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Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and WWE?

7K views 73 replies 52 participants last post by  Jonasolsson96 
#1 ·
With all this talk about who should be the next guy. Fans obviously want Bryan and wwe obviously wants Reigns. Could Rollins be a guy both parties are happy with? This should of been Bryans year. I dont think Rollins or Reigns are ready to become the guy yet. Bryan isnt exactly a good longterm plan either. 34 years old and with his neckinjury its only a matter of time before he has to retire. Not to mention he and Brie has said they want to start .family within 2-3 years and they probably wont work fulltime by then.

Rollins has everything. Marketable look. Cool moves. Kids are gonna love him. Great for videogames and posters. Wellspoken and could easily be the Cena that does all the media stuff and all that. Amazing in the ring and has streetcred this obviously sits well with us hardcores that enjoy the wrestlingaspect and respect hardwork. Good looking fella and attracts females. What demographic doesnt he cater to? With all that in mind he,s only 28 and a goddamn veteran. Has more then twice the experience of Reigns and is one year younger.


Imo the next guy shouldnt be Reigns or Bryan or Ziggler or Ambrose. The next guy should be Rollins.

Thoughts?
 
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#40 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

His a fucking talent and a half, he has it all and the biggest difference between he and Reigns is that he is willing to improve where he needs too, which isn't in many areas bar maybe mic work.
 
#12 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

It will be Rollins or Ambrose IMO, or a small chance the WWE eventually pulls their heads out of their collective asses and just gets behind Daniel Bryan.

Rollins and Ambrose (outside of any completely unforseen circumstances) will be over with the hardcore WWE fans, and I think Rollins is pretty much there with having the WWE fully behind him, and I think Ambrose could get the WWE fully behind him at some point to.

And technically he would be the first guy since 04-05 Cena to have both behind them.
 
#21 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Why does it have to be "the next guy" ... Since when is myopia and limitation good for business.

The WWE are sitting on a group of 5-6 guys that can main event any PPV and still sustain the business and have somehow miraculously convinced fans that "there can be only one" ...
 
#26 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Why does it have to be "the next guy" ... Since when is myopia and limitation good for business.

The WWE are sitting on a group of 5-6 guys that can main event any PPV and still sustain the business and have somehow miraculously convinced fans that "there can be only one" ...
Agree. It wasn't that long ago that there wasn't a wide disconnect between what the WWE and fans wanted. It seems to have started during Cena's reign. That's not a shot at him, but the point where the friction became worse IMO.

I meant to say that I liked your post from the other day about this very thing. I forgot to rep it.

To answer the question, I'd say Ambrose, Rollins and Ziggler.
 
#3 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Not yet, but eventually probably. Rock appeased both as well. Same with Cena before the military shit, which lasted a short time.

Rollins is great and all but I don't know if he can develop a face personality that can transcend the rest of the roster.
 
#44 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Not yet, but eventually probably. Rock appeased both as well. Same with Cena before the military shit, which lasted a short time.

Rollins is great and all but I don't know if he can develop a face personality that can transcend the rest of the roster.
If the WWE actually gives him the support he needs, Rollins can easily be the top babyface of the generation. He has almost every single positive characteristic of both Ziggler and Bryan, except that the WWE actually seems to like him.
 
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#6 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

I think Ambrose appeals to both also. As well as Devitt when he gets called up. I'd be happy with any of the 3.

I love Devitt but he turns 34 this year and is still in developmental. After getting called up and establishing himself he,s gonna be 37 when he,s ready to become a worldchamp. Not exactly a guy you build your company around. Wwe are looking for the next franchise that is gonna carry wwe through the next decade. Ambrose has alot of tools and I love him aswell but doesnt have the marketability of Rollins and isnt a guy I can see as topface. People love Rollins as a heel but he,s even better as a face. Ambrose is way better as a heel so Rollins as the top face and Ambrose as the top heel would be ideal in my world. Rollins as the next Cena. Ambrose as the next Orton. Then you could have one hell of a mainevent/uppermidcard with Bray,Reigns,Owens,Zayn,Balor,Cesaro,Bryan,Cena,Orton,Ziggler
 
#9 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

I agree. I think Rollins, Ambrose and Ziggler should really be valued more going forward. I'm not THAT sour on Reigns like everybody else is because I totally get why he is where he is -- I don't think he's THAT bad to boot, either. The company put him in a bad position booking wise, especially winning the Rumble in Philadelphia.

I think under the right booking, you can get anybody to appeal to everybody. I think deep down the hardcore smarks would embrace Reigns if he doesn't get the Hogan/Luger/Diesel/Brock/Cena booking and shows legitimate signs of working on and improving himself.
 
#18 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

It's amazing how many options they have who aren't Reigns and yet they picked Reigns anyway.

Rollins would be a great choice. Like Bryan, he's very talented and appeals to mostly everyone. I'd still prefer Bryan, though, since he's already established, more ready, and still has at least a few years ahead of him.
 
#27 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Nobody's a complete internet favorite these days. The Rollins haters will start appearing in droves soon enough- either when he gets mediocre-bad booking, or goes over some other IWC favorites or has an off night or two, or starts getting overrated etc.

