Seth Rollins On His WrestleMania 31 Shocker, Facing Brock Lesnar At WM35

Seth Rollins booked his ticket to WrestleMania 35 after winning this year’s Royal Rumble matchup. This victory will see him go up against “The Beast Incarnate” Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship.

It’s not the first time, however, that Rollins will be sharing the WrestleMania stage with Lesnar. Back at WrestleMania 31 in 2015, Seth would cash in the Money In The Bank contract, inserting himself into the main event of Roman Reigns vs Brock Lesnar. This cash in would see him leaving California the new WWE Champion.

Speaking with Edge and Christian on their podcast, E&C’s Pod Of Awesomeness, Seth Rollins reflected on that momentous cash in and discussed his upcoming match-up against Brock Lesnar in April.

He recalled that he won the Money In The Bank briefcase after turning heel against his then-stablemates in The Shield. WWE had no immediate plans for him using his opportunity, so he decided to come up with one himself: the WrestleMania 35 cash in.

His mindset regarding the pitch was “why the hell not” justifying it by explaining that it had “never been done, and strangely, I had a little bit of foresight in the sense that I saw how the momentum with Roman [Reigns] was shifting toward going into that WrestleMania.”

Seth foresaw the WWE Universe turning against Roman, especially after he won that year’s Rumble. His prediction would quickly come true.

“[…] I remember the next day, again, having the conversation with Hunter for the second time because I had pitched the idea a little bit at the end of the year before, and I just wanted to remind him that I have this idea on the table. I think it’s a pretty good one and even if it’s not the idea, it could easily be a contingency plan if the main event at WrestleMania doesn’t come together how you see it. Just, keep it in the back of your head, ya know? Yeah, I pitched the idea and I strongly felt like it was a good one. I felt like I was the guy. Again, I went to him and said, ‘I want the ball.’”

Looking to the future, Rollins admits he “can’t wait” for his scheduled clash against Lesnar at WrestleMania 35.

“This is the one that I wanted,” he stated. “And whether or not we’re the main event or Ronda [Rousey] and Becky [Lynch] is the main event, to me, this is the one I wanted. When I was fourteen years old and I said, ‘I’m going to main event WrestleMania,’ this is the one.”

Rollins continued, “I’m almost thirty-three, so to be able to have that, and to be able to go in to the next couple months to build to that moment, and to have the audience on my side, have them really just want me to take that title off of Lesnar, it’s really an exciting time and I’m looking forward to making some magic with him. He’s one of the people, love him or hate him, he’s one of the best performers in the WWE.”