4 times Seth Rollins as world champion ended in disaster for him and WWE

Reigning world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins is a six-time WWE World Champion. He has won the WWE Championship, Universal Championship, and World Heavyweight Championship twice each.

But what's pretty interesting to think about is his reign and realizing that every time he's held the title for more than a few minutes (at MITB 2016, he beat Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, only for Dean Ambrose to immediately cash in the contract), it's ended in disaster, regardless of how good the majority of the reign itself was.

Right now, there are fears that Rollins is legitimately and seriously injured, and the future of The Vision is anyone's guess after betraying him last night on RAW. By extension, the future of CM PunkRoman Reigns, the renewed Bloodline saga and the entirety of RAW's intertwined main event scene were tossed to the curb, despite a stunning conclusion to this week's episode, which is the origin of this study.

So, in this article, we'll discuss the rest of Seth Rollins' world title reigns – that's right, all four of them – and more specifically, how and why they ended in disaster for Rollins and, in some cases, the company as a whole.

#1 His first world title reign ended with an ACL injury during a house show

In 2015, Seth Rollins cashed in the Money in the Bank contract to win his first world championship, pulling off the heist of the century and leaving his eternal enemy (and occasional Shield brother) Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar.

Rollins feuded with Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, John CenaBrock Lesnar, John Cena and Kane during a reign that lasted until November, and even became a double champion when he briefly held the United States Title.

At an exhibition in Dublin, Ireland, birthplace of his future wife, the legendary Becky Lynch – however, he tore his ACL, MCL and medial meniscus in his knee while attempting to return the Kane powerbomb. He had to relinquish the title after 219 days as champion.

In the decade since, Seth Rollins has matured his in-ring style and improved his overall game to become one of the biggest stars in the business, but when they talk about pre-2015 Rollins as a beast in the ring, as youngsters like AJ Styles might say, that's indeed “no ceiling.” He was never that explosive in the ring again.

#2 Seth Rollins' first run as Universal Champion in 2019

After Roman Reigns was diagnosed with leukemia in 2018, WWE finally decided to attempt to make Seth Rollins the WWE's franchise player. Reigns would return in a few months, but not before Rollins won the Royal Rumble and challenged him. Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship in the main event of WrestleMania. After Rollins won the title, after WrestleMania, Reigns was drafted to SmackDown and remained on the undercard, and it was clear that WWE was going all-in on Seth.

Unfortunately, the cards they had to play were atrocious. Amid the “Wild Card” rule and the introduction of the 24/7 championship, Vince McMahon Rollins fell out with Baron Corbin and paired the Beastslayer with the company's single most popular star at the time, Becky Lynch (their relationship having just been made public), which simply undermined both characters.

A horrible creative streak for the company led to declining ratings, and Lesnar regained the title after cashing in at MITB; how he became Mr. MITB being another terrible decision. Nonetheless, Lesnar winning the title and Rollins winning a sudden “All-Star Battle Royal” to win a rematch seemed, only to be Kayfabe injured by The Beast, was the most creative WWE of the era, but Seth Rollins' incredible performance got the fans behind him in a major way despite the absurd booking. But the worst was yet to come.

#3 WWE Perhaps Hits Its Lowest Creativity With Seth Rollins' Second Universal Title Run

Seth Rollins then entered a feud with babyface Braun Strowman while also becoming tag team champion alongside him, defeating Gallows & Anderson. They then dropped the titles Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre at The Clash in Paris before Rollins defeated Strowman in the main event to retain his Universal Championship, only to be attacked by “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt.

Wyatt had become incredibly popular with the WWE Universe with his Firefly Funhouse, and when The Fiend debuted in front of fans, he was the biggest thing in the business. Naturally, Vince McMahon decided to pit his most popular new creative supernatural gimmick against the man he was immediately building his business around: Rollins' second feud during his second reign as champion and Wyatt's second feud as The Fiend.

And of course, none of us can forget, even if we desperately want to, that their first match was a Hell in a Cell match. The match, contested under bright red and dark lights, was agonizingly slow and ended in a REFEREE STOPPAGE after Seth Rollins had his final maneuver, Stomp, demeaned even more and took everything from a toolbox to a hammer to The demonthe head.

Rollins was booed out of the arena in perhaps the worst PLE main event in modern wrestling history, only for The Fiend, lying on a stretcher, to then eliminate him with the Mandible Claw. The crown chanted for refunds and for AEW. Seth Rollins lost the title to The Fiend the following month at Crown Jewel, and subsequently became a heel, while Bray Wyatt joined SmackDown AFTER being drafted BEFORE winning the title.

#4 Seth Rollins' strong reign at the World Heavyweight Championship established the title, but ended with another injury.

At WrestleMania 39, Cody Rhodes failed to complete the story. After a year of Roman Reigns as the part-time undisputed WWE Universal Champion – the only men's world champion – he was about to be featured even more rarely, necessitating the creation of a new world heavyweight championship from scratch.

Despite a premise that would never work in any legitimate sport, Seth Rollins did a tremendous job with the inaugural championship. While Cody Rhodes positioned himself as the face of RAW, essentially the uncrowned WWE Champion, the two men carried RAW and led the WWE renaissance, and led from the front, along with other mega-babyfaces like Kevin Owens, Sami Zaynand ultimately Jey Uso, while also defending the title against the latter two.

Rollins actively competed alongside babyfaces with The Judgment Day and bonded with Cody Rhodes as he defended his title against Finn Balor, Shinsuke Nakamura, Damian Priest, and then Drew McIntyre. After CM Punk's monumental return to WWE at Survivor Series 2023, the path to WrestleMania seemed set. However, Rollins suffered an injury on day one during a title defense against Jinder Mahal. With a lot up in the air, Rollins continued to run as champion, only for CM Punk to also be seriously injured in his first match at the Royal Rumble.

WWE saved CM Punk's triceps injury and Seth Rollins' knee injury amid a huge storm caused by The Rock's return, and in perhaps one of the most intriguing paths to WrestleMania, Seth Rollins teamed with Cody Rhodes against The Rock and Roman Reigns on the first night of WrestleMania, while asking the Visionary to defend and drop the World Heavyweight Championship to Drew McIntyre the next. night.

Seth then helped Cody win the Undisputed WWE Title. Roman rule in the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania, and WWE somehow managed to make not just salad, but an absolutely delicious gourmet meal out of nothing but a storm of you-know-what. However, the whole ordeal ended up taking a toll on Seth Rollins physically and delaying his surgery, he was injured during Mania weekend and at some house shows leading up to it.