The WWE Draft results are in! After the dust settled, Seth Rollins found himself on the SmackDown Roster. What’s interesting about Seth Rollins is that his WWE history is forever tied to The Shield. He along with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose (a.k.a. Jon Moxley) debuted in the WWE Universe in 2012 at Survivor Series. As they developed into a dominant presence, it became easy for the roster to find bones to pick. Rollins now riding solo, hasn’t seen much of SmackDown in over 4 years. A lot has changed. Let’s take a look at a few of Seth Rollins’ SmackDown and pay-per-view feuds to see what may be still relevant.
When it comes to feuds, the first substantial one was with Team Hell NO (Daniel Bryan and Kane). Randy Orton was thrown into the mix on the SmackDown prior to Payback in 2013. As is common in the WWE Universe, Team Hell NO fractured resulting in a breakup. Since the show must go on, Bryan was paired with Randy Orton to carry on the feud. Rollins and Roman Reigns held the Tag Team Titles at the time and went on to retain.
Before the aforementioned title defence, The Shield did have a mini-feud with the Undertaker. That culminated on an earlier SmackDown episode. Yet, a short feud with the Wyatt Family helped tell the story. Continuity in the WWE Universe being hard to come by, it deserves some attention. The Shield’s feud with the Wyatt Family led to an awesome match at Elimination Chamber in 2014. What’s important here is that The Shield’s loss marked the beginning of their end.
Seeds were further planted in regards to a Shield breakup after WrestleMania XXX in April of 2014. A feud with Triple H’s faction, Evolution, began. Batista gets official one-on-one feud credit against Rollins as he defeated him on SmackDown that May. Yet, when Batista left Evolution, enter Triple H the Cerebral Assassin. Having sided with Triple H, Rollins turned on his Shield brethren the following June on an episode of RAW.
After that, the feuding was easy to call. Dean Ambrose became Rollins’ main nemesis. The betrayal unacceptable, Ambrose took just about every chance he got to lay hands on Rollins. At times Reigns would also participate but, Ambrose sold the betrayal best. It was great.
Following that, Roman Reigns became more of a public enemy for Rollins. Not so much for their character development but as a way to salvage Reigns’ poor booking at the time. In 2015 Rollins cashed in on Reigns at WrestleMania XXI for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in epic fashion. During that time, WWE was forcing Reigns down the WWE Universe’s throat. To counter, the WWE Universe acted like a fussy toddler and spat him out or refused to take him at all. Rollins taking the match was a way to appease irritated fans. They would meet again the following year at Money in the Bank. Though Reigns held the title, it’s hard to say the fans were won over and so, the Heavyweight Title again went to Seth Rollins.
Rollins then went to RAW in July of 2016 and there he has stayed until now. Upon returning to SmackDown, there are a couple of familiar faces he could encounter. Though the Shield reunited before Ambrose left WWE, Roman Reigns could certainly be a future opponent. Given how Ambrose carried the bulk of the “rage” concerning the breakup, they could revisit old business for “closure”. Also, Daniel Bryan is still technically on SmackDown yet, it may be more in a creative capacity. The rumours circulating suggest that he may never return to full-time wrestling. We’ll have to wait and see. Moreover, there are a few more months before Rollins has to consider paternity leave. His partner, Becky Lynch, announced her pregnancy in May. Let’s hope he’s working on a few good ideas to set up his exit.