Opinion: Seth Rollins is the new Shawn Michaels, but not in a good way

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda.

As Triple H recently pointed out, professional wrestling is inherently generational. Fans of different ages will often talk about 'their' era of wrestling and 'their' cohort of Superstars, be it the Hulkamaniacs of the late 1980s or members of the Cenation during the 2000s. Inevitably, this leads to inter-generational comparisons being drawn. One of the most common comparisons today include present day WWE Superstars and their Attitude Era counterparts of the late 1990s.

Shawn Michaels, perhaps more so than anyone else, is often utilized for this very purpose. Something about the in-ring ability, charisma, and real-life 'baggage' of 'The Show Stopper' have endeared 'HBK' to fans of all ages. Often, when we see a new talent emerge with any ounce of promise, somebody will inevitably dub them 'the new Shawn Michaels.'

Seth Rollins is one of those. The Universal Champion has been compared to Michaels in recent years, and it is not difficult to see why. Seth's athleticism is unparalleled and he has the ability to portray a believable heel or babyface with his mic work. Indeed, the similarities between the two men make a still possible - but largely improbable - dream match the centerpiece of many fans' fantasy booking scenarios.

With that stated, when witnessing Seth Rollins's current contribution to the company, one may draw a slightly less flattering comparison between the two. To put it simply, the Universal Champion is struggling to carry the weight of the WWE on his shoulders in 2019 in much the same way HBK was back in 1996. With all the generous accolades we bestow on Shawn today, it is easy to forget that he was Vince McMahon's go-to man at a time when the company was hemorrhaging viewers to WCW. Most concerning for Rollins, he is now charged with a similar task of preventing viewers from going elsewhere, and it is not for certain that he will be able to succeed.

This may not have been all Shawn Michaels' fault back then of course. McMahon was insistent on pushing him as a babyface despite his talents clearly being more suited towards the heel persona. Fans simply did not buy in to the child-friendly, sympathetic hero that McMahon wanted him to be, and the wrestling industry was severely impacted as a result.

Fast forward to 2019 and a very similar picture is emerging with Seth Rollins. In an ideal world, Rollins would be the perfect safe pair of hands following the failed Roman Reigns project that began back in 2015, but this is sadly turning out not to be the case. In fact, the more the Seth Rollins show is pushed on fans, the more they reject him.

Under normal circumstances, this would be unfortunate, but considering AEW is now very much on Vince's horizon - Seth Rollins's shortcomings could prove to be catastrophic.

Michaels was ultimately pushed into the 'top-guy' position in 1996 following WWE's failed attempts at making new stars. In the wake of the failings, there simply weren't many options other than Shawn Michaels. Sadly for Rollins, he is now the guy trying his best to make up for some questionable booking decisions and a lack of credible main event stars around him. Let's hope, at least for the WWE's sake, that AEW aren't able to capitalize on this in the same way that WCW and Eric Bishoff were back in the day.