Sports Illustrated is featuring a lengthy interview with Seth Rollins where he covers a number of topics including his current feud with Dolph Ziggler, Brock Lesnar’s current deal with WWE and The Rock possibly returning to the ring at WrestleMania 35.
On working with Dolph Ziggler heading into SummerSlam:
“I think it’s wonderful working with Dolph. We’ve never really had a program where we’ve had a series of matches over two or three months. And even from our first go around where he beat me for the Intercontinental championship on Raw, obviously there’s chemistry there and being able to do it over the course of a couple of pay-per-views is pretty fun stuff because then we get some time to sink our teeth and tell a really good story.”
On Brock Lesnar’s unique WWE deal:
“From my perspective, I’m not mad at Brock Lesnar for getting a great deal. The guy got a fantastic deal. In a way, it’s a challenge, it’s inspiring. Part of being inspiring is the frustration that, ‘I don’t have Brock Lesnar’s deal.’ I’m not the Universal Champion for 600-and-some-odd days with 12 defenses or whatever it is. You can call it jealously, you can call it envy, but at the end of the day, as long as you don’t get ugly with it, it’s just motivation to work harder. Lesnar’s gonna do what Lesnar’s gonna do, whether he stays or goes. I think the cool part of SummerSlam is that animosity toward him has reached a boiling point. So I think coming into SummerSlam, you don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s what’s interesting to me. That’s the fun part of wrestling. The worst part of wrestling is when it’s super predictable. The best part is when it’s ‘Honestly, I don’t know.'”
Why he doesn’t think WWE needs The Rock in the ring for WrestleMania 35:
“Don’t get me wrong. I love Rocky. I think he’s great. Love everything he’s done for this business. But my gut, my first instinct, says we don’t need him. We don’t need him. If we’re not the guys who can main event WrestleMania, then how are we ever gonna be The Rock? How are we gonna be Stone Cold Steve Austin? We can’t hold onto these guys forever. We just can’t. To me, let’s do Seth Rollins-Roman Reigns before we do Seth Rollins-The Rock. That’s me.”