SAN FRANCISCO—Seth Rollins is a burgeoning WWE legend and a die-hard Bears fan, and he recognizes some of the storytelling elements that Chicago head coach Ben Johnson has borrowed from WWE.
Whereas previous Bears head coach Matt Eberflus and Packers coach Matt LaFleur seemed buddy-buddy—they were once spotted sitting together at a college basketball game—Johnson came in hot at his introductory press conference. “I kind of enjoyed beating Matt LaFleur twice a year,” Johnson said, referring to his time as offensive coordinator of the Lions before getting the Bears job. Since then, the coaches’ postgame handshakes have been frosty.
“He’s definitely taken a lesson from WWE-land, that’s for sure,” Rollins, a six-time WWE world champion, said of Johnson.
“Bears and Packers fans and players are at each other all the time, so it only feels right to have the coaches at each other,” Rollins told Front Office Sports at Super Bowl week.
“There’s definitely an element [of WWE]. People want to see conflict, and not just who’s going to win the game conflict. If you add personal rivalry to anything, it ups the stakes. In our industry, personal stories and rivalries make everything huge. Titles are great, matches are great, but the interweaving personal conflict between the superstars is what makes our storytelling and our business so fascinating. When you start to see the other sports kind of jump on that bandwagon—Muhammad Ali did the best—a lot of these other guys do it too. They understand it’s how to market, how to sell tickets, how to get people to tune in. The numbers for that Bears-Packers playoff game were pretty good.”
The Bears bested the Packers in the NFC North, and then again in the first round of the playoffs at Soldier Field.
Rollins, who is managed by Bryan Diperstein of Adventure Media, has been appearing more as an NFL analyst. He’s been a guest co-host on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football a number of times, including this week, and he also appeared on Netflix’s Christmas Day coverage.
“I’m kind of dipping my toe more and more in the sports analysis game,” Rollins said. “I’m just happy there’s a market for it and people are interested in hearing my voice. I love football so it’s nice to be able to sit down and talk about it.”
