Seth Rollins Isn't Just Licking the Boot; It's His Whole Damn Meal

Pictured: Sycophant
Photo Credit: WWE.com

So, in case you aren't sick of hearing about the WWE/Saudi Arabia story, well, it has metastasized into yet another example of WWE's war on anyone who dares say anything cross about them, mainly directed at Dave Meltzer. I know Meltzer can be full of shit at times, and you all know I'm strident in calling him out when he needs to be called out, mainly for his weak-willed defense of Michael Elgin when one of his students was accused of raping someone that he himself was in an abusive, extramarital relationship with as well. That being said, whenever WWE turns its Guardian-like gaze towards Meltzer, it's rarely if ever justified. That again is the case with the company's, mainly its bootlicking mouthpiece and two-time former Universal Champion Rollins', response to the hostage situation that was the roster's departure from Saudi Arabia.

Part of WWE's rapid response to being confirmed as severely co-opted Saudi operatives was to have Rollins give a locker room speech to the wrestlers to assuage their concerns that their bosses may have acquiesced to the House of Saud after that Royal Family kept them in the country long enough to miss Smackdown. Several outlets reported that the speech happened, and Meltzer was not the first one to pick up on it. However, do you wanna know how many people Seth Rollins lashed out at on Twitter? Yeah...

And lastly, @davemeltzerWON, you’re at best a purveyor of misinformation or at worst an outright, vindictive liar. I hope it’s the former. #rahrah

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) November 5, 2019

Meltzer is a lot of things, but to his credit, whether or not he's being worked by a source or if "plans change," he's not a liar. He's a journalist. He went with his sources and reported something totally innocuous in the grand scheme of things. Being the weasel who acts as the intermediary between the roster who got fucked over and the genocidal regime doing the fucking or the management that allowed the fucking to happen is about 50 levels lower on the scumbag scale. However, when you're as touchy as Rollins is, much like the people for whom he's a mouthpiece, any perceived leak in the cone of silence cannot stand, which why he doubled down on it...

No Dave, my problem is that you’re spreading complete lies. I gave no speech. I said nothing before, during or after the meeting. So either you or your source is full of it. Either way, it’s a bold faced lie and I kindly ask you to quit pushing it. https://t.co/1G2umltIqm

— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) November 5, 2019

This is how Meltzer replied, by the by...

Very sorry on this. I don't want to spread misinformation.

— Dave Meltzer (@davemeltzerWON) November 5, 2019

You could say that's capitulation or admittance of wrongs. However, many of the things that Meltzer is do not include "meek" or "apologetic." Again, he didn't run with something he just heard about offhand. He's not Brad Shepard. He never runs with anything unless he's gotten assurances from his sources that this was the case, and the number of other people who reported it corroborated it. If anything, this move is to protect his sources. If he pushed the issue, Rollins might turn inward and start looking for the person leaking to Meltzer, who somehow is public enemy number one in WWE despite the number of subscriptions he has to his newsletter being dwarfed in number to the amount of people who are just CANCELLING WWE Network by the month. It's punching down by the biggest entity in the business on someone just following his leads and trusting his sources.

The apologetic exchange between Rollins and Meltzer does not mean that speech didn't happen. Once again, WWE has lied continually about this situation all the way through, insisting that mechanical issues grounded the plane and that there were no issues between Vince McMahon and the House of Saud. On the record, it didn't happen, but wrestling's foundation in kayfabe subterfuge means that even more than any field excepting politics, you can't trust what you see in public.

And if anything is to be gleaned from this exchange, it's that WWE isn't afraid of looking like complete jackasses in order to maintain its narratives. Rollins in particular has now come out looking worse for wear in Twitter beefs with both Meltzer AND Will Ospreay, two people who are, in a word, woeful at using the app. He's put knives out against Jon Moxley for no reason than he had to leave a company that was making him depressed. All of this is in service to mollifying his company's reputation, and it's failing.

However, in the mind of the bootlicker, no situation where they lick the boot is ever bad because they are serving their corporate overlords. One can expect that if someone is working for WWE that they won't badmouth it even when it's deserved, but caping for it at all times is a bad look. Then you have what Rollins is doing, and it's totally changing the game of obsequious behavior. AT least he's an innovator in one field, I guess.