On Raw last night (Oct. 29), Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose delivered an excellent follow-up to Ambrose’s shocking assault of Rollins at the close of the Oct. 22 episode.
My colleagues Alex Briggs and Tommy Messano have already heaped praise on the segment, which saw Seth demanded an explanation from Dean for an attack which came hours after their Shield brother Roman Reigns announced the return of his leukemia and moments after the captured the tag team titles.
The title of WWE’s YouTube clip for the scene, which uses a line the Architect delivers to his friend-turned-rival also got me thinking. And it also ties into a few thoughts Rollins dropped earlier in his promo...
“... if I’m being honest, that makes me feel a little guilty. Because I’ve been wondering all week if maybe that wasn’t my fault. You know, maybe what I did four years ago, Ambrose just couldn’t forgive that. Maybe he held that inside, maybe he let it fester and maybe he lashed out. Maybe it was a wrong place, wrong time, wrong person situation - I don’t know. I feel frustrated, I feel confused, and the only person who has the answers is Dean Ambrose.
The problem with that is, Dean Ambrose is the kind of guy that if he doesn’t want to be found, he’s not gonna be found. So I didn’t call, I didn’t text because one thing I did know for sure was that I could find Dean Ambrose here tonight. So Ambrose I am asking you as a friend, as a brother, come on out here and tell us why. You wanted the spotlight, Dean. It’s all yours. Come down here and have it.”
It’s when the don’t-call-him-a-Lunatic appears that we get to Seth’s vow. See, Ambrose isn’t going to provide the answers Rollins wants. And that drives the Kingslayer crazy...
“You know what man? You really are a cold-hearted bastard. On the most emotional night in the history of The Shield you spat on us, on everything we stand for. A night when Roman leaves to battle leukemia and you make it all about you. Somehow, some way- you make it all about you, Ambrose! You know what? You want the spotlight? You want it so bad, you sick, selfish son of a - I swear - you want it so bad? Well you got it. Because I am fixed on you for as long as I live, and I am gonna make your life a living hell!”
Setting aside for now that Seth is accusing Dean of making this all about him MOMENTS AFTER HE MADE THIS ALL ABOUT HIMSELF - mostly because I don’t want to get into another Becky/Charlotte debate, and because hopefully we can all agree that even if Rollins is more than a little full of himself, Ambrose is the bad guy here. A relateable bad guy, sure, but if you didn’t want to see them celebrate instead of fight last Monday, your heart is as cold as Dean’s.
Anyway... while the Intercontinental champ is promising to make Ambrose’s life hell, it appears Dean has actually figured out how to torture Seth. Not simply by betraying him, or reminding him of his own treachery from 2014. But by not giving him the satisfaction of knowing to what extent his own actions contributed to their current circumstances.
Either a villainous speech full of moustache-twirling or an emo one about a broken heart give Rollins, and us, some closure. Silently lurking in the shadows like a passive aggressive crow Sting? That’s torture.
And a helping of revenge served very, very cold.
Will WWE stick with this for any length of time, or rush things along with an Ambrose promo next Monday? Probably the latter. But at least for a few more days, Seth is a prisoner of his own imagination. And Dean is making his life a living hell.