Seth Rollins on the use of celebrities in WWE: "The key is to do it in small doses"

WWE has been using celebrities in its television programming for a long time. However, it used to be sporadic appearances, something that has completely changed in recent years. The new era of WWE has exponentially increased these appearances, even bringing singers and YouTubers like Bad Bunny, Jelly Roll, Logan Paul, and IShowSpeed directly into the ring.

This new business model has helped WWE reach a wider audience, but it has also been the subject of criticism from the professional wrestling community. This was a topic that Seth Rollins was asked about in a recent appearance on Unsportsmanlike.

"Well, I'm the Bad Bunny of sports broadcasts. That's how I feel. I grew up watching SportsCenter. So Stu Scott, Rich Eisen, and Dan Patrick are my references. Being behind a desk with NFL Network, ESPN, and Good Morning Football all the time... I'm sure there are former players or commentators out there thinking, 'what is this guy doing here?'. In the same way, sometimes fans look at ours and say, 'what is Speed doing?'. But in the end, they are fans of what we do. They just love it," he said.

"Bad Bunny is... and I've had this conversation with him before. I told him, 'Brother, you don't understand how huge it is that Bad Bunny is wrestling in WWE'. Bad Bunny is the Michael Jackson of this generation. He fills concerts and stadiums around the world. We're talking about almost hundreds of thousands of people at those shows, and yet he comes to wrestle for WWE," he explained.

"He is willing to put in the effort for real. He doesn't just show up on the day of the event saying, 'I can do this'. He says, 'okay, I need a ring, I have to train, send someone here'. We have producers and talent who travel to work with him and teach him how to do these things so he can put on a great performance. The same goes for Speed," he stated.

"The other day I was on a plane from Los Angeles to somewhere, I don't even remember. It was before WrestleMania. Speed and his team were with me on that overnight flight. Speed was right next to me and we were traveling because he had to prepare to participate in a match at WrestleMania," he said.

Is there room in WWE for celebrities?

"It doesn't bother me. I think there has to be balance in our industry. You don't want to see me behind the commentator's table for too long. I can't be Kevin Harlan. I'm not like that. I'm not Tom Brady either. I don't have that experience, but a little bit every now and then is fine. I think the same goes for wrestling.

There was a lot of negative reaction when Pat McAfee arrived. It was like, 'they're putting him in a WrestleMania main storyline that already had 20 years of history with Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton'. And our audience was thinking, 'eh... maybe not'. But when Pat was commentating for us, he did a great job. He also had some matches here and there. He had one in NXT that was incredible. He worked with Gunther and they had a fantastic match.

The key is to do it in small doses. So Speed, Bad Bunny... in small doses are great for our industry. It allows us to reach different people and different audiences so they can discover what we do," he concluded.