WWE champ Seth Rollins on life as pro wrestler

Davenport, Ia. – WWE Superstar Seth Rollins strutted out from behind a Jumbotron playing his highlight reel and into controlled bedlam.

Through blinding flashing lights, the screams of more than 5,500 people muffled both a drum solo throbbing from the loud speakers and the announcer's attempts to declare that Rollins hails "from Davenport, Iowa."

But the audience at the Quad Cities' iWireless Center knew where Rollins is from…because it's where they're from, too.

Countless handwritten signs read, "Welcome Home, Seth!", while an especially bright one sparkled, "Will you go to prom with me, Seth?"

Standing in the ring, his chest bare and his wet hair hanging below his shoulders, Rollins, 28, snarled like Mick Jagger as he held up the World Heavyweight Championship title, a big gold belt won at WrestleMania, WWE's marquee event.

He's the only Iowan to ever win that title.

For Rollins, who grew up in Davenport, this was his heavyweight homecoming.

The Davenport West grad fell in love with wrestling during a show at the Wharton Field House, just two miles from the ring he stood in. He'd honed his skills scrapping with his brother and scraping by in the local independent wrestling scene. Now, he's the champ, and this was the first time he'd taken a Quad Cities' stage since winning the title.

"It will be emotional," Rollins said as he sipped coffee earlier in the day. "This is my place. I've lived here my whole life basically, and my family is here, and now I get to walk in as the WWE Heavyweight Champion. It'll be different than any other (performance)."

But being a champion is more than just flash bulbs and champagne. It's hours at the gym, nights in far-flung hotel rooms, days away from friends and family and months of plotting to stay on top.

The Register spent time with Rollins, whose legal name is Colby Lopez, while he was in the Quad Cities for a taping of WWE's weekly show "SmackDown," consistently the top-rated regularly scheduled program on SyFy, according to WWE.

Between hours of media appearances, workouts and preparing for the show, Rollins barely had time to sit down, let alone to answer all the calls, texts and Facebook messages from friends hoping to grab a moment with the champion.

This is a day in the life of Seth Rollins.

6 a.m. — Media Begins

Rollins hadn't slept. He and a bunch of guys drove straight into town after taping WWE's Monday-night wrestling program, "Raw," in Green Bay, Wis. He got to his home in Davenport at 5 a.m., too close to his first appearance to get meaningful rest.

"The joke we always say is that WWE doesn't pay us to wrestle, they pay us to travel," Rollins said. "Once you step out (in the ring) and you are doing your thing in front of people and just living in that moment, that is great. I could do that for free for the rest of my life."

Bouncing from a morning TV show, where they made him do the weather, to what felt like never-ending radio station interviews, Rollins kept up his wit and flirtatious charm.

When a morning DJ asked how Rollins would "take down" his female co-host, he quickly responded, "With my eyes."

Wrestling professionally, especially with WWE, has been Rollins' goal since he could remember, he said.

"My brother and I would wrestle in my grandparents' living room, that was our spot," Rollins said. "Even when he wasn't there, I would fight pillows and the wrestling buddies (plush toys shaped like wrestlers) all on my own."

"Hulk Hogan was a superhero to me as a kid," Rollins continued. "I loved Batman as a kid, but he wasn't a real person. He was a character, and I couldn't touch him. But Hulk Hogan, I watched him walk out on the ramp and get into the ring. He was a real person.

If he was real, why couldn't I be like him? Why couldn't I do that, too?"

10 a.m. — Breakfast

Rollins stopped by Milltown Coffee, a java shop owned by a buddy, for some breakfast. He hadn't had anything to eat since Taco Bell in the car the night before, he said.

Rollins said he doesn't diet. Instead, he works out four to five times a week.

In high school, Rollins, who'd already decided on a career in wrestling, lifted at the local YMCA.

"He would have 2-gallon milk containers filled with water and (would) drink those while he was working out or lifting," said Jennifer O'Hare-Marker, a counselor at Davenport West.

Jodi Zimmerman, Rollins' social studies teacher, said he was "a positive kid with little interest in other hobbies (or) activities."

"He used to carry a belt around — a wrestling victory belt — to keep himself motivated and focused," she said.

As a teen, Rollins began to appreciate the finer points of wrestling, he said. That it was "an art form," not just rough housing, and he and his brother regularly hosted wrestling shows in their dad's backyard to hone their skills.

"We started to (wrestle) on our trampoline and practiced the moves," Rollins said. "We started to look at it differently…We got more involved in the performance aspect."

During a quick TV interview at the arena, Rollins met Owen Hunt, 5, who was recovering from open heart surgery and wouldn't be able to sit through that night's show. Owen's eyes grew wide as he touched the golden belt while the pair chatted.

"Man, my day would've been so boring if it wasn't for you," Rollins said as he went in for a good-bye hug.

"Being able to make his day and let him punch me in the gut so he can tell his friends or talk about it with his mom for a couple days, that is just awesome for me," Rollins said. "That's primarily why I got into this, to make kids feel the way I felt when I was that age."

Noon — Gym

With a few hours before call time, Rollins had a choice between a nap and a workout.

