Seth Rollins Returns At WWE Extreme Rules 2016, Attacks Roman Reigns

Former world heavyweight champion Seth Rollins made his long-awaited return to WWE programming on Sunday night at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Seth Rollins Returns At WWE Extreme Rules 2016

Following the main event, in which Roman Reigns defeated A.J. Styles to retain his world heavyweight title, Rollins emerged and hit his former Shield partner with a Pedigree, as WWE shared on Twitter:

After defeating Reigns Rollins, who has been out since suffering a serious knee injury during a live event match against Kane in November 2015, slowly raised the belt above his head with the crowd cheering him on.

After everything, Rolling asked a very simple question to fans on Twitter: “Miss me?”

Rollins’ return is especially significant because WWE has recently been lacking star power due to a string of injuries that hit the company before WrestleMania 32.

As first reported by ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman, Rollins tore his ACL, MCL and medial meniscus last November. He was expected to miss six to nine months of action.

Rollins was thus forced to exit the World Heavyweight Championship, and has remained out of sight except for an appearance on the Slammy Awards edition of Raw.

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon suggested during a conference call on May 10 that the former World Heavyweight champion, nicknamed ‘The Architect,’ and some of the company’s other top injured stars were set to return with a month, per PWInsider (via Marc Middleton of WrestlingInc.com).

Rollins had been spotted working out at WWE’s Performance Center in the weeks leading up to that revelation. Wrestler John Cena also gave a shoutout to the former Shield member on Twitter for his perseverance:

With Money in the Bank next up in June, it would certainly be exciting to see Rollins, Styles, and a few other top performers all competing for the chance to get the briefcase that Rollins cashed in so successfully at WrestleMania 31.

In the Women’s Championship of Extreme Rules, Charlotte defeated Natalya via submission to retain her title.

PHOTO: NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 23: Seth Rollins celebrates his victory over John Cena at the WWE SummerSlam 2015 at Barclays Center of Brooklyn on August 23, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images)