Throwback: When Triple H Almost Fired Seth Rollins From WWE; Check Out Why (2024)

WWE superstar Seth Rollins had once revealed that he was almost terminated by WWE Chief Content Officer (CCO) Triple H back in 2011. Find out what happened and how Rollins handled the situation.

Seth Rollins (L) and Triple H (R). Photos: Getty

Seth Rollins is one of the very few superstars in WWE whose career graph in the company has only risen since he started. It’s almost 12 years now since Rollins made his main roster debut being a member of ‘The Shield’ in WWE, and his stardom has only grown in all these years.

But little do people know that Rollins got off to a shaky start with WWE in 2010 when he signed with the Stamford-based corporation. Speaking at Stone Cold Steve Austin’s podcast Broken Skull Sessions, Rollins had revealed that once he messed up things so badly in FCW (now NXT) that Triple Hthreatened to fire him from the company.

What Seth Rollins revealed about his firing?

Rollins said that in his initial days at FCW, he butted heads with Terry Taylor, Triple H’s mentor who was brought by the Hunter from Impact Wrestling to train top wrestlers at FCW and prepare them for their main roster debuts. Seth Rollins disclosed that he did rub Taylor the wrong way, which jeopardized his future with the WWE.

“One person who it rubbed the wrong way, and maybe this is some leftover heat from me shunning him during contract talks, is Terry Taylor. Rollins said that in the initial days, he was a bit uncomfortable with Taylor and hinted to him that he would do things his own way. "At the time, I was just like, ‘Yo bro, don’t get in my face, don’t try to tell me what I’m doing isn’t right,” he said.

He said that he would challenge Taylor in front of the class, and he just didn’t like that. Rollins stated that he wanted to remind Taylor that business had changed, and he had to go with it. "Terry is very old school in the sense that he thinks a certain way works,” he said.

This, as per Rollins went on for some time, until he got insubordinate to Taylor and both had issues working. Their scuffle reached Triple H who then, gave an earful to Seth Rollins for being obstinate in his conduct.

How did Triple H reprimand Seth Rollins?

Seth Rollins said that one day, Triple H took him aside and gave him a dressing down for his brash conduct. He said that Triple H straightaway told him that he wasn’t much impressed with his skills, and if he doesn’t think he can play the balls in WWE, then he is free to go back to Impact.

"Hunter took me aside and was like, ‘Look, I don’t see anything special in you. If you don’t want to play ball and don’t want to work with us, you can go back to Ring of Honor and do things your way, but you need to start doing things our way."

Rollins said that he was literally taken aback by Hunter’s words, and said that he was seeing his WWE dreams, “go up in smoke”. He then said that he went to former WWE wrestler Joey Mercury and sought advice from him on the whole issue.

Mercury then told him that in WWE, “You have to be on all the time.” He clearly told Rollins that there is a compromise in the company and he will have to figure out how to do that.

Henceforth, Rollins changed his attitude and made his debut on the main roster in 2012 alongside Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns under the new group ‘The Shield’. He broke away from The Shield in 2014 and cashed in his Money In The Bank at WrestleMania 31 in 2015.

Today, Rollins stands as one of the company's biggest stars. Throughout his tenure in WWE, Rollins has achieved remarkable success, clinching the WWE Championship five times, securing the WWE Universal Championship twice, and becoming the inaugural winner of the World Heavyweight Championship.