From the Rumor Mill: Seth Rollins' original role in Elimination Chamber revealed?
What's the story?
It seems that Seth Rollins doesn't currently have a role to play at Elimination Chamber after he lost his final match for the Tag Team Championships on Raw this past week and Jason Jordan has only recently undergone neck surgery. This leaves Rollins without a storyline heading into the biggest event of the year, but it seems that this wasn't the original plan.
In case you didn't know...
Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan won the Raw Tag Team Championships on Christmas Day after they were partnered together when it was revealed that Rollins' former partner Dean Ambrose would be out of action until the Summer.
Since then the duo has had a number of issues and lost the Championships back to Cesaro and Sheamus at The Royal Rumble after it was revealed that Jordan was struggling with an injury.
Rollins was also eliminated from The Royal Rumble by his friend Roman Reigns, which means that he doesn't have a storyline moving forward now if Jordan isn't cleared for competition before WrestleMania. Last year it was Rollins who may not have been cleared, it seems that he's now on the opposite side of the drama.
The heart of the matter
On the latest instalment of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was revealed that Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan were both originally set to be part of The Elimination Chamber until Jordan's injury became a concern.
"The men’s chamber match also had some changes. The original idea included Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins, who were both pulled, Jordan due to his neck injury and Rollins for whatever reason. It’s likely Rollins was in there to work something with Jordan as from television that looks like the Mania direction.On television, they continued that angle on TV, claiming Jordan had suffered a neck injury in warming up for a match on Raw, and wasn’t medically cleared. Then Angle sent Jordan home, which was a cover story as Jordan had minimally invasive neck surgery on 2/6 for a herniated disc, which has caused strength issues including issues with gripping."
Over the past few weeks WWE has been quite smart with the booking of Jordan which has allowed him to still be part of storylines without actually competing, but now that he has undergone surgery, it could be WrestleMania plans in jeopardy.
"Jordan’s surgery was a posterior cervical microdiscectomy, to decompress the nerve issue that caused the problems. There was no report on a return date but we’re told that Jordan vs. Rollins at WrestleMania is not a dead issue, but it’s far from a certainty."
What's next?
Elimination Chamber is now just weeks away and it seems that Jason Jordan definitely won't be part of the show, but WWE is pushing for him to be able to have a match with Rollins at WrestleMania as long as he is cleared in time.
Author's take
Rollins is not having a lot of luck right now, his storyline with Dean Ambrose was set to head into WrestleMania before his injury and Jordan was then chosen as his replacement as WWE tried to keep the same storyline as with Ambrose, but now his WrestleMania match could be in jeopardy once again.
Rollins missed WrestleMania 32 through injury, it was then up in the air as to whether or not he could compete last year because of a knee injury and this year he could be without a match if Jordan isn't available. Rollins doesn't have a great history when it comes to WrestleMania, if he didn't win the World Championship there for the first time at WrestleMania 31 then it would seem as though he was cursed.