Dumb Fanbooking: Seth Rollinsâ Evolution Part 4
THE STORY SO FAR
So Finn Effing Balor has just revealed himself as the third man in the new Shield in a Hell in a Cell match vs Seth Rollins. Predictably itâs astounding; two of the best physical performers in the entire company having a completely classic match complete with high spots out the ass. Predictably Finn Balor doesnât want to win by escape so much as he wants to crush Seth Rollins underneath his heels (literally). He has ample time to escape but itâs clear he just wants to torture Seth as long as possible which ends up biting him in the ass when KO and Cody recover from their matches and swarm the ring, trying to pull Seth out. They get one of the walls of the cage down and Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose hit the ramp. Seth pretty clearly escapes and âwinsâ the match but itâs a moot point as the six of them proceed to destroy fucking everything. The cage, the ring, the announcerâs table, the first few rows, the barricades, the titantron, Alberto Del Rioâs Car, Xavier Woodsâ new trombone, everything. The locker canât even get down to stop them because there is so much debris flying around. Itâs a small war that continues until Seth grabs a go-kart and starts driving away before Roman Reigns spears him out of the cart and into the barricade. Team Nega-Shield faces down the New Shield at the top of the ramp; HIAC ends amid chaos and destruction.
Leading up to Survivor Series, we have a more cold war between the Shield and the Nega-Shield. Seth Rollins and his crew are frazzled so they corner GM Michael Cole in his office and demand that the Shield get punished for destroying the ring. New Shield gets put in a gauntlet of matches in increasingly improbable odds (Dean Ambrose vs Tyler Breeze/Adam Rose/Jack Swagger, Finn Balor vs the Wyatt Family, Roman Reigns vs The New Day) and come out on top only to have Nega-Shield jump them after the show. This goes on until Dean Ambrose demands a series of matches at Survivor Series which is not really the point of the PPV. They go mostly 50/50 with KO defeating Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns beating Cody Rhodes, and Finn Balor going over Seth Rollins before the business with Bayley happens.
So the business with Bayley happens and the Monday after Seth wonât even leave his dressing room without private security agents escorting him to the ring. It is essential that this is not played up as comedy which means JBL needs to be gagged or take a leave of absence (âHYUK HYUK MAGGLE SETH ROLLINS GOT CHASED BY A BUNCHA GIRLS HYUK HYUK HYUK.â) More than that, they are now being divebombed by NXT guys randomly, the first of which are Colin Cassidy and Enzo Amore who gank Cody and KO and make their debut on the main roster by running them out of the ring.
Seth is frothing at the mouth at this point and at this point, Roman Reigns gets a littleâŚcocky. Heâs got his boys back, heâs on top of the world and he demands a match with Seth Rollins at TLC for the WWEWHC. Seth is 60000% done at this pointâŚat which point Seth gets a terrible, awful, horrible idea. He says okay, Roman, okay Mr. Bigshot Iâll give you your match at TLC. Itâll be an Ironman TLC match for the WWEWHC. And, because heâs such a nice guy, heâs going to throw in a little sweetener.
If Seth Rollins (The Man, The Architect, Crossfit Jesus) loses to Roman Reigns of all people, he will step down and take a hiatus and disband the Nega-Shield. Michael Cole will be allowed to run the company how he wants and Roman will be WWEWHC. Â
But
If Roman Reigns loses to Seth Rollins, not only will he blow his shot at the title, he will be kicked off the main roster. He will not be allowed back onto the main roster until he wins some kind of accolade in NXT (NXT Title, NXT Tag Title, or the Dusty Rhodes Tag Tournament). Roman accepts because hey he won the WWEWHC once from Seth, he can do it again, right?
TLC rolls around and two important things happen.
The first thing that happens is that Dean Ambrose has a brutal brutal TLC match with KO. Weâre talking gigging as much as you can get away with on a PG show. Dean Ambrose gets killed after a long, bloody match, cracked in the head by KO who had to be pulled away from Dean who had to be helicoptered out. Roman Reigns looks devastated but Finn Balor tells him he has to stay in the game.
Roman Reigns goes into the ladder match like a raging bull and Seth Rollins is the matador. He baits Roman into numerous traps (i.e. baits a Driveby and pushes his leg out so he falls on his ass out of the ring, tripping a spear and sending him through the ropes). Itâs clear halfway through the match that Roman Reigns is out of tricks; itâs the Mr. Freeze fight from Arkham City only Seth Rollins knows all the tricks in Romanâs bag. He works on his limited movepool but also just winds him, running circles around him and using his agility against Roman at every turn.
Roman gets three falls really early but after ten minutes it becomes clear that Roman is just out of gas and Seth wonât let him rest. Seth pulls out four falls to Romanâs three; Seth retains and Roman is off the main roster. Not only that, he has to leave the building ASAP which means security comes and actually drags him out of the ring.
TLC ends with Nega-Shield eliminating 2/3 of the Shield from play and leaving Finn Balor as the only real babyface to oppose Nega-Shield.










