Rollins recalls the one time Vince yelled at him

[héad.casé]

"One time on SmackDown, I had this match with Kofi. It was when they were still taping SmackDown, I had this match with Kofi, and it was meant to be a get over match for me. Now, Kofi's someone that I have a lot of respect for and someone I would never - even in a match that is meant for me to look good in - I would not want to just squash Kofi. I just wouldn't want to do it. I would want to give him something and that's just my nature. So we went out and had this - it was literally three minutes long probably, start to finish, bell to bell - three minutes long and I give Kofi a little bit, and made him look good, and then beat him. And I remember coming to the back thinking, oh, okay, that was alright."

"And Vince was furious about it! Like, furious! Just, 'Get over here!' And he's yelling at me, and he's just like, 'If you're gonna be my guy, you're gonna be my guy, that's not what I want!', and he shooed me out of the gorilla. I didn't understand, I didn't get it and Michael was trying to explain to me what Vince wanted out of the situation, and they ended up making me and Kofi have to go out and redo the match. And I remember the feeling when they told me that. I was so angry and embarrassed, and just ready to just walk out and not do it, cause I was like, never in my life! Never should this happen to me! But it was such a learning experience in retrospect that it's okay to screw up sometimes. That it's okay to try things and fail and learn from your mistakes, and as long as you improve your second time around, and don't make the same mistake twice, you're gonna be alright."

Source: Edge and Christian podcast

[Dub H]

He should have been angry at Vince,just by the ridiculous mentality he has

[Rumble McSkirmish]

To be fair Vince isn't the only one to think that way, Chris Jericho had almost the exact same experience in his debut with WCW when he was chewed out by Kevin Sullivan by giving Jerry Lynn a little bit of offense in a match that was designed to be a show case for Jericho.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Having a quick dig through the forum archives after a quick Cagematch search, it was likely from the October 10th 2014 episode of SmackDown, since the spoiler thread mentions the match being taped twice. Nobody suspected it as being “Vince thought he didn’t squash the guy hard enough”.



I mean, given some context of the time, mostly that Rollins was the de facto top heel of the company as the MITB holder with world champion Lesnar conspicuous by his absence, and Kingston being literally days away from being taken off TV for repackaging for what would become The New Day, I can kind of see why they were in no hurry to protect Kingston... less so than usual.

[cabbageboy]

The odd thing is that if you watch NXT they do this to debuting guys all the time, with the debuting star having too much trouble with whatever guy he's facing. I think it hurt Keith Lee quite a bit when he was out there selling for Marcel Barthel entirely too much. Ditto Matt Riddle when he debuted and was selling way too much. Is it really that hard to squash a jobber?

[cuppacoffee - slight return]

Feb 9, 2019 11:11:25 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Is it really that hard to squash a jobber?

If real, honest-to-goodness “jobbers” actually existed in WWE, then no.

However, in NXT, the developmental brand, the guy you’re going over may himself have to look credible in a couple of months’ time after you’ve moved on up to the main roster.

On the main roster, with nowhere else to go (pre-AEW), the guy doing the job for you is himself likely to be in the same holding pattern of midcard “superstars” as you’ve been in until you got the nod, and possibly (as Seth alludes to here with Kofi) a guy you respect and want to maintain good relationships with.

[Aceorton]

Ridiculous. Rollins and Kofi are the same size, and Kofi's a multi-time champion. It makes sense that Rollins might have to work a little for a win. He's not the Great Khali where he's expected to steamroll people.

[arrogantmodel]

How dare you try to make your coworkers look competent, you f***ing asshole!

I can't imagine working for somebody like Vince. Besides the paycheck, the WWE sounds awful.

[Deleted]

No roster member should be absolutely squashed.

Bring in local enhancement talent for that.

[Deleted]

I feel like we might be rounding on Vince a bit here because of wider issues rather than this. If we consider the time period when Kofi wasn't doing much and they were strapping a rocket to Seth, booking logic dictates (and how often do we criticise 50/50 booking with guys they're trying to push) that he should go over strong and at he end of the day, the time to object would before with Vince and your agent rather than doing your own thing in ring because they're putting together a television show.

Kofi getting squashed sucks, don't get me wrong, but I can totally see Vince's logic here (a terrifying thing to admit to), you've asked a guy you have a fair amount of hope pinned on to do something simple and he doesn't do that, that's going to both tick you off and maybe give you pause, especially given the number of headaches Vince has had with guys doing their own thing in the past.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 9, 2019 11:00:24 GMT -5 Dub H said:

He should have been angry at Vince,just by the ridiculous mentality he has

Unfortunately squashes are part of wrestling and are necessary to get a guy to the next level. When they tried to build Zack Ryder, he beat Jack Swagger in ten seconds, ironically a year later Jack Swagger squashed Ryder in ten seconds.

[ChitownKnight]

Anyone else start laughing at the thread title knowing that it would be something ridiculous lol and the fact that they had to go out and do the match again is also kind of funny

[Nr1Humanoid]

Maybe Vince thought Rollins was a cloud.

[Fade]

I read this yesterday on SquaredCircle, and I had a visceral reaction to this line:

“'If you're gonna be my guy, you're gonna be my guy, that's not what I want!',

I literally recoiled and just went “Nope, nope, Nope, nope, nope, nope, NOPE”. And hey kudos to Seth. It’s his livelihood and his passion but f*** that noise man. People throw around the word “toxic” these days, that straight up sounds toxic.

