One of the hard, harsh truths about the wrestling business is that you can't predict when injuries will happen, or how they'll have a damaging effect on storylines going forward.
Triple H knows this all too well. Who can say what would've happened had he not tore a quadriceps muscle in May 2001, and missed the rest of that year? Would he have joined Stephanie and Shane McMahon in the ECW-WCW Alliance? We'll never know for sure. All we know is that he returned as a conquering hero 8 months later at Madison Square Garden, only to turn heel six months after that, and we know the rest of the story there.
For nearly a year and a half now, Seth Rollins has been front & center as WWE's top heel. Unfortunately, the uncreative team, taking their cues from their senile den father, Vince McMahon, turned Rollins into a whiny man-child who ran from trouble rather than confront it head-on as a real champion would do. Only in his last 2 PPV title defenses has Rollins actually been allowed to win a title match on his own. Less than a month away from a title defense vs. former Shield-mate Roman Reigns at Survivor Series, however, Rollins finds himself on the disabled list, out 6-8 months with a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus, all on one knee, in his first match on the fall European tour.
The truth of the matter is, however, that Rollins was not drawing money as champion. He wasn't drawing extra eyeballs to the TV. It's not entirely his fault, of course. The Authority gimmick that Triple H & Stephanie have been, in this writer's opinion, forced to use these last two years and change, is a variation on the same tired, stale gimmick that Vince McMahon refuses to cast aside. McMahon, in particular, doesn't see that there is a great need for change in WWE. He and his personal toady, Kevin Dunn, have dismissed the "Divas Revolution" as little more than a passing fad, when it should be anything but. They've had their chances to take the WWE World title off Rollins before this point, due to his lack of drawing power, but have refused. Now, it's going to cost them.
For the first time since the 1998 "Deadly Game" tournament, the title will be decided in a 1-night tournament at Survivor Series. Reigns, Sheamus, Kevin Owens, Alberto Del Rio, Dolph Ziggler, and Dean Ambrose figure to be among the players, unless John Cena can be convinced to come back from vacation a wee bit sooner than planned. HHH might be forced to don the tights & boots once more, try for title #14, which would be his first in a few years, for all we know. Randy Orton is also on the DL (shoulder), which makes the timing of Rollins' injury that much more distressing.
This is where the "Cerebral Assassin" has to work the same kind of booking magic he's used in NXT. He has to subtly inform Vince that he can fix the problem himself, without the old man's help, with Stephanie nodding in agreement. Away from Raw & Smackdown, "The Game"'s been hailed as a genius. An old school genius, that is. If only he would be allowed to force the old man into the 21st century, kicking & screaming, and make him see that the "evil boss" act should've been retired with the rest of the Attitude Era.
Rollins figures to be gone until May or no later than next July, so he'll miss Wrestlemania 32. Then, there's the temptation to repeat history and have him return as a conquering hero who never lost his title, and wants it back. And, then, the road to redemption would have to begin in earnest. I say redemption, because Rollins has committed too many, ah, sins, despite the brief respite as a face last year, for the fans to take him back so warmly as they did with HHH more than a decade before. Hunter has what Rollins lacks. Charismatic presence, which now is masked on Mondays and one Sunday a month by the malingering stench of his father-in-law "possessing" him, if you will.
Thus, you can say, they would've been much better off had Sheamus cashed in Money in the Bank over the last three months, won the title, and be done with it. Now's the time to put down the one roadblock in the creative office, and give him a lifetime supply of Geritol to keep him happy.
As for Rollins? He can spend his rehab time listening to Nickelback records and audition to be a stunt double for Chad Kroeger. If you've been watching Raw and gotten a good look at Rollins, and seen some Nickelback videos, you'd understand what I mean. In all seriousness, though, when he returns, he has to undergo the same kind of character makeover that Triple H went through, but without the 6-months-later heel turn that shouldn't have happened. Redemption awaits.
