“Obviously, no one knows how long this process is going to take,” Seth Rollins says when speaking EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife about how the world has been turned upside down by the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The WWE hasn’t been immune to the pandemic. WrestleMania 36, the Sports Entertainment company’s biggest event of the calendar year, will be held over two nights in front of an empty arena. Despite these changes, Seth tells HollywoodLife that he and his “super chill” fiancée, WWE Superstar Becky Lynch, are keeping their spirits high during the quarantine. “We’re taking advantage of the downtime and cook some dinners, watch movies, and hang out.”
“We don’t really get a lot of time to do that,” says Seth. “So you know, we are going to get full nights of sleep. We are going to hang out with my animals. Just enjoy quality time as opposed to work time, which is where we spend most of our time doing. Luckily she is not one of those fussy types that need a whole lot to be entertained, so I am okay and I will be alright. I think she is down with drinking beers and hanging out.”
It appears that “The Man” has more in common with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin than the WWE Universe initially thought. Becky and “The Rattlesnake” celebrated “3/16 Day,” a celebration of his famous “Austin 3:16” promo, on the Mar. 16 episode of WWE RAW. It was the first RAW held in the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, staged in an arena with no crowd.
All WWE events have been taken off the road due to the coronavirus pandemic, and WrestleMania 36, originally scheduled to take place at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 5, will now take place over two nights (April 4-5) at the Performance Center. Even some marquee matches have also been scratched due to the pandemic, with Roman Reigns confirming the reports that he won’t compete against Bill Goldberg for the Universal Championship. While the WWE has tried to make the best out of this situation, Seth says that the past few weeks has been “a really humbling experience.”
“There is a lot of gratitude that goes into the last few weeks,” says Seth. “A lot of times our job runs us ragged, and we complain, as all of us do, about our workplaces. ‘[We] are frustrated or are overworked and underappreciated’ and stuff like that. I think with this situation, it certainly makes you take a look at the brighter side of things.”
“You look around, and you see that over three million Americans filed for unemployment last week,” he continues, “which is unheard of, and the fact that we [in the WWE] are still able to have employment. Not only that, but it’s a job that I love, and I still get to take part in that job during this time, even if it is in an abbreviated fashion. There is something very humbling and a lot of gratitude that goes along with all of that so, hopefully, when we come out of this crisis, it will be something we can take with us moving forward in our day-to-day lives.”
While the “Monday Night Messiah” is keeping his positive mental attitude about COVID, he’s got some negative vibes for how some other sports couples are passing the time during the quarantine. While Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have set TikTok ablaze with their videos, don’t expect Seth and Becky to join them. “Oh, goodness. I am looking forward to most spending time with my animals — my dog Kevin and my cat Darrell — as I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them when we have our regular schedule. As far as TikTok is concerned, look, I will say this very plainly: I hate TikTok! The internet is a great cheerleader right now since there is a great amount of time where positivity is going around, and I don’t want to spread negativity, but look, we have way too much time on our hands, and TikTok is not… I mean, read a book!”
“For God’s sake, these dance videos on TikTok are driving me absolutely insane,” he continues, “I can’t handle it anymore… Yeah, I am looking forward to staying in and watching a bunch of television shows and catching up with some movies, hanging out with my dog and my cat. I am going to order an espresso machine for my house so I can learn how to make great coffee at home. My coffee shop is having a lot of trouble obviously right now as a small business, so those are a few things I am looking forward to, but TikTok is not one of them! [Laughs]”