Despite losing three straight falls to "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins is once again working on another level. Never mind the cackling hyena trying to be wrestling’s version of Joaquin Phoenix’s staircase dancing Joker. Once in the ring, The Visionary is firing on synapses that haven’t even been transmitted yet (let alone all cylinders). In this last year he’s added something to his repertoire that only a few heels have been able to pull off successfully before, and only one to this level.
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In these past few years, whenever the situation has called for it, Rollins has pulled off the ultimate mind game, wearing something similar to his opponent’s own gear from another timeline. Prior to Rollins’ architecting these grand designs, the legendary Rick Rude laid out exactly how use that template.
Rick Rude Used His Ring Gear To Get Under His Opponent's Skin
In the late 1980s, Ravishing Rick Rude offered beautiful ladies in the audience a chance to get a kiss from the future Hall of Famer. Clearly all the girls were fawning over Ricky Rude, diving over the aisles and each other while frothing at the mouth like ravenous creatures just to get a peck - The Rude Awakening. Okay, so maybe not as graphic a visual, but the ladies couldn’t help but oblige.
Until one day, one woman said no and that she had come to see Jake "The Snake" Roberts. It was Jake's wife, Cheryl. This began a nasty blood feud between Rude and Roberts. It also started a trend for The Ravishing One where he’d wear tights depicting his opponents on them (or in Jake’s case, Cheryl). It was a brazen trend that he’d use for his entire career. In WCW, he’d have tights with Ricky Steamboat on them, and even Ric Flair and Fifi The Maid.
Seth Rollins Takes The Rick Rude Mantle
While several superstars have worn gear to deliberately get under their opponent's skin (Raven wearing Sandman shirts in ECW for example), Rollins has been playing with this motif since SummerSlam 2020. After waging psychological warfare with The Mysterios, Rollins pulled off the ultimate dénouement. He arrived dressed in gear eerily similar to The Phantom inspired outfit that Rey had worn for his legendary Halloween Havoc match with Eddie Guerrero. It would be a year and a half later before he’d play huge mind games again.
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At the 2022 Royal Rumble, he was able to really get under Roman Reigns' skin while challenging for the Universal title when he not only came out in Shield garb, but with the old Hounds’ theme and entrance through the crowd as well.
Seth Rollins Torments Cody Rhodes With Polka Dots
So far the biggest attempt at psyching out one of his opponents came at the 2022 Hell In A Cell event against Cody Rhodes. After several months of trying to get under the skin of The American Nightmare just by being the annoying twerp that he is. Rollins would needle at Cody, insisting that he wasn’t any good, and even more importantly, that Seth Freakin' Rollins was one of “Dusty’s Kids,” and he had made it huge in WWE, while Cody had to leave to make it huge in the business. But when all else failed, Rollins went for the jugular - he showed up wearing the trademark polka dots of The American Dream. Cody had to choke that down while fighting back the immense pain of his pectoral tear.
When you’re the type of A-game money wrestler that Seth Rollins is, it’s important to pad out your game with even more accoutrements to be considered even that much better. The Visionary has found it with the outlandish outfits and incessant laughter, but adding ring gear in the spirit of his biggest competitors is a pure chef’s kiss, especially since it’s not overdone.
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Nor should it be overdone at all. It should be a special moment whenever Rollins dons his opponent’s gear. While it does show that Rollins is trying to get under the skin of his opponents, it also could go the other way as well. It can show that Rollins has been pushed to the limit trying to get a rise out of his opponents, and that he is left with no choice but to go for the ultimate insult.
