Before a series of sexual misconduct allegations saw Vince McMahon plagued by scandal, it was clear the ageing WWE Chairman would never give up calling the shots from a creative level.
Even Endeavor's acquisition of WWE didn't change things, but when the reports of McMahon's alleged misconduct showed no signs of slowing down, he finally retired. His son-in-law Paul "Triple H" Levesque has since taken over what we see on RAW, SmackDown, and NXT each week, and the quality of the product has increased greatly.
Without an out-of-touch 79-year-old writing the shows, WWE is more critically acclaimed and popular than it has been for a very long time. Who Triple H will eventually pass the reins to remains to be seen but Seth Rollins sees himself filling a similar role when he retires from in-ring competition.
Here's what he told Bloomberg during a recent interview:
"I think my long-term future is probably still in the industry, in WWE, in some capacity backstage. I think someone’s gonna have to run that place eventually, you know, after the current regime has decided that they’re done with it so, I like to fancy myself as someone who might be interested in that and so, I wanna learn kind of that side of things and that’s my first love. But, I do have an interest in dabbling."
"I’ve done some acting, some little bit roles. That’s not the most fun thing for me, but we are here, Super Bowl weekend, talking about football, and that is what I love to do. I would love to be able to somehow parlay my love for professional football into a gig. My ultimate goal is to be in the broadcast booth and call Chicago Bears games on Sundays. That would be a fantastic thing for me, so we’ll keep pushing for that, and maybe sports media is in the future, but I do think long-term, we’re probably looking at Seth Rollins in WWE for a long time."
"I mean, it’s still a ways off obviously. I mean, I’m closer to the end of my career than the beginning, but the end ain’t here yet, so I’m kind of in my prime right now. I’m 38 years old. My mental and my physical are kind of locked in right now where my physical hasn’t declined too much, and my mental side is really on the rise as I’m starting to see the industry from a different angle, so that part I’m really focused on. I think we’re in the early stages of conversations about what it might look like for me in the future in an executive or in a creative role or whatever that may be."
"But, again, that’s in its infancy. That’s like a, ‘Hey, maybe what would you think down the road?’ So, right now, I’m focused on what I’m doing in the ring and helping out there as best I can."
We can see that working; Rollins already runs his own wrestling school and has experience in the independent scene, NXT, and being at the top of the card in WWE.
For now, the former World Heavyweight Champion has his hands full squaring off with Finn Balor on tonight's RAW. The winner will advance to this month's Elimination Chamber, with the victor there set to challenge Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania.