Seth Rollins Credits Beloved Wrestling Era For His Fashion Transformation

Seth Rollins is known for stellar matches and a special entrance song, but his outrageous ring attire has become a staple of his modern persona.

The reigning World Heavyweight Champion recently spoke with GQ style editor Yang-Yi Goh about his transformation. Rollins revealed that becoming a father in December 2020 changed him. He no longer identified with the television character he'd been portraying up until that point, whom he described as a 'cult-leader-esque, religious-zealot-type-person.'

WWE running shows in the ThunderDome without fans in attendance also contributed to his desire to reinvent himself. He drew from the 'golden age' of professional wrestling, the 1980's, to create the version of Seth Freakin' Rollins we know today.

"It's very much a throwback to the era that I grew up watching wrestling, which is the late ’80s," Rollins said. "You've got your Macho Mans and your Ric Flairs and guys like that who are loud and brash—or even your Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels. Their costumes were bigger and louder and crazier, and I just didn't see that going on anymore."

Rollins said he started out by wearing some high-fashion suits and things "sort of just snowballed from there."

"The end game was always to get to where we're at now. But I wanted to get there slow, and luckily my stylist was on board with that, so it's been a fun transformation."

After successfully retaining the World Heavyweight championship against Finn Balor at Summerslam, Rollins is now feuding with Shinsuke Nakamura, who turned on him in the main event of the Aug 7. edition of WWE Raw. While not officially announced as of this writing, these two are expected to wrestle at WWE Payback on Sep. 2.