Seth Rollins Comments on Modern Toughness in Wrestling – Seth Rollins recently opened up about the shifting nature of toughness in professional wrestling during his appearance on Outta Pocket with RGIII. Rollins argued that each wrestling generation has become progressively less tough, mainly because modern-day wrestlers no longer face the same dangerous environment their predecessors did.
“I always think that every generation is a little less tough because they don’t have to be,” Rollins explained. He drew a stark comparison to wrestlers from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, who regularly faced real threats in the ring. “I don’t have to worry about somebody shanking me in the ring,” Rollins noted. “There was genuine concern that… somebody was going to shoot on you.”
Rollins detailed how the lack of pre-planning and communication between wrestlers created an atmosphere of constant tension. “They were trained in ways to hurt people… They wouldn’t talk about what they were going to do ahead of time as much… you never knew if anybody was going to try to get an upper hand,” he said. “You would err on the side of caution. So like if you even thought that somebody was going to try something, you would just preemptively do it to send a message, don’t try this.”
While acknowledging the toughness of past wrestlers, Rollins also highlighted the negative coping mechanisms they used to deal with the physical toll of the business. “They would be on the road and they didn’t have the information that we had about pre-hab and rehab, so they just drank, and they took uppers in the morning and downers at night and never slept… that’s how they got by, and that’s why so many of them are dead,” Rollins stated. He described the wrestling world of that time as a “wild west business,” where survival came at a heavy personal cost.
Rollins also pointed out that the evolution of wrestling into a more structured and health-conscious industry has spared current stars from these brutal realities. “As it’s turned into more of a business and less of a circus, we don’t have to be as tough as wild as they were,” he said. “We have the knowledge and information of how to take care of ourselves… So yeah, I’m always of the opinion that every generation is kind of a little bit wimpier than the other one.”
Seth Rollins Comments on Modern Toughness in Wrestling
