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In the newest episode of Chasing Glory with Lilian Garcia, Lilian sits down with WWE Superstar Seth Rollins.
Inside this episode, fresh off Extreme Rules, Seth reacts to his amazing Iron Man match with Dolph Ziggler— and what they both thought about the crowd chants. Rollins discusses what it was like growing up in Iowa, the struggles he experienced with his mom’s divorces, growing up as an introvert, and revealing— for the first time ever— that he doesn’t know his biological father.
Find out how he overcame that and what he owes to his stepfather. Listen to how he discovered his love for wrestling and how he set his mind forth to conquer it, but it wasn’t the easiest of roads. It included driving over 3 hours just to go to wrestling school, going to college simultaneously while holding down various jobs at the same time. Then once he made it into the WWE and gained his stride, Seth talks about what he had to go through physically after his 2015 injury and how long it took him to get back into the game mentally.
His reaction to the fan chants at Extreme Rules with Dolph Ziggler: “I know it really messed with Dolph. He was super out of synch from how he normally is. I was okay. I just let them do their thing. I knew we had 30 minutes and by the end of it, I knew they’d be invested in what we were doing and I think they were. It was okay, it was a weird one though. Sometimes I don’t understand the, “I’m gonna be here bored, you’ve been sitting there for 5 hours, just trying to find anything to keep yourself entertained”, but I never understood the concept of coming to the show and doing anything other than watching the show. I don’t know, I can’t imagine it, but whatever. It is what it is. They pay the money, they can do what they want.”
Rollins’ reaction to Sting’s positive comments: “That’s quite the compliment considering the people that he’s been in the ring with. I don’t know if there’s any higher compliment I’ve ever been paid to be honest with you from a professional standpoint and a personal standpoint. Sting’s a guy that I looked up to for a very long time and I dressed up as him for Halloween when I was a kid. Twice, two years running! To have a compliment from a guy like that, that's a really special thing.”
Growing up without his birth father: “My mom’s been married 3 times. I never met my biological father, which I don’t know if I ever even said that in an interview before, but yeah, I don’t know my biological father. I never met him. My mom was living in Chicago when she got pregnant with me and she ended up moving back home. She met and married the person that I call my Dad when I was 2. He has a son who’s my brother and basically been my best friend my whole life.”
Driving 3 hours to go to wrestling school: “I worked different odd jobs while I was going to wrestling school. I worked at places that would hire any part time employee for the most part. I worked at UPS, that was terrible. I worked at like 4 in the morning to pack the trucks up or whatever before they went out. I worked at car washes, I worked at YMCAs, stuff like that. Then every Tuesday and Thursday I would drive 3 hours to Chicago, do the training for 3 hours, then drive 3 hours back. Mind you, I was taking 20 hours of school at the same time as well during the week and then we would usually drive on the weekends to shows with my trainer as well.”
How he reacted to his 2015 injury: “I remember it happening. I remember the feeling, but I still didn’t believe it was as serious as it was. It took a day because we had to get the MRI and then I took a nap and I ended up getting a call from the doctor and he’s like, “Yeah, you pretty much tore everything you need. You’re definitely not doing anything for a while.” I remember getting the call and it was almost like a calmness. Obviously, I was disappointed, I didn’t really know how to handle it. I’ve never really taken that much time off ever. Part of me was relieved in a sense that I was going to get the opportunity to not have all this pressure on me all the time and get to spend time at home. I was in the middle of a white-hot run. I just won the title at Mania, I held onto it for months and months, it was November now so we’re looking at eight months. It took the wind out of my sails. In every sense, I work all the time. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t doing something, so all that emphasis that I put on working out or being on the road or my craft and my artform, I just put all emphasis into the rehab process.”
What he struggles with today: “I was a huge introvert and I still carry some of that with me. I’m obviously better at it now. You spend 15 years in the wrestling business, you’re gonna learn how to talk to people, but even when it comes to big groups, or parties, or normal social situations, I’m usually just like, “Get me out of here.” I’d rather just go sit on the couch and watch T.V. or something.”
What he would say to his younger self: “I’m a firm believer in the sense that everything that I went through, the ways that I was are part of the reason that I am successful. So it’s almost like I don’t take anything back, I don’t want to change anything. I guess I would say to my younger self, “Just relax a little bit.” I was so uptight and stubborn in sense. I had to do everything a certain way and I took life really seriously, like a lot when I was younger. Like I said, a lot of that I can attribute to the success that I have. If I wasn’t that way, maybe I wouldn’t be where I’m at today and we wouldn't be having this conversation. I just feel like I missed out on some good opportunities because I was so hard-nosed about everything.”
You can listen to the full episode at this link.
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