SETH ROLLINS has hit back at his former Shield brother Dean Ambrose’s criticism as he launched a passionate defence of WWE.
Ambrose quit Vince McMahon’s company last month and caused a stir by debuting as his Jon Moxley character at rival promotion All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing.
Since then Moxley, who has since won New Japan Pro Wrestling’s IWGP United States Championship, has blasted WWE’s creative process while explained the reasons behind allowing his deal to expire in an explosive podcast with Chris Jericho.
But Universal Champion Rollins is refusing to sit back and allow the WWE bashing to continue as he hit back at his friend’s comments.
‘TOOK HIS BALL AND WENT’
Speaking to Sports Illustrated Media, the 33-year-old said: “Ambrose can do what he wants. He’s a big boy, he’s got his big boy pants on.
“He can go out there and say whatever he wants, but the bottom line is not everybody’s equipped to handle the rigours of WWE and the schedule and how it affects you mentally and emotionally.
“Ambrose gave everything he had to the company for the entire time he was here. He put his heart and soul into the travel, into the schedule, into the injuries, into the work in the ring and all that stuff.
“But at the end of the day, he took his ball and he went home, or he went elsewhere at least.
“And I think it’s a little presumptuous of him to get on a podcast and talk down about the company that gave him such an opportunity.
“And like I said, I love the guy, I love him, I’ll always love him, but at the end of the day, we just share different perspectives about what we want out of life and about where we’re at in our own lives.”
‘LOOK IN THE MIRROR’
Rollins continued: “I hope that he does well. I’ve kept enough tabs on him to know that he’s doing super well for himself right now and I’m happy for that, but I just don’t think there’s any reason to hop on a soapbox and complain after the fact.
“You need to take the first step, and that’s looking in the mirror and asking yourself did you do every single thing you possibly could to make yourself and your situation what you want it to be, and if the answer is yes you did, then you can go elsewhere and complain.
“If that’s where he’s at mentally then go right ahead, but if he hasn’t done that, he hasn’t looked in the mirror and made that decision, then maybe he should think about that.
“That goes for any other disgruntled talent past or present.”
Rollins has been very vocal on Twitter over recent days as he launched a backlash against a number of people tearing into WWE aside from Ambrose.
And he told SI he was unable to bite his tongue any longer after the vicious attacks on his workplace.
He said: “You can only sit back and read people bashing something you love for so long and sit there and take it and try to take the high road, so to speak.
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“I’m real proud of what I do every single week, not just Mondays, but every single Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, really. I’m real proud of what I do and what our crew does and the effort they put forward.
“I’m not just talking about the wrestlers, the guys and girls who you see out in the ring, I’m talking about everybody, from creative all the way up to Vince McMahon.
“We put a ton of effort into making a product that I think it pretty darn good considering the amount of content we put out there.
“The fact that people wanna sit on their little soapboxes and their little stupid social media machines and talk down about it really speaks volumes about the generation and where they’re at and so I figured if somebody’s is gonna fight back, it might as well be me since I’m the champ and I consider myself the top guy in our company.”