Usually there are a core group of fans behind a talent, and some others who latch on and start comparing said talent to all time greats, and that eventually leads to contrarians and haters. Happened with Punk, happened with Bryan, Ambrose to an extent. Rollins will face the same fate.

The company does seem to be behind him atm but I'm not sure how long this booking will last.


As for your question, Triple H in 2000 upto his quad tear in 2001 was a huge internet favorite, and obviously liked by WWE as well.

Cena in his Thuganomics days was pretty over among the internet fans too I guess. Brock Lesnar as well, and maybe Eddie Guerrero.
 
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#36 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

For me Rollins has as much potential starpower as HBK has and Rollins is already proving he can work a Heel like the best of them and thats besides his speedy counter hi-flying wrestling that is equal to the underused Cesaro who should get the push now above Reigns.
 
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#47 ·
I'm a fan of the guy, but let him grow a bit before throwing superlatives at him, will we ?

By the way, his moveset would be undoubtedly awesome as a face, but he may not well transition, character speaking.

I'd rather have him as a tweener. Nowadays, tweeners seem like the master race in WWE. They're allowed to not look like bitches like heels do, and to not come across as tools, like faces do.

He had that great vibe in the Triple Threat. He sure was a heel, but he was the underdog, and he was trying to overcome the odds, even if he was a total douche, kayfabe speaking.

That's kind of a redeeming quality, that, and the fact that he does seem to genuinely care about J & J (heck, even saved them last smackdown). Anyway, you couldn't help but root for him in that championship match.
 
#67 · (Edited)
I'm a huge Rollins mark and all, but I don't know why anyone is in such a hurry to label Rollins, or anyone else that is that young and this early into his WWE single's career. He has been a singles wrestler for like 7 months. Lets let his career playout alittle bit more before we label any of these guys. I mean, think about labeling guys like Rock, HHH, Austin, HBK in the first 7 months of their singles career. It just doesn't work. None of those guys seemed to be destined for greatness at that stage of their careers and look what happened to those guys. Rollins is going to be a star for years to come, no doubt about that.
 
#68 · (Edited)
I mean, think about labeling guys like Rock, HHH, Austin, HBK in the first 7 months of their singles career. It just doesn't work. None of those guys seemed to be destined for greatness at that stage of their careers and look what happened to those guys.
This is kinda the point. We're seeing this level from Seth only 7 months into his single's career. I'm not too big on hype this short into a run either, but in Seth's case, I think it classifies as more than that. He's not just showing flashes, but delivering at the highest level on a week in, week out basis.

As far as career achievements are concerned, those are just projections at this point. Despite his ability, WWE could completely f up his booking in the months to come, and then we'll be talking about his wasted potential. Hard to predict the future in that regard, but what's not so difficult is acknowledging that he is an excellent talent, even at this stage.
 
#13 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Funny story... Austin wasn't the WWE's guy until the fans and WCW made him a WWE guy out of necessity.
 
#19 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Rollins is definitely the future if he can stay healthy. I see him along with Bray, Ziggler and DB as big stars of the future. But, they need better stories for these guys to follow so they do not get to stale.
 
#20 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

Rollins is basically the same as Bryan. The only reason they are pushing him so hard is because he's a heel. As a face, he would get the Bryan treatment because Vince just sees another "little guy"
 
#23 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

It looks like since The Shield has come along, that people have forgot about CM Punk & Daniel Bryan. Big favorites of both casuals and hardcore fans.. Definitely more popular than Rollins too. :draper2
Fans AND the office.
 
#30 ·
Re: Is Rollins the first guy since Austin that appeals to both hardcores and wwe?

And Rollins will NEVER have any haters. The serious fans of today only shit on people who aren't busting their asses and performing at a high level, or over the hill has beens (Show, Kane, Orton).
 
#51 ·
And Rollins will NEVER have any haters. The serious fans of today only shit on people who aren't busting their asses and performing at a high level, or over the hill has beens (Show, Kane, Orton).
If Rollins turns face people will start to dislike him. I'm not saying a lot of people will but some people will.

His biggest problem is that in the ring he's a natural face but on the mic he's a natural heel. If he gets pushed hard as a face he's going to get a lot of promo time and cutting face promos and getting people to still like you on the internet is not a very easy thing to do. I mean look what happened to CM Punk.

Alright folks, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.



Oh what's that? It's too late?
As far as him being the future of WWE maybe. But in talks of being considered an all time great I think we can talk about that.

I think it's fair to give the guy a ton of praise already. He's been on the main roster for a while and already has an absurd resume of great matches that he's been in. And if you go back further I know he did some great stuff in FCW and he's some amazing pre-developmental matches.

If every full time WWE (not NXT) wrestler had to make a list of all of their great matches from anywhere in the world I think Rollins would be up there for the longest list. Bryan, Cena, and Orton have probably been in more great matches than Rollins but after that I think Rollins might be next on the list. Goldust could also be pretty high up on the list but that guy's just been wrestling forever. And the thing is that Rollins is a lot younger than those guys and he is on pace to surpass most of them (probably not Bryan because that guy just had a silly number of amazing matches before getting signed by WWE).
 
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