Big Vinny V’s Mr. SummerSlam Countdown: Seth Rollins (also) finishes tied for fifth

Welcome to the Mr. SummerSlam Countdown, our look at the wrestlers who have the most matches named as the best on WWE’s biggest show of the summer. Our second name today: Seth Rollins, who finishes tied for fifth in our rankings. 

Prior articles in this series:

• Introduction and methodology
• Honorable mentions: Shawn Michaels and others.
• Mr. SummerSlam No. 5 (tie): Randy Orton

Rollins has had 10 matches at SummerSlam, debuting in a lumberjack match against Dean Ambrose in 2014, and most recently cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase in a match against CM Punk last year (the famous “we fooled nobody” worked injury). His last full match at SummerSlam was in 2023, when he faced Finn Balor for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He has finished with the best match on the show four times. Here are those four matches, in chronological order.

2015: Seth Rollins vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Championships

Dave Meltzer: ****1/2
Wrestling Observer Newsletter Readers: 70% of the votes for best match
Cagematch Users: 8.37

This match was notable for a few reasons. It was title vs. title, as Rollins’ World Championship and Cena’s United States Championship were both on the line. And the winner was crowned after interference by the night’s celebrity host. 

Other matches on that show that got votes from Observer readers as the best of the night: Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar, Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro and the New Day winning the WWE Tag Team Championships in a four-way tag match.

Here’s a little of what Meltzer wrote about the match in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

The Cena vs. Rollins match was on the verge of being one of the better matches in WWE history. Cena certainly did his part, but Rollins put on one of the greatest one man shows in a match you’ll see. … The Cena vs. Rollins finish, complete with the far-too-predictable looking pause and swerve. After a ref bump, both Cena and Rollins were down and [Jon] Stewart came to the ring with a chair. He teased hitting Rollins, who he’s worked a previous adversarial program with both a Raw appearance and a couple of appearances on “The Daily Show,” but instead hit Cena in the gut with a chair shot. He then put the chair on the ground and told Rollins to hit Cena with the pedigree on the chair. If it was anyone but a major celebrity that got the company so much mainstream after the fact, doing that finish, it would be a major groaner. But here it was a news item.

And his review of the match itself:

The fans booed Cena more than anyone on the show. So to this audience, Cena coming back from a broken nose and his 500th wish granted, which was played up big earlier with a video, wasn’t going to get them to stop booing him. The crowd was super hot cheering and chanting for Rollins. Rollins did two topes in a row followed by a running flip dive over the top. If he wasn’t a face already, that was the complete turn. … Cena came back with the attitude adjustment for a near fall. Everyone knew, because every decent guy kicks out of the first one, that it wasn’t the finish. They traded punches with the “Yay” and “boo” spot with Rollins being the “Yay.” … Cena then did a crossbody off the top, Rollins rolled through, hoisted Cena to his shoulders and hit an Attitude Adjustment on Cena for a near fall. … Cena escaped a pedigree and put Rollins in the figure four. They pushed that Cena could tie Ric Flair’s record using Flair’s own move. … There was a ref bump. Cena hit the Attitude Adjustment and had Rollins pinned. He got up because of no ref counting. Rollins used a flying knee to the nose to knock Cena down and both were selling. Stewart came in with a chair, paused for a while, hit Cena in the gut, put the chair on the ground and Rollins gave Cena a pedigree on the chair for the pin. Rollins came across like he was the best wrestler in the world with his performance here. Fans were chanting “Thank you Stewart” for causing Cena to lose. 

2019: Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship

Meltzer: ****1/4
Observer Readers: 74% of the votes for best match
Cagematch: 7.67

This was a strong card with a lot of matches getting votes as best of the night from Observer readers. Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus, A.J. Styles vs. Ricochet, Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor, Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon, and Becky Lynch vs. Natalya each got at least 10 votes, out of 263 cast. Still, Rollins-vs.-Lesnar was picked as the best between Meltzer, his readers, and Cagematch users. 

As Meltzer explained at the time: 

Rollins was somewhat booed coming out, and his name was booed heavily with every mention the night before at NXT. But on Raw, he was almost universally cheered, as was the case after a few minutes of the match. … The idea is that Rollins was injured from all the Lesnar beatings, with his ribs taped up. 

