2024 has been a tricky year for Seth Rollins as he's only wrestled a handful of matches after nursing a series of injuries.
The former Shield member is closing in on 40 and, in a new interview, admits that this year has seen him realise he can't bounce back quite as fast as he used to. Moving forward, that's going to have a major impact on his career.
"I’m 37, 38 maybe? I’m 38 right now, I’ll be 39 next year," the former World Heavyweight Champion started. "At my age, 21 years I’ve been doing this, [it’s] my body, it’s trying to keep my body together. Like I said, the schedule has diminished quite a bit, which is good for me, but yeah. There’s a couple things at my juncture."
"I’ve got a lot of equity with our audience, so they appreciate what I do and what I’ve done, so that makes my life a little easier than a younger guy coming up, trying to make a name for himself. But trying to stay healthy as much as I can to contribute."
"Then trying to keep it fresh, give them something new all the time instead of doing, you can get into the same thing over and over and over, but it gets boring after a while, and as a performer, it’s not terribly fulfilling," Rollins continued. "You want to do something that feels good and fresh and exciting and gets your brain going in different ways....I’m fighting against time. I can’t do what I did when I was 21 no more."
The RAW Superstar went on to explain it was when he turned 35 that he realised his body was recovering at a slower pace. However, he still intends to perform at as high a level of possible despite being a veteran in place of the up-and-comer he was at the start of his WWE career.
As for what he plans to do when his in-ring career is over, Rollins doesn't see him following John Cena and Dave Bautista to Hollywood.
"You know what, I think everybody’s got their own blueprint," he said. "I think there’s some people out there that love the Hollywood thing. I’ve done a couple things, I don’t love it. I don’t love it, I don’t. I wish I did, I wish I could say, ‘Man, I love it,’ and I’m open, I’m open. If anybody’s out there listening, I’m open to roles and stuff like that."
"I just love my business, man. I love doing it, I love thinking about it, I love coming up with new ideas...when I start to phase out in the ring, I will probably do something behind the scenes. Cody, he might be a Hollywood guy, I don’t know. John [Cena], that’s what he wants to do, and he’s great at it. Dwayne, he was from the get-go. He always saw himself as The Rock, the biggest movie star on the planet now."
Rollins added, "He always saw himself talking those steps to get to that level. For me, I see myself more like a Triple H...I see myself as a guy who might dabble in the movies, some stuff here and there, but I see myself continuing to help the business grow as I start to age out of the in-ring process, and I got a ways to go."
"I'm certainly closer to the end than the beginning, but when I do get to that point, I think that’s where I see myself. Hopefully there will be a place there for me, but I do see myself in that, that’s my blueprint."
Rollins is currently feuding with Bronson Reed on RAW and recently picked up a win over him at Crown Jewel. What WWE has planned for him beyond that is hard to say, though we'd imagine the idea is to eventually pit him against CM Punk.