Article Credit: Sportingnews.com
Writer: By Brian Fritz @BrianFritz from the “Between The Ropes” Podcast

No one ever wants to suffer an injury, especially one as big as the one Seth Rollins experienced in November 2015. He was on a roll at the time and arguably the biggest heel in the WWE. Rollins was riding high. Then during an overseas match with Kane, his momentum came to a halt as he tore the ACL, MCL and medial meniscus in his knee. It would be more than seven months before “The Architect” returned to the ring.

Sporting News spoke with Rollins about being in his first feature film, fighting Anne Heche, recovering from his knee injury during filming, becoming a good guy in WWE, and getting the cover of the upcoming WWE 2K18 video game. “Armed Response” will be available on digital download and limited theatrical release beginning on Friday, August 4.

SPORTING NEWS: How was the movie making experience for “Armed Response” for you overall seeing this is the first feature film you’ve done?
SETH ROLLINS: Yeah, this is the first one. It was cool. Honestly, it was a good experience. I had no idea what it was going to be like going in. I had no preconceptions or anything like that. I was going in with an open mind and it was a lot different than what I’m used to doing live shows all the time. It was super-interesting and a fun experience, a learning experience for me.

SN: How would you explain this movie is someone asked you? Is it a horror movie, it is a thriller?
SR: I’d call it more of a suspense-thriller. There are some elements of action and horror but that’s not the predominant theme. It’s more of a suspense thriller, a whodunit trying to figure out how the other Special Forces team was supposed to be manning this outpost and have gone missing. There’s a lot of elements of who, what, when, where, stuff like that.
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Seth Rollins is used to the instant feedback that comes from a live WWE audience. His music hits and he knows what the fans think. He executes a move and he knows whether the fans like it or not. That is among the things that makes Rollins’ feature film debut so unique in Armed Response, which comes out Friday in theaters in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Phoenix and video-on-demand platforms.

Rollins filmed the movie in late 2016 when he was still sidelined after knee surgery in November 2015. He’s been waiting months to see how the fans will react. “Something like this was a lot different than what I’m used to,” he told For The Win. “There’s no audience watching you with a boo or a yeah whenever something bad or good happens. I’m very curious to see what our fanbase is going to think of it and what the response will be overall to my performance.
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Article Credit: Ign.com, Follow them on Twitter: @IGN
Writer Credit: By Matt Fowler (Writer at IGN & member of the Television Critics Association.
Twitter at @TheMattFowler & Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBFowler

Before WWE Superstar Seth Rollins heads into SummerSlam on Sunday, August 20th, you can watch him suit up for some spooky action in Armed Response – a new paranormal thriller from WWE and KISS legend Gene Simmons that opens in theaters and On Demand on Friday, August 4th. Starring Wesley Snipes, Anne Heche, Dave Annable, and Simmons himself in a cameo role, Armed Response follows a team of special forces soldiers as they investigate an artificial intelligence gone wrong inside a secret high-tech facility known as The Temple.

Rollins, in his very first movie roll, stars as one of the most brutal members of Snipes’ highly-skilled black ops unit and as the mystery deepens and the danger rises, Rollins’ Bret starts to become more and more unhinged. I had the pleasure of speaking to Rollins about his first foray into film and what it was like to go toe-to-toe with…Anne Heche.

IGN: When did you film Armed Response?
Seth Rollins: It was all shot in April of 2016, I want to say.

IGN: Yeah, you looked pretty mobile and I was wondering how it coincided with your knee injury.
Rollins: I was right at the end of my rehab period. So I got hurt and had surgery in November of 2015 so this was probably five months or so out from that. I was at the very end of my rehab so I was moving around pretty well, though I still had a ways to go before I was ring ready, but I was certainly silver screen ready.
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Dean Ambrose Interview Backstage
Seth’s search for camaraderie appears to have run into a significant roadblock, as he tries to no avail to win over Ambrose’s trust. In an interview backstage Dean talks about last week feeling like old times, with he and Seth clearing house. While that felt good and while part of Ambrose wants the duo to reunite, he says it’s not going to happen. When Seth arrives on the scene of the interview, confirming that he felt good about their teamwork last week as well, Dean sternly tells him he has been burned by Seth in the past and it will not happen again. A dejected looking Seth is left to wonder what more he must do to win back his brother.

Following his brief encounter with Dean Ambrose we see Seth wandering the backstage area looking sullen. He runs into the WWE Tag Champion’s Cesaro & Sheamus. The Champion’s launch into a discussion with Seth on why they have risen to the top of the tag team division (despite not liking each other at first), and they scold Seth for throwing all of that away the first time he stabbed Dean in the bank. They joke that Seth should have his own WWE Network show like Ride Along, called “Ride Alone.” Seth chuckles slightly at first, but its clear he is in no mood for people poking fun at him. He angrily shouts at them that if they want to pick a fight “LETS FIGHT THEN.” He challenges one of the two to a match tonight and Sheamus takes up the challenge as the Tag Team Champion’s stalk off down the hall.

Sheamus and Seth’s match was a brief but eventful one following the finish. Seth found himself on the receiving end of Sheamus’s brute force early on in the contest, but he shook it off to try and inflict some of his own punishment. He tries his signature diving leap, which quickly goes wrong and he ends up hung up in the ropes, then slammed into the barricade before the commercial break. Following the break Seth is up on the top rope, but once again to no avail. He trades fists with Sheamus, losing his wrist wraps in the process, and hits him with a massive enziguri that knocks Sheamus out of the ring. Seth follows on the attack and throws him back in the ring. The two trade a series of moves in which Seth ends up with the quick rollup for the pinfall! His victory celebration doesn’t even get started though as Cesaro jumps in on the attack. The two assault Rollins who tries to fight back, but gets overpowered with a massive double team. He is unable to get up and lays clutching his ribs painfully. As the tag team champions are about to leave, laughing about their carnage, Dean Ambrose runs to the ring. Dean tries to lay some punishment on the duo, but ends up falling to the same fate as Rollins.

Seth Rollins meets Dean Ambrose in the Locker Room
After the match, we see Seth and Dean in the locker room area, Seth owes Dean a thank you, but Dean interrupts saying he did not come down to the ring to save Seth. A confused Rollins is left in the dark about Dean’s real intentions and presses him for more information. Dean tells Seth that “he’s always the architect, and he knows all along what Seth’s little plan was. He speculates that Seth launched into a two on one fight so that once he was overpowered, Dean would have to come out and make the save (or risk looking like a terrible person and the bad guy). Seth shakes his head and rubs his face, seemingly speechless as this was not his intention whatsoever. Dean scolds Seth and questions him “if it was you, would you save me?” in so many words, and walks off. Seth is once again left standing with a sullen look on his face, wondering when and if his former brother and he will ever be on the same page.

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