Seth Rollins Rips Roman Reigns; Booker T Defends The Rock; Nic Nemeth on WWE Return

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Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Rollins Clowns Reigns’ Light WWE Schedule

World heavyweight champion Seth Rollins and undisputed WWE universal champion Roman Reigns have taken several shots at each other as of late, and it continued Saturday on social media.

On X, a fan responded to recent comments Rollins made about CM Punk returning from a torn triceps “in a year or two until his next injury.”

The fan suggested that Rollins was being hypocritical and that he had “more time off than Santa with injuries.”

Rollins used that as an opportunity to point out Reigns’ part-time schedule, tweeting: “Dawg I’ve taken less time off for injuries in the last 12 years than the other champ has taken for vacation in the last 2 years.”

Currently, Rollins is dealing with a knee injury he suffered during a title defense against Jinder Mahal on Raw last month. While there was initially some concern about him being cleared to compete at WrestleMania 40 in April, he has insisted that he will be good to go.

While Rollins has been banged up at various points throughout his career, the only time when he landed on the shelf for a significant stretch was in late 2015 when he tore his ACL and missed over six months of action.

As for Reigns, his time missed over the past couple of years has been due to a favorable schedule rather than injuries.

While Reigns has been world champion for nearly 1,300 days, he has only defended the title three times in televised matches since last year’s WrestleMania.

The Tribal Chief acknowledged his limited schedule compared to Rollins in a recent promo on SmackDown, but he didn’t apologize for it, and he also disputed Rollins’ claim that the world heavyweight title is the top championship in WWE.

At the WrestleMania 40 press conference in Las Vegas on Thursday, Reigns and Rollins continued to trade verbal barbs, but the focus shifted to Cody Rhodes challenging Reigns to a WrestleMania match and The Rock slapping Rhodes due to his comments about his family.

That has left Rollins without a WrestleMania opponent to this point, but it will be determined this month at Elimination Chamber by the winner of an Elimination Chamber match.

Booker T Backs The Rock’s WWE Return

The Rock’s return to WWE has received a mixed reaction from WWE fans thus far, but WWE Hall of Famer and WWE NXT announcer Booker T is fully behind it.

Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast (h/t Nikunj Walia of Ringside News), Booker commented on The Rock’s return and his belief that younger talent in WWE can learn a lot from him:

“I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times there again; you gotta like The Rock coming back. Guys on the roster need to understand how to one day find themselves in that same spot. That seems like that will be the main goal as opposed to knocking the game to play, seriously not to play the game. And he’s figured the game out, man, and a young guy … I understand finishing the story, too.

“One thing that these younger guys on the roster, younger wrestlers, and the next generation need to understand is the revenue. The eyes that someone likes the right brain, it being a part of an event like that. It’s more than just wrestling. And there again, these young guys do this in the locker room, which has that next-level potential. They better be strategizing. They’re going to be thinking about what’s next.”

The Rock made a surprise return to WWE last month and mentioned “The Head of the Table,” which seemed to be the setup for an eventual match against his cousin in Roman Reigns.

He subsequently joined TKO’s board of directors and then appeared on the Feb. 2 episode of SmackDown to once again tease a WrestleMania match against Reigns by having a stare-down with him.

In that same segment, Cody Rhodes indicated that he would not face Reigns at WrestleMania 40 despite winning the men’s Royal Rumble match for a second consecutive year, which didn’t sit well with many fans.

The WWE Universe got #WeWantCody trending on X leading up to last week’s WrestleMania 40 press conference in Las Vegas, which saw Cody reverse course and choose Reigns as his WrestleMania opponent despite Reigns choosing The Rock.

During the press conference, The Rock played a heel character and got heat from the crowd, and it reached another level when he slapped Rhodes in the face.

The Rock then told Triple H to “fix” what happened while walking backstage with Reigns, which suggests a power struggle storyline is in the offing.

Regardless of whether that was always WWE’s plan or if it was an adjustment made after the reaction to Cody, it should make for compelling television moving forward.

Nemeth Not Considering WWE Return

After recently making his TNA debut, Nic Nemeth addressed his pro wrestling future in an interview with Sportskeeda WrestleBinge.

During the interview (h/t Subhojeet Mukherjee of Ringside News), Nemeth was asked if he would consider a return to WWE, and while he didn’t necessarily rule it out happening one day, he noted that he is focused on other experiences first:

“I don’t have [thoughts] like, ‘I got to get back to WWE.’ I asked to leave, and I wanna do a second half of my career where I do everything else but WWE because I’ve done it. I’ve been there. I wanna see what I can do on my own. It’s like a Twilight Zone episode where the guy’s at like the top of a company and he’s got all the gold in the world. He goes, ‘I wanna go back in time and I wanna redo it and do it all again from Day One, put all the hard work in, and prove to everyone that I can do this again.’

“We’re all gonna find out here, am I all show, no go? Am I a phony that’s been sitting around? No, I’m gonna steal the show every damn night.”

Nemeth was with WWE from 2004 until his release last year, primarily under the name Dolph Ziggler.

Over his nearly two-decade run in WWE, Nemeth established himself as one of the most decorated Superstars in the company’s history. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, six-time intercontinental champion, two-time United States champion, four-time tag team champion, one-time NXT champion and one-time Money in the Bank winner.

Nemeth’s usage dipped in recent years, though, and it eventually became clear that it would be in his best interest to leave the company and explore other opportunities.

He has already made an impact since leaving WWE, making his TNA debut in surprise fashion at Hard to Kill last month and doing the same for New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom 18.

It isn’t often that a 20-year veteran can feel fresh and rejuvenated, but that is the case for Nemeth since he is getting to explore things he has never done before.

While Nemeth settled into a midcard role in WWE, he can be a main eventer in any number of other companies, and it seems likely that The Wanted Man will try to prove that before thinking about a WWE return.

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