And some advocated for Vince saying “he’s the director, he told Seth to go about it a certain way. Seth went against it”. Ok. Alright I get that. I’ve been an actor and a director and I’ve gone against my director and I’ve had actors go against direction I’ve given. Regardless if I turned out right or wrong or they did or didn’t, in what rationale world would a director have responded like Vince did?! It’s just...insane. And I know I’m not stating any shocking news that’s vince has lost his mind, I guess I just empathized with Seth reading that and I would of NOPE’d the f*** out of there.

I get Vince is a vestigial form of a man, and he’s old school, and I even admit I admire some of his more controversial characteristics but that’s just scary unsettling ish that doesn’t fly in most creative arenas these days.

[Prince Petty]

Feb 9, 2019 12:39:34 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Feb 9, 2019 11:00:24 GMT -5 Dub H said:

He should have been angry at Vince,just by the ridiculous mentality he has

Unfortunately squashes are part of wrestling and are necessary to get a guy to the next level. When they tried to build Zack Ryder, he beat Jack Swagger in ten seconds, ironically a year later Jack Swagger squashed Ryder in ten seconds.

Just another example of wrestling's absurd, obsolete mindset. If you want your chosen guy to look good, and have him defeat someone, why would you not want your audience to think 'oh, I can see that my guy is good, because he's beaten an opponent who is obviously good too?' Because these freak, squash wins seem more like anomalies than proof that a guy is good.

And Vince's micromanagement is ridiculous, but not at all unexpected. Why not trust your wrestlers? Why not tell them, 'you've got five minutes, Seth's winning and I want him to look really good.' Both Seth and Kofi are perfectly capable of making that happen.

[Hit Girl]

Feb 9, 2019 10:55:53 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

"And Vince was furious about it! Like, furious! Just, 'Get over here!'

Vince used a rope and harpoon, then gave Seth an uppercut.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 9, 2019 13:58:49 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

Feb 9, 2019 12:39:34 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Unfortunately squashes are part of wrestling and are necessary to get a guy to the next level. When they tried to build Zack Ryder, he beat Jack Swagger in ten seconds, ironically a year later Jack Swagger squashed Ryder in ten seconds.

Just another example of wrestling's absurd, obsolete mindset. If you want your chosen guy to look good, and have him defeat someone, why would you not want your audience to think 'oh, I can see that my guy is good, because he's beaten an opponent who is obviously good too?' Because these freak, squash wins seem more like anomalies than proof that a guy is good.

And Vince's micromanagement is ridiculous, but not at all unexpected. Why not trust your wrestlers? Why not tell them, 'you've got five minutes, Seth's winning and I want him to look really good.' Both Seth and Kofi are perfectly capable of making that happen.

Because it’s a tv show because Vince needs everyone to hit their marks and get to the next segment, he only trusts you when you start drawing money for him and unfortunately at that time Seth and Kofi weren’t doing it, they did later but not back then.

Squashes are not obsolete they’re a tool to build up a guy and advance him in the story. Unfortunately because of having so much wrestlers and segments, most of the tv matches last five minutes. In special ocasions and ppvs you’re allowed more time.

In wrestling unfortunately you have to get over and advance your career at the cost of another wrestler.

[héad.casé]

Feb 9, 2019 14:13:15 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Feb 9, 2019 13:58:49 GMT -5 Prince Petty said:

Just another example of wrestling's absurd, obsolete mindset. If you want your chosen guy to look good, and have him defeat someone, why would you not want your audience to think 'oh, I can see that my guy is good, because he's beaten an opponent who is obviously good too?' Because these freak, squash wins seem more like anomalies than proof that a guy is good.

And Vince's micromanagement is ridiculous, but not at all unexpected. Why not trust your wrestlers? Why not tell them, 'you've got five minutes, Seth's winning and I want him to look really good.' Both Seth and Kofi are perfectly capable of making that happen.

Because it’s a tv show because Vince needs everyone to hit their marks and get to the next segment, he only trusts you when you start drawing money for him and unfortunately at that time Seth and Kofi weren’t doing it, they did later but not back then.

Squashes are not obsolete they’re a tool to build up a guy and advance him in the story. Unfortunately because of having so much wrestlers and segments, most of the tv matches last five minutes. In special ocasions and ppvs you’re allowed more time.

In wrestling unfortunately you have to get over and advance your career at the cost of another wrestler.

But Seth and Kofi DID hit their marks. They had three minutes, they went three minutes. They just didn't originally do the match how Vince wanted it done.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 9, 2019 14:20:56 GMT -5 héad.casé said:

Feb 9, 2019 14:13:15 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Because it’s a tv show because Vince needs everyone to hit their marks and get to the next segment, he only trusts you when you start drawing money for him and unfortunately at that time Seth and Kofi weren’t doing it, they did later but not back then.

Squashes are not obsolete they’re a tool to build up a guy and advance him in the story. Unfortunately because of having so much wrestlers and segments, most of the tv matches last five minutes. In special ocasions and ppvs you’re allowed more time.

In wrestling unfortunately you have to get over and advance your career at the cost of another wrestler.

But Seth and Kofi DID hit their marks. They had three minutes, they went three minutes. They just didn't originally do the match how Vince wanted it done.

And sadly the old coot was in charge micromanaging it.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

That is interesting. It’s a business and you gotta get yourself over but you don’t want to make your friend look bad. I see both sides of the coin