He chose workout.

Rollins' gym, QC CrossFit, is also home to his wrestling academy, Black & Brave, co-owned by pro-wrestler Marek Brave.

I want "to encourage people to not waste time doing things they don't love," Rollins said. "I was lucky enough at a young age to find out what I had a passion for, but whatever you've got a curiosity for, just give it a shot."

After high school, Rollins kept training while also holding a job and attending community college. Eventually, he studied with Danny Daniels, a professional wrestler in the Chicago area.

"I knew the first day that Colby was special," Daniels said. "He knew what he wanted and, even at that young age, he knew he would have to travel and lose money and put in the time to get where he wanted to go."

Indeed, Rollins networked on the independent circuit for years: "I didn't have any pedigree or any last name that would get me an opportunity to get looked at by WWE. I started in the backrooms of bingo halls and at Danceland (Ballroom in Davenport). I got paid zero to negative money for a while. I lost money along the way and worked my way up."

Related:Iowan and WWE star Seth Rollins feuds with Jon Stewart

3 p.m. — Backstage

WWE took over the bowels of the iWireless Center with gear carefully placed in every open corner and crew members milling about, waiting for showtime.

Rollins sat near WWE's extensive catering wearing sweats, eating baked salmon and mashed potatoes and waiting for the night's script.

WWE is sports entertainment, not just a sport, an important distinction when discussing the actual hand-to-hand wrestling. What they do is not violence, Rollins said earlier in the day, it's perceived violence.

"It's not a wrestling show," he said, "it's a TV show about a wrestling show."

"It's a classic morality tale," Rollins continued. "It's a story as old as time. You have an antagonist and you have a protagonist. You have a conflict and you have a resolution."

At this point, with about three years on the main roster, Rollins doesn't anxiously wait for scripts anymore.

"I've got to the point where I expect the unexpected," Rollins said. "I love what I do, so, for me it's like, 'Oh, what's next?' not 'Ugh, what's next?'"

Ringside, some of his fellow performers called him a "role model," someone who's hard-working and polite.

"There's no quitting when it comes to Seth," said performer Jamie Noble. "He doesn't get down....If we have a bad day, we find a way to make it better the next day."

7 p.m. — The show

Rollins' match was the main event, so he didn't make his way from behind the Jumbotron until hours into the show.

When he finally appeared, the crowd went nuts. Some fans shouted "Colby!", a homage to the local boy who made big.

In the ring, he glided from rope to rope, each move seemed effortless, each opponent's blow painful.

"He's one of the most durable guys I've ever seen," said Michael Hayes, WWE's director of live events and a 35-year veteran of the business. "He's like a cat. There can be a mistake made and I'm like, 'Oh my God, he's broke in two,' but he's just up and fine."

Every match is more important since Rollins won the title. Now, he's announced as the current title holder, current being the operative word. It's something that he could, and will, eventually lose.

But that win catapulted Rollins into an elite group of Superstars.

"For me, that was winning the Super Bowl," he said. "That was throwing the touchdown pass at the last second in the biggest game of your life ... I'm not a guy that believes in faith or destiny, I believe everyone has to make their own way, so I was happy the work paid off."

That WrestleMania moment was special for Rollins' former tag team partner Marek Brave, too, who began to "sob uncontrollably" when the bell rang and Rollins' lifted the title over his head.

"I was there with him at the beginning," Brave said. "I was there when we drove eight hours to get paid $20 and a hot dog and it cost more than that to drive there. I was there when we slept on hotel room floors because we couldn't afford anything else and someone was gracious enough to offer. I was there when we were nobodies and nothing and this was the highest moment, what we dreamed of, and it all just hit me."

Related: Iowan Seth Rollins wins WWE title

11 p.m. — Post-match

By the time Rollins got backstage, many Superstars had already packed up and left.

Taking off his ring gear, Rollins said the arena's energy was electric. And, no, he didn't see his mom in the audience, but that may have thrown him off his game anyway.

He looked tired and a few scratches marked his torso, but he was still quick-witted and contagiously charismatic. He planned to have a "delicious beer" and hang out with friends later.

Part of the reason he lives in Iowa is the ability to blend in, to be "normal" for a while, he said.

"This is a place where I can go to completely disconnect from the character I play on TV, and I need that," he said. "Mentally, that is crucial for my health. You just can't be someone else all the time, you just have to be you sometimes."

As far as what's next for the champ, Rollins doesn't have specifics, but he knows he wants to be better than he was yesterday: a better friend, a better champion, a better role model and a better leader.

"I am just taking it one day at a time,"' he said.

Then he rubbed his eyes before calculating the hours he's been awake — about 37.

He sighed and excused himself. For now, what's next is a healthy dose of shut-eye.

Upcoming appearances

Rollins is scheduled to appear at Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines, 5:30-8:30 p.m. June 12 at the Iowa Events Center, 730 Third St.

WWE's "SmackDown" is scheduled to tape in Des Moines on Dec. 22.

Rollins appears regularly on WWE's weekly TV shows, "Raw," 7 p.m. on USA, and "SmackDown," 7 p.m. on Syfy.