Seth Rollins Talks The Shield’s Babyface Run, Eventual Split, and More

Bleacher Report recently interviewed Seth Rollins of The Shield, as the trio prepares to go up against Evolution at the “Payback” pay-per-view. During the interview, Rollins talked about the upcoming match, among other topics such as The Shield eventually splitting up, which has been teased in WWE Magazine.

When asked about how uncommon six-man tag team matches were in WWE, and how The Shield had to adjust, Rollins said the following:

“Both myself and Ambrose had the experience in being in multi-man matches in the independents. Ambrose worked for Dragons Gate when they were big into six-man tags and myself in Ring of Honor where we did a lot of the same things. 

Style-wise, we understood the pacing of a multi-man match and how to build it to a crescendo differently than you would a singles match. We brought that experience to the WWE and were able to find a way to make that style work.

And we had a lot of good opponents, to be fair. We had a lot of guys who were bringing the same energy. You’ve got to remember, in the first kind of incarnation of these six-man tag matches we were bringing to the table, we were in the ring with Daniel Bryan. He brings an energy level to these matches and gave as much as we were bringing.”

Rollins also talked about The Shield’s babyface turn. He was asked if things changed, and why he thinks the trio now gets cheered:

“We aren’t doing anything different. We didn’t change a thing about the way we operate. We’re not on the apron rah, rah, rahing, and we’re not pandering to the crowd for cheers. We just go out and kick the crap out of everybody, and people seem to like it.

It’s all about picking your targets, you know what I mean? If you pick the right targets, people are going to cheer for you, I guess.

And, to be fair, people always kind of cheered us a little bit. There were always some situations where we were the good guys in their eyes. And that’s OK. It’s a different era and it’s not all about bad guys and good guys. There’s a lot of grey area and a lot of characters to fill it.

“That’s what makes things interesting. Let the people kind of decide for themselves. Especially when you have an audience as educated as ours is now. It’s not 1982 anymore. The times have changed. If you don’t evolve with the business, you’re going to be left behind.”

The former WWE Tag Team Champion was also asked about the day The Shield is no longer a unit:

“You know, you say that, but I don’t know if these factions are all ever really dead. Because when Shawn (Michaels) and Hunter (Triple H) get back together and you get that, “Are you Ready?” pumping on the Titan Tron, or when you get Scott (Hall) and Kevin (Nash) together and they put up the “Too Sweet” to each other, or you put Arn and Ric in the same room, they’re definitely not enemies.

It doesn’t always have to end badly. There’s a lot of longevity that comes with having a gang of friends with you throughout your career in this business. So there’s no telling when The Shield will run its course. If it ever will. We’re just happy riding this wave of success right now, trying to make this place a better place for everybody, wrestlers and fans alike, and we’re going to keep doing that until we can’t do it anymore.”

Be sure to read the interview in its entirety, here. 

Editor’s Note

This is a very good, lengthy interview between Rollins and Bleacher Report. It is worth the read.