This week on Monday Night Raw, it became clear that WWE is turning Seth Rollins heel. His heel turn became pretty clear in the opening segment of the show when he ripped members of the Raw roster and in the final segment at the end of his match with Kevin Owens when AOP attacked Owens but did not attack Rollins. The show ended with a cliffhanger that is supposed to make fans wonder if Rollins and AOP are working together.

Bryan Alvarez discussed the Rollins heel turn on Wrestling Observer Live. Alvarez said, “the gist of the show is that Seth Rollins turned heel and apparently, Seth Rollins has some wacky idea for his character, which I guess is that everybody hates him now but he’s right and therefore, in the mind of Seth Rollins, he’s a babyface even though everybody else thinks he’s a heel. So as a heel, he’s gonna wrestle as a babyface.”

This sounds similar to what Bret Hart was doing in 1997 when he felt that the fans turned on him but he considered himself to be the good guy. Hart’s storyline was different because he was a babyface to the fans in Canada and a heel to the fans in the United States. This time, Rollins comes across as a heel in every city he wrestles in.

Alvarez continued, “Yes, Seth Rollins has turned heel. I know a lot of times we see these weird storylines and such on Raw and I think somebody has turned heel and I’m told ‘no, no, no they’re still a babyface’ or whatever. This is definitely a heel turn for Seth Rollins…”

A listener praised the heel turn because it looked like this has been a slow burn heel turn but Alvarez was quick to point out that turning Rollins heel was not part of long-term plans. Alvarez said, “All of this stuff that Seth has been doing where he’s been booed out of the building – up until yesterday, the idea was never that he was turning heel. It was his idea to turn heel. In his mind, he may have been planting seeds but he was supposed to have been a babyface all the way up until yesterday [and then] boom he turned.”

Alvarez continued, “this is not like a slow turn that they’re doing right now. This is his idea. This is his character. He is a heel who thinks he right. I guess he thinks he’s 1997 Bret Hart…”

Alvarez added, “The Seth Rollins character thinks that you the fans are being unfair to WWE. So, he’s gonna wrestle like a babyface while burying you. That seems to be the plan. I guess we’ll see what they do next week.”

This would explain some of the things he has said recently in interviews and on Twitter so we’ll see if this works to build interest in his segments. There was one thing that did not sit well last night during the opening segment. Vince McMahon was reportedly furious with Rollins for mentioning CM Punk. Click here for more on that story.

You can hear more on Rollins and more on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Live.











