? So kind of 50-50, but I’d waver more towards no, I never thought it would happen.”
On if he was told in advance about CM Punk returning at Survivor Series 2023: “No, that was a bit of a surprise. What I wasn’t happy about was Randy [Orton] had just come back from a long hiatus, that was his moment, it was a great moment, and the reaction for him when he came through the curtain was unreal, and, we went out there and had a hell of a contest, and just didn’t need him, but it’s Chicago, it’s his city, I don’t know, it’s the most classic make everything about me, CM Punk moment I’ve ever seen. When you’re in that moment, your adrenaline is going through the roof, you’re on top of the cage celebrating with your pals, sold out AllState Arena going bananas, and then that happens, it’s no longer about the performance, no longer about Randy, it’s no longer about what you had done to get to that point, it’s just, ‘Hi guys, it’s about me, I’m the guy that you miss, remember me, guys?’ Yeah, just another, ya know, throw that on the pile of disgusting CM Punk moments, but don’t worry, he’s not selfish, he’s in it to help everybody else.”
