Some Big Shoes To Fill: Seth Rollins Current Character Based On Classic Attitude Era Story

Those are quite the shoes to fill. Seth Rollins has not been the most well received star in WWE as of late. After being pushed as the top star in the company, or at least very close to it, for several months, the fans did not exactly seem to be thrilled to see him. Things really started to change in October at Hell In A Cell, when Rollins defeated the Fiend by referee stoppage after dominating him for most of the match. Rollins has since turned into a different character, and it is inspired by one of the all time greats.

Back in 1997, the all time Canadian hero Bret Hart started to see that things were changing. Wrestling was evolving around him and for a traditionalist like Hart, this was not a good thing. Hart did not take it very well, lashing out at the locker room and the fans for cheering this new way of thinking, as pioneered by Steve Austin. Hart wanted things back the way they were and decided that it was everyone else’s fault, because he didn’t do anything wrong. Now flash forward with me to today.

This is an all time classic. Check out Hart finally snapping and losing it:

According to Wrestling Observer Radio, Rollins’ new character of yelling at the roster for not doing their jobs and wanting things to be better is inspired by Hart’s run in 1997. There is no word on if Rollins will form a faction ala the Hart Foundation, though he has been somewhat associated with AOP over the last two weeks. Rollins does not have a major match scheduled for Tables, Ladders and Chairs, though he has been feuding with Kevin Owens.

How Canadian of him. Check out Rollins yelling at the rest of the locker room:

Opinion: I can get this one and at the same time I can’t. Hart’s 1997 run was a pretty magical one and some of the best television that the company has ever produced. At the same time though, I’m not sure how well it is going to go with Rollins trying to recreate it. One of the biggest differences is how unpopular things have been lately in WWE and calling the wrestlers losers who can’t do their jobs isn’t likely to make things better. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can only go as far as very cautiously optimistic.

Do you like this idea? What did you think of Hart’s 1997 run? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. His latest book is KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews.

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