The eyes of the Wrestling world are glued to New Orleans (and the WWE Network) this weekend, in the build up to WrestleMania 34 on Sunday.
With the likes of Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousy, Triple H and Roman Reigns on the bill (not to mention the in-ring return of Daniel Bryan), it is set to be one of the biggest Wrestlemanias in history. For many fans one of the most intriguing matches on the stacked card is unquestionably the triple-threat match for the Intercontinental title, where the champion, The Miz faces off against the red hot Finn Balor and Seth “freakin'” Rollins.
For WWE Superstar Seth Rollins a victory would mean winning the prestigeous belt for the first time, and so Esquire Middle East sat down with him to discuss ‘Mania weekend, his latest run, and what we can expect from the upcoming Greatest Royal Rumble Show in Saudi Arabia on April 27.
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It’s Wrestlemania weekend! How are you feeling? You’re becoming a bit of veteran now…
Once you’ve done it a couple of times you get used to the size and scale of everything. It’s important to find your groove, but it’s still Wrestlemania, it’s still exciting and gets bigger and bigger every year. I’m still a kid inside somewhere so I don’t it will ever not feel special.
People make a lot of “Wrestlemania moments”. You had one when you cashed in the Money In The Bank contract at WrestleMania 31. Do you think that will be an iconic moment, like Hogan slamming Andre, to a whole generation of fans?
It’s pretty sick when you look at it that way. I have a tonne of memories watching Mania growing up, so to think that my moment will be iconic to the next generation of kids is pretty cool.
You’ve been on a hot streak in 2018. What has made you kick it up a notch?
I think people forgot about how good I was. So this year I was given the opportunity to show that I can still hang. When the lights are the brightest, that’s when I’m at my best. I like the pressure, I like the spotlight, and I want to keep going out there reminding people that I am the best in the world. At the moment, I’m as good as I’ve ever been.
You wrestled for 65-minutes in a gauntlet match on Raw in February. That’s the longest anyone has ever wrestled in a match in the show’s 25-year history. How proud are you of that?
It had been almost a decade since I had last wrestled for little over a hour. I did a couple of them in Ring of Honour where they were around 45 minutes, 50 minutes to an hour, so it had been a while since I have done that and this was a totally different animal. It is multiple matches, multiple opponents and you are on a television show. That was something different to anything I had ever done and to set that record was something special.
Because of injuries, last year’s reunion of the legendary faction that you were involved in, The Shield, did not go as planned. Is there disappointment there?
I think the cool thing I think we learned about it was that The Shield are always going to be there. Never say never. When the time is right we will get back to it. It is kind of like DX in that way. It is never going to go away. As long as me, Ambrose and Roman are still around kicking, screaming and fighting you can throw us together.
How much are you looking forward to the Greatest Royal Rumble in Jeddah?
I’m looking forward to the chaos! It’s going to be a huge event, and the promotion alone has been nuts! It’s going to be a crazy WWE Network special with 50 people in a Royal Rumble match, and on top of that, I’ll be in a 4-way ladder match. I’ve always had fun every time I’ve been to the Middle East, so let’s just get there and see how the chaos happens.
A 50-man rumble match means that it will be the biggest in history. Does that hold the same importance as being a Royal Rumble winner?
I donno! Your answer is as good as mine! It’s the first one ever, and 50 is better than 40! If you can outlast 49 other guys, then does that make you better than Nakamura? We’ll see what happens.
This is a big deal with Saudi, and arguably an important step in changing the opinions on the country from the outside world. How much do you sense that as a performer?
I don’t know anything about the political implications of it, but I will tell you that Middle East fans have been super receptive every time we’ve been over and I hope that an event of this magnitude will work to attract more eyeballs to what we do, and attract more attention from the other countries in the region. I hope it’s going to be a good experience for us, and the fans. Every time we go over there is is awesome, and I am expecting nothing less.
