Week 3 of this 52-week project should be an interesting one given the presence of Saturday’s premium live event, Backlash. Given this is the place of one-on-one showdowns, it offers the chance for narrative escalation, climax and resolution. Seth Rollins has 3 separate show appearances this week, so before I get into that, I want to start with the returning Jade Cargill.
Credit: WWE
Cargill – Smackdown
In previous weeks, I speculated that Cargill’s absence post-WrestleMania allowed the audience space to speculate upon Cargill’s state of mind, and the absence may signal Cargill’s introspection in regard to her professional successes and failures, shame, and her moral standpoint.
Cargill returns with allies Michin and B-Fab to interfere during a six-woman tag team match. She appears in the corner of the screen, from the crowd, emphasising the element of surprise. Instantly, she attacks her babyface WrestleMania opponent Rhea Ripley. This appears to signal jealousy, bitterness, over introspection or respect.
After the finish of the match, Cargill directs her allies in beating down Ripley’s partners, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair. This can be seen as a reclamation of power. She oscillates between happiness and anger when Ripley mounts a brief comeback. Often the camera shot is low, which emphasises Cargill’s physical dominance – more than once she stands over or on top of her opponent, posing, which again, demonstrates power and superiority. The framing of the final shot is again a low camera angle, with the fallen bodies of Cargill’s enemies in the foreground, while her allies are crouched by her side. The focus is on Cargill, her power, her physical condition and dominance. The audience is clearly instructed that Cargill has experienced no moral shift, or increase in vulnerability.
Credit: Pro Wrestling MMA News / WWE
Rollins
This is a busy week for Rollins, so I will briefly examine his two segments on Raw, before examining in more depth his mid-week online sit-down interview with commentator Michael Cole, and a climax of his narrative arc with antagonist Bron Breakker, at premium live event Backlash; the reason being, I feel these two appearances interrogate Rollins’ character in more depth.
Raw:
Opening the show, there is a brief confrontation between Rollins and his former friend Roman Reigns, which again reminds the audience of Rollins’ past betrayals. On Rollins opening the show again, which he does on Monday Night Raw, and also at Backlash, this signals Rollins’ status as a character. Also, it limits the juxtaposition that can take place with Rollins’ segment (something can follow, not precede. Rollins sets the tone of the show, and he leads not follows.
What we see is a reversal of Rollins’ attack on Breakker a few weeks back – here the low camera angle allows the audience’s dramatic irony, they notice Breakker before Rollins does. During this sneak-attack, Rollins performance of pain is more confused, discombobulated, than brave and persevering. Again, the duality of individualism vs teamwork is heavily pushed by the commentators. The thrust of the narrative is that Rollins is “a man without a country” and only has himself to blame.
This continues in Rollins’ second appearance of the show, where re-emerging bedraggled and deranged, he attempts to enact revenge on Breakker at ringside. Again, he proves physically inferior to Breakker. This time, it is the segment’s juxtaposition with an appearance by the long-term group the Judgment Day that promotes the aforementioned themes, as Liv Morgan declares, “families help each other win”.
Sit-down interview with Michael Cole:
While the focus on Raw has been on the action-based, physical elements of Rollins’ character, this sit-down interview uses the confessional mode to interrogate Rollins’ inner self.
Cole and Rollins are sitting facing each other in a changing room, the light is low, and the medium camera angle places confessor (Cole) and confessant (Rollins) as equal status. The comparison with a confession box is clear.
Rollins speaks in a more measured manner, not seeking conflict with the interviewer. A performance layer is stripped away as he shows a willingness to reveal his inner self, towards introspection. He does this firstly via a sporting narrative of injury, age, condition, execution and preparation, then offers deeper access to his character. In his former alliance with enemy Breakker, he confesses insecurity, a distrust of his peers, and selfish motives (self-protection). Repeatedly he uses the verb ‘to feel’ to clearly indicate his introspection, directly identifying the emotions, sadness, guilt and anger.
What’s interesting in this segment is that Rollins does acknowledge the confessional ritual: introspection, confession, guilt and shame, which may lead to the confessor’s (Cole’s) granting of forgiveness and redemption. However, while Rollins is looking to overcome adversity, and for self-improvement, he only partly acknowledges the role of the confessor (Cole, or more likely, the audience). The message here is a little confused, but he claims he’s seeking this redemption story mainly for himself. Perhaps we could read into this, the prevalence of neoliberal values of self-sufficiency, ruthlessness, ascension over religious values.
Backlash:
So, what tone do we, the audience, read into Backlash’s mini-climax of this Rollins character arc? Firstly, there’s Rollins’ presentation. He appears in all black – as has become typical since his babyface turn, to signal perhaps a more focused, serious mindset – with a gas mask and gothic jacket, invoking steam punk. This could relate to steam punk’s tendency to present alternative history (Rollins as babyface despite his history of treachery), or seeking to blend Rollins with technology, machinery, suggesting that, with his recently repaired body, he is ascending above man.
Rollins starts the match at a quick match, which compares with his tendency to break the fourth wall in that the audience is instructed the Rollins character stands for excitement and action. The idea of perseverance and bravery is repeated throughout the match, along with Rollins as an innovative competitor. Despite the commentators generally dialling down the friendship versus individualism duality, the bout leaves us on this note: Rollins has the wisdom and intelligence to pre-empt an attack by Breakker’s friends, but ultimately this distracts his focus, leading to Breakker securing the victory.
With this defeat, the character arc of Rollins, it seems, is leading away from individualism, towards an embracing of deep relationships, which will allow Rollins to be the man and competitor he wishes to be.
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