As the old saying goes, fool someone once, shame on you; fool them twice, however, and it's shame on them. In an attempt to not be embarrassed by WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins once more, WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray and some of WWE's own staff are proceeding with caution when it comes to the shoulder injury he reportedly sustained at WWE Crown Jewel. On "Busted Open Radio," Ray expanded upon his uncertainty, pointing back to the knee injury Rollins previously faked in order to propel a shocking Money in the Bank cash-in at WWE SummerSlam.
"As far as the [shoulder] injury is concerned, now we're not sure because the heel has already used an injury to his advantage and pull the wool over everybody's eyes," Ray said. "Is he doing it again? We don't know, but we're going to stick around and we're going to watch because we're not sure."
In further assessing the possibility of Rollins feigning injury for the sake of traction, Ray noted that similar events have already occurred in All Elite Wrestling, courtesy of AEW President Tony Khan. "Tony Khan's big announcements. 'I got a big announcement this week,' and then it's not the announcement we think it's going to be. 'I got a big announcement this week,' and then it's not the announcement we thought. Using the big announcement to lure people in," Ray said."Is Seth Rollins constantly getting injured a way for him to constantly lure people in just to pull the wool over their eyes again? When do we believe him and when don't we believe him? This could be an elaborate work that started with that first worked injury."
Even before Rollins' knee injury was revealed to be a multi-layered ruse, Ray's analytical radar had been buzzing with suspicions, one of them being centered on Rollins' course of action after "hurting" his knee in his match against LA Knight at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on July 12. Instead of halting the match, such as Liv Morgan did upon her shoulder injury on "WWE Raw," Rollins continued to wrestle Knight and eventually got pinned after Knight delivered a BFT.
"Everything that you just said about the looks that Bron Breakker was giving to Seth Rollins before the injury, it's like they're planting the seeds of dissension, then we'll make it look like he's injured," Ray said. "Then he does the spear, but that's a legit spear. Why would Seth Rollins take the legit spear from Bron Breakker? Why would you put yourself in harm's way like that? The same way you put yourself in harm's way by taking LA Knight's finish."
"Seth faked his leg injury, didn't he? And he put himself in harm's way by taking LA Knight's finish," he continued. "Could he be faking his arm injury and put himself in harm's way by taking Bron's just to make it all look good?"
As Ray alluded to, Rollins' latest injury was complemented by a storyline angle that involved him taking a spear from Bron Breakker and Tsunami from Bronson Reed, after which Breakker, Reed, and Paul Heyman stood tall over him to close out "Raw." Earlier in the episode, Rollins asserted that he didn't need anyone to reach the mountain top of WWE, not even The Vision. In the months preceding, dissension was also apparent when Breakker intercepted Rollins' microphone time and issued unamused glances. Still, in the event that Rollins' shoulder injury is once again fake, many pundits, including "Busted Open Radio" co-host Dave LaGreca believe that The Vision's implosion happened far too soon.
In contrast, Bully Ray thinks The Vision's seeming break-up could just be another layer in Rollins' second ruse. "You also thought that Bully Ray was not the leader of the Aces and Eights [in TNA] because he took a f***ing cement block to the head just to throw everybody off the scent," he pointed out. Or even more simply, Ray says it could create an excuse (in storyline) for Rollins to evade a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against the new number one contender, CM Punk, with whom "The Visionary" shares a heated history.
"When you're dealing with the land of make believe, you may make it up as you go along," Ray said. "What story are we going to tell? If he's legitimately hurt, this is a way to get him off TV and to keep Bron and Bronson hot. He's going to take a spear. He's going to take a Tsunami. Why the hell would he put himself in harm's way? Well, he took LA Knight's finish."
Like Ray, some WWE officials are said to still be hesitant to trust the news of Rollins' newest injury, which may result in surgery on his shoulder or rotator cuff. Meanwhile, others are strongly under the belief that it is legitimate, especially given Rollins' drastic change in storyline this week and the unfortunate likelihood that he'd miss big matches against Punk and Roman Reignsby being on the sidelines.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
