Seth Rollins’ surprise SummerSlam cash-in featured one of those little details that made the entire moment hit harder: the second he dropped his crutches and revealed the injury act was over.
During an interview with ESPN, Rollins revealed that the visual was not his idea. Bobby Roode, now working behind the scenes as a WWE producer, came up with the crutch-drop spot that helped set the tone for Rollins’ shocking involvement after CM Punk and Gunther’s match. Rollins also confirmed there was no rehearsal ahead of time because the people involved did not want the surprise leaking out before it happened.
“I didn’t practice the crutches at all because we didn’t rehearse this because we didn’t want anybody to know what was happening, right? None of this was rehearsed.”
The moment came off so smoothly that it appeared carefully planned down to the second, but Rollins said the crutches were one part of the presentation he cannot take credit for.
“I can’t take all the credit for the crutch tossing. I’ll take all the credit when it’s my idea. The idea for the crutch drop was actually a Bobby Roode idea, who’s, you know, one of the incredible performers in our industry, was and now is a great producer backstage.”
Once Rollins dropped the crutches, everything else followed cleanly. The jacket came off, the briefcase was handed over, and the attack was underway after Punk and Gunther had already gone through a physical match.
“Honestly, this came off smoother than I expected. The crutch drop, even the jacket, the handoff for the briefcase was smooth. Everything here was really, really clean. And, you know, Punk and Gunther had just had a hell of a match. And so, to be kind of the icing on the cake, so to speak, felt really, really nice.”
Rollins also admitted that winning the briefcase again came with one obvious problem. His WrestleMania 31 cash-in has been replayed and remembered for years, making it nearly impossible for any later attempt to escape comparisons. For him, the story with CM Punk was enough to give the SummerSlam cash-in its own identity rather than making it feel like an attempt to repeat his biggest career moment.
“When you look back at the original heist, it’s very difficult to recreate that, which was always my hesitation for winning that briefcase. But I will say based on the history between myself and CM Punk and everything that had led up to that, it really felt like it kind of stands alone. It doesn’t — you don’t have to compare it to the heist. It’s its own moment.”
Rollins was the man standing in the spotlight, but Roode’s backstage suggestion helped turn the reveal into something fans immediately understood. One clean drop of the crutches sold the whole trick and gave Rollins another Money in the Bank moment that looked nothing like the first.
What did you think about Bobby Roode being the person behind Seth Rollins’ crutch-drop idea at SummerSlam? Let us know in the comments.
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