And his full match review:

This was your usual Paul Heyman lay out match built around only big spots, and it worked here. Lesnar hit a German suplex but Rollins landed on his feet and hit a curb stomp for a near fall. Lesnar went for another German suplex, Rollins again landed on his feet and hit two superkicks. He went for a curb stomp but Lesnar caught him and hit an F-5. Lesnar picked Rollins up by the tape around his ribs and threw him around. Lesnar hit three German suplexes in the ring and a fourth on the floor. Rollins threw Lesnar into the post twice. Lesnar hit another German suplex and missed a tackle and rammed his shoulder into the post. Rollins hit two topes. On a third tope, Lesnar caught him and drove him into the post. Rollins hit another superkick and then jumped off the top of the post and put Lesnar through one of the tables on the floor. Rollins did a splash off the top and curb stomp but Lesnar kicked out. Lesnar went for the F-5, but Rollins escaped, hit another superkick and a curb stomp and got the pin. 

2021: Edge vs. Seth Rollins

Meltzer: ****1/4
Observer Readers: 74% of the votes for best match
Cagematch: 8.25

It’s worth pointing out that this was picked as the best match of the show despite being third from the top, with no stipulations or championships at stake. Four other matches got votes from Observer readers as the best of the night: Roman Reigns vs. John Cena; Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Nikki ASH; Damien Priest vs. Sheamus; and Randy Orton & Matt Riddle vs. A.J. Styles & Omos. Meltzer, for the record, gave both Edge-Rollins and Reigns-Cena ****1/4 ratings.

Meltzer’s review:

Edge came out first to the old Brood music and did that entrance coming off the Smackdown angle. Then they did his regular music. Great match, as would be expected from these two being given what was probably the perfect amount of time. … The story, built up by promos, was Rollins going after Edge’s bad neck to finish him. Rollins’ right arm was all taped up so he likely had a forearm or wrist injury that was legit since it was never played into during the match. … Rollins did a top rope superplex into a falcon arrow. Rollins missed the curb stomp. Edge used the glam slam, the old finisher of his wife, Beth Phoenix. … Edge speared Rollins to the floor. He went for another spear but Rollins caught him with a pedigree for a great near fall. Edge hit a spear in the ring but Rollins kicked out. Edge then blocked a curb stomp, got the crossface on in the middle and slammed Rollins’ head over-and-over on the mat before finishing him with a choke. 

2023: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Meltzer: ****1/2
Observer Readers: 31% of the votes for best match
Cagematch: 8.24

If that 31% vote share from Observer readers seems low, that’s because they did not pick this match as the best of the night; they preferred Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar, which got 51% of the vote. Logan Paul vs. Ricochet and Drew McIntyre vs. Gunther also got votes in that category. 

This was the rematch of the night when Balor defeated Rollins to win the inaugural WWE Universal Championship, but had to immediately forfeit the title due to a shoulder injury. This marked the end of a Rollins-Balor program; the next night, Rollins was attacked by Shinsuke Nakamura to start a program between the two of them.

From Mr. Meltzer:

It was hard hitting early with Rollins using head-butts and Kawada kicks and then hit three topes. Balor threw Rollins’ shoulder into the post, and power bombed him on the barricade, the same move Rollins did to Balor seven years ago that injured him badly. … Balor went for an armbar but Rollins escaped with two buckle bombs and a splash off the top rope for a near fall. Balor’s mouth was busted open. … They continued to trade near falls including Rollins doing a pedigree. Damian Priest came out and punched Rollins from outside the ring. Balor hit a pedigree for a near fall. Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley came out. Balor and Priest started arguing and Rollins curb stomped Balor on the apron but he kicked out. Rollins came off the top with a punch on Priest, used a curb stomp on Mysterio on the floor but Balor again hit the shotgun dropkick and hit the coup de gras. Rollins still kicked out. Balor was yelling at Priest again. Priest threw in the briefcase but Balor didn’t get it and Rollins curb stomped Balor on the briefcase for the pin. 

Tune in tomorrow to see which wrestler finished in fourth place in our countdown. (Hint: he was Rollins’ opponent in one of the matches we discussed today.)