So Seth Rollins reinjured his knee, tearing a MCL ligament at the end of Raw on Monday. He & WWE Uncreative would be absolutely stupid to try to rush back for Wrestlemania on April 2. Then again, this is WWE, so expect something like that.
Anyway, if Rollins expected me and other viewers to sympathize with his plight in his confrontation with Stephanie McMahon Monday night, it was an epic fail. In fact, the entire angle up to the debut of Samoa Joe at the end of the show was a fail. Why? Very simple. Rollins is supposed to be a babyface, yet he still behaves like a heel. Yeah, we've seen it before (i.e. Triple H in 2009 vs. Randy Orton, Edge vs. Kane around the same time), but oh, did Rollins ever screw up royally.
It was decided that Rollins would appear at NXT Takeover: San Antonio in an attempt to confront Triple H on "his turf" (NXT). Security bum-rushed the so-called Architect out of the building, though it took a handful of guys to overpower him, as you'd expect. Rollins was "banned" (read: suspended) from the Royal Rumble the next night.
Therein lies the flaw in the storytelling. To give this angle some teeth, you could've had Stephanie take it a step further, and extend the ban to, oh, I don't know, 7-10 days minimum, which, in hindsight, would've saved Joe's debut for another week, and prevented the injury to Rollins, which throws plans for a showdown with HHH to the backburner again.
Where I had a problem was this. Rollins threatened to show up at HQ. Threatened to appear at the Helmsleys' doorstep in Greenwich, Connecticut, implying he might do something to one of their daughters, though not directly. Babyfaces don't do that as a rule, but then, Vince McMahon doesn't think proper storytelling rules don't apply to WWE. Yes, they do. Instead of being a sympathetic babyface, Rollins, in his confrontation with Stephanie, came off as being skeevy, sleazy, and unrepentant. Bad idea.
Considering the crowd's reaction when Joe appeared, they treated him like a babyface when he's supposed to be a heel. That's when you know Uncreative botched another one, but this one's not entirely on the writers. Part of the blame goes on Rollins for his presentation. The message the fans sent was clear. They've waited for Joe to make his debut. They gave HHH a hero's welcome when the script didn't call for it. They will serenade Rollins, when he returns, with "Joe's gonna kill you!" over and over again. I don't know for certain if Joe and Rollins ever met in Ring of Honor (when Rollins was known as Tyler Black), but if they did, there is enough of a backstory to build the feud around while they try to clean up Rollins' latest mess. And, oh, is it ever a big one.
