Seth Rollins possibly used backstage influence to hold on to the World Heavyweight Championship, according to former WWE star

By Prityush Haldar

Modified Jan 29, 2024 09:59 GMT

Seth Rollins is the current World Heavyweight Champion

Former WWE Superstar Stevie Richards feels Seth Rollins may have used his backstage power to hold on to the World Heavyweight Championship after being injured.

Last week on RAW, Seth Rollins cleared the air about his knee injury. The Visionary claimed that he had partially torn his ACL and meniscus, forcing him to be on the sidelines for about three to four months. However, The Visionary also declared that he was ready to go against the doctors' advice and return to the ring for WrestleMania 40.

On a recent episode of The Brand, Richards mentioned that Rollins should have pushed to lose the title via a cash-in to Damian Priest. He felt that with the current injury, The Visionary would be unable to defend the World Heavyweight Championship, hurting the title's prestige.

The former WWE star claimed that Rollins might have wanted to hold on to the title despite not being cleared to wrestle:

"I'd be volunteering, pitching, and politicking to get beat suddenly by Priest. Have him put some heat on the title. I never really lost it because I was injured. These babyfaces, that's why there is so much babyface heat. They don't know how to get sympathy," Richards said. "I guess the simplest explanation would be that Seth said, 'No, I'm not losing it. I'll be there.' Now you're putting the entire investment that [the] creative and company put into that title, and you're just basically not gonna defend it for three or four months." [5:22 - 6:07]

You can watch the full video here:

Cody Rhodes will not challenge Seth Rollins

This past week, Cody Rhodes created history by becoming the first man in two decades to win back-to-back Royal Rumble matches.

During the post-Royal Rumble press conference, Rhodes said he had much respect for Seth Rollins' World Heavyweight Championship. The American Nightmare, however, claimed that he wanted to right the wrongs of WrestleMania 39 by going after Roman Reigns to finish his story.

"All the respect in the world to Seth Rollins. That title gains more prestige every single day. But WrestleMania 39 did happen. And if you’re me, you can’t look at that, and you can't run from it. I don’t know, WrestleMania 40, Monday Night RAW, SummerSlam, I don’t know, Elimination Chamber. I want to be back in the ring with Roman Reigns, and I want to finish the story," he said.