WWE Opinion: Seth Rollins Is Better Now Than Shawn Michaels Was At The Same Stage

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins has enjoyed a career most could only dream of at this stage of his career, especially the man he is most related to, Shawn Michaels. The Heart Break Kid, for my money, is the greatest in-ring performer in history. Of course, this is all based on opinion, because everyone has their favorite. However, it does seem odd that we continue to compare Seth Rollins to HBK when he clearly is better than Michaels was at this stage.

This post is not saying Seth Rollins is better than Shawn Michaels overall. That would be crazy, as Michaels has done more than most and has a storied history that is tough to question. However, Seth Rollins is 30-years-old and has been a WWE Tag Team, United States, and World Heavyweight Champion on two occasions. He has been part of one of the greatest factions ever, The Shield, and has made his way into the main event of WrestleMania when he took home the WWE World Title after cashing in the Money in the Bank briefcase at WrestleMania 31.

He did all of this before his 30th birthday. It’s important to understand what type of accomplishment this is because few can ever claim to have something so huge. That includes Shawn Michaels, who did his best work after he turned 30-years-old. However, let us go back to his initial singles run with WWE when he turned on his Rockers partner and became the Heartbreak Kid we know today.

He began having amazing matches left and right and would go on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship a couple times before eventually would winning the WWE Tag Titles with Diesel (who we know as Kevin Nash now). He would then form The Kliq, a behind-the-scenes faction that helped lead most of WWE’s Attitude Era. It was known at the time for being the most hated group of men in wrestling, which included Michaels, X-Pac, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Triple H. This would eventually make its way to prominence when Michaels began to win major matches and eventually the WWE Championship.

Of course, he would also form D-Generation X with Triple H and Chyna, which became an iconic stable that helped all three members achieve success in the WWE. Rick Rude was also part of the initial stable, but no one likes to talk about that. This also helped The Game, which mostly happened due to Michaels leaving.

Shawn Michaels was known for having a lot of firsts in his time as well, as he was in the first WWE Ladder and Hell in a Cell matches alone during the 90s. This occurred during a time when he was truly trusted by Vince McMahon, who felt he could put Shawn on television to deliver any time he was asked to. Of course, this was also during a time when Michaels had a bad attitude and drug issues, but he still delivered quite often until a back injury took him out of action for a number of years. He would get injured during a casket match with The Undertaker and would defend — and lose — the WWE Championship to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in the main event of WrestleMania XIV.

He would take on the role as commissioner for a bit but would eventually leave completely for a while so he could turn his life completely around. He would then return for a decade and enjoy amazing match after amazing match with the likes of Triple H, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and more. Of course, all of this greatness with D-X, WrestleMania, and the WWE World Title happened years into his career. It took him nearly a decade to reach the point where McMahon trusted him to have a World Title.

He would start with The Rockers in 1988 before winning his first WWE World Title from Bret Hart in an amazing Ironman match, another first-ever match, in 1996. He would then have to relinquish it due to a knee injury. Of course, he would eventually win it back. He did a lot, but Seth Rollins spent around two years on WWE’s main roster with The Shield and would go on to singles success in his true third year. By his fourth, he had already been World Champion, main-evented a WrestleMania (sorta), and won the United States Title.

Triple H seemed to trust Seth Rollins more than Vince McMahon trusted Shawn Michaels, but at the same time, the two were in two completely different stages. Imagine if the two came up at the same time. Michaels would have been where Dean Ambrose is now, while Seth Rollins would be where Bret Hart was then. Both respectable positions, but clearly one is ahead of the other as far as trust is concerned.

Shawn Michaels had a legendary career, but it took over 20 years for him to truly develop it with at least four spent out of wrestling. Meanwhile, Seth Rollins has also missed time due to a severe injury and he is compared to HBK. To be fair, HBK would be absolutely thrilled if his career took off as fast in the singles world like Rollins’ career did. Rollins has been put in major matches against some of the top wrestlers WWE has from the past and present, including as John Cena and even Sting.

Sting claimed Seth Rollins is the best he has ever worked with, and that is after he pretty much retired the guy. Seth is just like Michaels in so many ways, but his early success, combined with how good he actually is both naturally and by teaching, may be better than HBK was in his time at the same stage. This is not to say Michaels has not had a better overall career in comparison, as that is obvious. However, we could reexamine this in 10 years, and one might say Rollins’ career was better in comparison.

Both have given us memorable moments, matches, and rivalries. This much is clear, and WWE fans are happy to see both Seth Rollins and Shawn Michaels whenever possible. Maybe it is fair now to stop comparing Seth Rollins to Shawn Michaels and simply say Seth is a great star now and may continue to be to a point where we have to then start comparing total career resumes.

[Featured Image by WWE]