Seth Rollins reveals that he was almost fired by Triple H at the start of his WWE career

I had that conversation with Triple H. I was sitting at Full Sail University — which is like a technological institute to arts and sciences type thing in Orlando. We taped our early episodes of NXT there. They were a great partner for us. There was a little auditorium. I remember sitting in the back, and he was like, ‘Hey, I don’t care how good you are. You’re being difficult with this guy. This guy thinks you’re difficult.’

[Who was it?] Terry Taylor. He and I butted heads quite a bit when he got down to Florida. Triple H didn’t appreciate it, and my attitude wasn’t appreciated. It was like, ‘if one more negative report comes back, we will fire you.’

I was like, ‘what am I doing here? What am I wasting my time for? This is nonsense. I can go do — I can go make more money elsewhere. I can go make a living.’ I was close.

I had a mentor down in Florida named Joey Mercury. He wrestled for WWE in the 2000s or so. He was one of the guys who talked me down and said, ‘Listen, just do this and good things will happen. Play the game.’

I had this feeling like I was betraying my authentic self. I had this sense that if I acquiesced to their wants and needs, I was somehow betraying my authentic self — selling out.

He painted it completely different for me. He was like, ‘Dude, when you go out to the ring, you’re not yourself. You play a character, right? It’s the same thing when you’re talking with these people. You’re playing a character.’

‘When you go home and you’re with your girlfriend and your dog, you’re still you. You’re still the same person. It’s all — it’s an act. It’s all an act. You’re always playing the game.’

And when I kind of framed it that way, it was much easier for me to be like, ‘Oh, okay. I can do that.’

And it worked.”