Seth Rollins Turned Down Lucrative Offer From Top Promotion For WWE

Seth Rollins has revealed he turned down triple the money he was offered by WWE to sign with the sports entertainment giant.

Seth Rollins has done it all in WWE, but at one point in his career, he was one of thousands of young wrestlers desperate for a chance to make his name in the company.

Originally, he made a name for himself as Tyler Black in Ring of Honor, but looking to make the next step in his career, he was hours away from signing with TNA.

Speaking on Club Shay Shay, the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion explained why TNA was on his radar, first revealing that he struggled to even have a conversation with anyone from WWE:

This was around 2009 or 2010. I courted WWE a bit in the beginning. I met Joey Mercury… The first time we met, he asked me, ‘Have you ever talked to anybody in New York?’ I said no, I wouldn’t even know how. He told me he’d get in touch with people there for me.

WWE wasn’t really looking for guys like me then—they wanted big guys, 6’5″, 250 pounds. Joey put in a word for me, and I was trying to shop myself around to other companies too.

Seth Rollins Made Hail Mary Plea To WWE

With WWE ignoring Seth Rollins, he made one final call to the company before admitting defeat and signing with TNA, a deal that would have been far more lucrative in money terms than what WWE would end up offering him:

I wasn’t getting any calls back from WWE… Meanwhile, I had another deal on the table with TNA. I didn’t want to sign it because WWE was where I wanted to be. So I made one final call to Talent Relations and said, ‘Look, I’m going to sign this deal with TNA if I don’t hear back from you.’ It was a Sunday, and I said I’d sign it in the morning.

Fifteen minutes later, he called me back and said, ‘Hey kid, let me talk to my people.’ … Then he called back and said they were going to give me an opportunity. I didn’t care how much the money was. I just wanted the chance. I turned down at least triple the money to go somewhere else. I knew this was where I could make my way.