Seth Rollins Believes Logan Paul’s WWE Run is Doing More Harm Than Good

Seth Rollins’s road to WWE WrestleMania is once again taking an unconventional route. Following a mad scramble to find an opponent at last year’s event, Rollins finds himself on a collision course with Logan Paul this spring. The bad blood between the Visionary and the Maverick began at WWE Royal Rumble when Paul eliminated Rollins from the multi-man battle royal. This led to Rollins bashing Paul over the subsequent weeks, dragging the YouTuber in multiple interviews and on WWE TV. Paul responded by costing Rollins the WWE United States Title last month at WWE Elimination Chamber.

 Celebrity involvement has been a staple of WWE for decades, but Rollins believes that there is a fine line to ride when it comes to booking outsider talent.

“There’s just a lot to be said about having these types of performers on our show or whatever they may be doing,” Rollins told WWE After The Bell. “It’s a different beast, I feel, when you start getting these people in the ring on a semi-regular basis. You look at Lawrence Taylor versus the late, great Bam Bam Bigelow. It’s a prime example of a perfect way to utilize these celebrities. Lawrence Taylor was an athlete beforehand, you know, obviously one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history. Also, he was a guy that didn’t go around calling himself a wrestler. He didn’t go around getting a big head thinking that, ‘Oh, I can do this. I’m so good at this. This is a cakewalk for me.’”

Unlike past celebrities, Paul has been keen on doing more than just a one-off match. He impressed fans with his performance at WWE WrestleMania 38 which led to him getting a singles spotlight at WWE SummerSlam. His death-defying stunts at last summer’s event led to him getting a main event contest against Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, where he managed to not only hold his own, but exceed most expectations once again.

Even as Paul continues to prove himself inside the squared circle, Rollins does not fancy the idea that he has been able to leverage his previously-established fame into a WWE WrestleMania spot that most traditional wrestlers spend decades trying to earn.

“I don’t want people going around thinking that’s what wrestling is, that you just paint by numbers, somebody programs you, and you’re going to be just fine,” Rollins continued. “This idea that you can just poof, pop on a camera, film yourself, do some crap on social media sites, and become a star and have some worth in the world, is for me, maybe I’m an old crotchety man, but I don’t understand what value you’re giving back to the world.”

Rollins believes that Paul’s path to WWE will ultimately do more harm than good.

“I don’t understand what long-term value he’s going to be able to give back to us,” Rollins added. “It’s one thing if you come in, you do your thing, and you leave, but the dude’s got a contract with WWE. That guy is supposed to have a few matches a year. I don’t know what his deal is, but that doesn’t make you an ambassador for the business. That’s not what wrestling is.  I own a wrestling school. I don’t want my students [or] the next generation of kids coming up in the business thinking that’s how you make it in professional wrestling. If everybody follows that model, the business is dead. It’s dead. It doesn’t exist anymore.”

Rollins and Paul are expected to face each other at WWE WrestleMania 39 this April.