The Rich Eisen Show Top 5: Seth Rollins’ Favorite WWE SummerSlam Matches

Seth Rollins gave himself a nickname before he gave the show a list, and he did not blink doing it.

"I would call myself Mr. SummerSlam as a matter of fact," Rollins said. "I would argue that anybody of any generation has had a better SummerSlam than me. Like better moments stacked up over time."

Then he backed it up with a top five.

5. Dominik Mysterio, 2020. The pandemic-era show, no fans, images filling the background. Rollins was wrestling the younger Mysterio in his first match on a huge pay-per-view, and the meaning ran through the family. Rey Mysterio is someone Rollins has looked up to his entire career, going back to watching him as WCW cruiserweight champion and then his WWE debut at SummerSlam against Kurt Angle, which Rollins called one of the greatest debuts of all time. Rollins wrestled that night in Rey's gear from a Halloween Havoc match against Eddie Guerrero.

4. Finn Bálor, 2023. Really a two-parter. In 2016 the two met at SummerSlam for the inaugural Universal Championship, the old big red belt, and Rollins lost. Bálor also suffered a shoulder injury on a powerbomb into the guardrail during that match, and neither man felt they got the match they wanted. The 2023 rematch, with the World Heavyweight Championship on the line, was redemption for both.

"Great match, great opponent, Finn Bálor, one of the very best to do it," Rollins said.

3. Brock Lesnar, 2019. Main event, Toronto, Universal Championship. Rollins had beaten Lesnar earlier that year at WrestleMania, then Lesnar won Money in the Bank and cashed in, so the roles were reversed going in.

"He is one of, if not the craziest athletes I've ever been in the ring with in my entire life," Rollins said, admitting that sometimes those matches are not what you want them to be. This one was.

"The SummerSlam match against Brock Lesnar was a quintessential David versus Goliath underdog story," he said. "I was so proud of the way that one turned out."

2. John Cena, 2015. Winner take all in Brooklyn, Rollins as WWE Champion, Cena as US Champion, both titles on the table. With a little help from Jon Stewart, Rollins walked out with both, wearing the white gear that is currently on display at the Minneapolis airport. He held them for maybe a month or two.

"Obviously, working with the greatest of all time, John Cena. SummerSlam main event. Really special," Rollins said.

1. The ruse, 2025. Rollins was not even booked. He was on the shelf with a knee injury nobody could quite diagnose, right up until he shed the crutches, sprinted down, hit CM Punk in the face with the black and gold briefcase, stomped his head into the mat and cashed in for the world heavyweight championship.

"The greatest cash in of all time at WrestleMania was the second greatest cash in of all time at SummerSlam," Rollins said. "So I am one for two in the books for great cash ins."

The Cena entry sent the conversation somewhere unexpected. Rollins built a rapport with Stewart on The Daily Show during that run, and a decade later he sounded genuinely startled by it.

"I have gotten to do so many amazing things being a professional wrestler in WWE that I have forgot about being on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," he said. "That's craziness."

The kid from Buffalo, Iowa, a town he pegged at about 900 people and Chris corrected to 1,176 in the 2020 census, spent that morning doing two hours on Good Morning Football and three more in this chair. As the desk pointed out, Macho Man Randy Savage never did that. Neither did Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold or The Rock.

"I have the privilege of sitting in the Rich chair," Rollins said. "It's not lost on me."