During his interview with Corey Graves on “After The Bell,” WWE Superstar Seth Rollins was asked if his view of outsiders such as Logan Paul coming into wrestling has changed over the years:
“Yes and no. I mean, I think there are obvious advantages to having people from outside of our world come into our world. I mean, Logan Paul is not a new phenomenon. We’ve been doing this in WWE for decades and we’re gonna continue to do it for a long time after Logan Paul is gone.”
“So I mean, there’s just a lot to be said about having these types of performers on our show or whatever they may be doing. You look at the Rock ‘N Wrestling connection. You look at all the way back to Cyndi Lauper and the first WrestleMania with Muhammad Ali, Liberace, he had it all, and so it makes sense. 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.'”
“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. Now you’re the biggest star, you’re the best thing that ever happened, and that’s what the business has become because if every single one of us just followed that road map, there wouldn’t be a wrestling business because nobody would be able to do the damn thing because that’s not what it is. That’s just not what it is. It is making the town. It is having hundreds and thousands of matches in different cities and in front of different sized crowds. It’s learning your trade. 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.”
“In the Logan Paul situation, I don’t understand what long-term value he’s going to be able to give back to us. It’s, again, 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 don’t want my students, I own a wrestling school, I don’t want the next generation of kids coming up in the business thinking that’s how you make it in professional wrestling, because if everybody follows that model, the business is dead. It’s dead. It doesn’t exist anymore.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit After The Bell with Corey Graves with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
