Seth Rollins On WWE Unreal: 'You Can't Put The Toothpaste Back In The Tube'

"WWE Unreal" has offered a peek behind the curtain for wrestling fans, but those who still firmly believe in 'protecting' the business have not necessarily been happy with how much Paul "Triple H" Levesque has been revealing. Interestingly, one of those with mixed feelings towards the show is Seth Rollins, the centerpiece of the new season, who said he has a "difficult relationship" with "Unreal" during a "Busted Open Radio" appearance.

"I'm younger, I'm under 40 still, but I have a kind of old school mentality, so for me to be pushed to the point of having to really break kayfabe? It hurts me a bit," he said. "It was difficult, but I will say, look, there are some things that I want to protect because I do believe that the gray area in our business is what makes things special, that believability."

Rollins then noted that the one thing he appreciates about "WWE Unreal" isn't aired alongside weekly television — the new season covers events surrounding Rollins' fake knee injury, which was paid off at WWE SummerSlam 2025 — which allows him to still keep some secrets of the business to himself.

"I made that very clear with the producers, I'm like, 'Look, there's going to be moments where I'm going to tell you to shut it down, and if you don't respect that, then we'll walk,'" he recalled.

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'Somebody's going to do it first, it might as well be us'

Rollins, who has has criticized the show in the past, does see the benefit of "Unreal" in terms of teaching people how hard the wrestlers work behind the scenes. Despite this, he admits that there's a reflex to try to protect pro wrestling, and that it's been "a hard lesson to try and unteach decades of that." But he also admits that it's just part of the overall landscape of pro wrestling moving away from kayfabe.

"You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube," he explained. "I feel like it just is what it is, and if you try to push back against it, it's futile, you know what I mean?"

Rollins said that "things just move forward no matter what," and suggested that "Unreal" was going to happen one way or another. "Somebody's going to do it first, it might as well be us. And you have to figure out a way to progress; the business is going to move forward with or without you."

"It's a very interesting time that we're living in," Rollins noted. "The business just has to adapt, and if you can't adapt and move forward, you will get left behind."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

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Read the original article on Wrestling Inc.