"Thanks for the love" - Seth Rollins reacts to being named wrestler of the year for 2022
Sports Illustrated has released its list of the best wrestlers of 2022, and Seth Rollins has surprisingly made it to the top. The RAW Superstar has now reacted to the award.
Although the Monday Night Messiah has not had a standout year in terms of titles and storylines, he has arguably been WWE's most consistently brilliant in-ring superstar.
Rollins started his year in the world title scene. He was in a fatal-five-way match for the WWE Championship at the Day 1 premium live event and defeated Roman Reigns in a Universal Championship match via DQ at Royal Rumble. His next major rivalry began at WrestleMania 38, where he took on the returning Cody Rhodes in a classic match. Despite losing all three matches to the American Nightmare, the quality of this trilogy was second to none.
The second half of his 2022 revolved around winning and chasing the United States Championship with stellar matches against the likes of Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory.
The former Shield member reacted to the news of him being named Sports Illustrated's Wrestler of the Year on his Instagram story, thanking the fans for their love.
"Thanks for the love. An honor to be a part of this list," he wrote.
@SInow @WWERollins Seth's reaction to the list. 👏👏 https://t.co/D0f2lW0egX
SI tweeted out its Top 10 list on Twitter. After Seth Rollins, the top five are Jon Moxley, RAW Women's Champion Bianca Belair, Roman Reigns, and Will Ospreay. The Undisputed WWE Universal Champion was surprisingly only ranked fourth in the list.
The top 10 are rounded off by AEW Women's Champion Jamie Hayter, AAA's El Hijo Del Vikingo, FTR's Dax Harwood, his tag partner Cash Wheeler, and Impact Wrestling's Masha Slamovich.
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Fan reactions to Seth Rollins being named Sports Illustrated's Wrestler of the Year were understandably mixed
As with any wrestling opinion in modern times, fans were arguing over how "correct" Sports Illustrated's Wrestler of the Year list was.
Many fans disagreed with Seth Rollins topping the list, pointing out that either Roman Reigns, Jon Moxley, or Will Ospreay should have been number one instead.
@SInow @WWERollins Decent list but it should be Roman 1, Bianca 2, Seth 3, Mox 4, Drop El Hijo and Masha and add Jey Uso and Sami Zayn
@SInow @WWERollins How is seth first over Mox or Ospreay
@SInow @WWERollins Weird list
Ospreay killed it this year with banger after banger https://t.co/qJyzRtDJyX
Other fans wondered why their favorite wrestlers didn't make it to the list.
@SInow @WWERollins toni storm got done dirty this year lmaooo
@SInow @WWERollins Where's Speedball? Where's Josh Alexander? The level of disrespect on this list
While some fans discussed who should have ranked where, others simply questioned the list's validity.
@SInow @WWERollins https://t.co/OhjbCndro2
@SInow @WWERollins https://t.co/4Ielm7a0rU
@SInow @WWERollins I don’t know about this list… https://t.co/lDGxUz5Vkd
However, some fans agreed with Seth Rollins being named 2022's Wrestler of the Year.
@SInow @WWERollins This poll is legit. WWE could stand to learn something https://t.co/IPNhoXCkpz
@SInow @WWERollins Exactly. He naturally turned face, is the trusted wrestler to make any feud quality, and has one of the most versatile move sets in the game. And the only one to defeat Roman in 2022.
Who do you think was 2022's best wrestler? Do you agree with SI and say it was Seth Rollins, or do you prefer The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns? Maybe you prefer AEW's Jon Moxley or NJPW's Will Ospreay, or someone entirely different?