By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

Seth Rollins, who main-events the TLC PPV against John Cena on Sunday, offered a candid assessment of several key WWE topics in an on-camera interview Friday in Cleveland. Included was Rollins discussing WWE's current roster, Vince McMahon's "millennials" comment, C.M. Punk in UFC, and Brock Lesnar as WWE World Hvt. champion in an interview with CBS Cleveland reporter Chris Van Vliet.

-- ON VINCE MCMAHON'S "MILLENIALS LACKING AMBITION" COMMENT: "You know, Vince was very kind to mention my name after he made that comment. But, at the same time, to me, that really lit a fire under me. I don't like hearing that. Even though I appreciate the fact that he did kind of separate a few of us from the pack when talking about that situation, you have to understand how badly I do want it. And how ambitious I have been my entire life just getting to this point."

Rollins noted "here I am main-eventing with John Cena at TLC," as proof that he's doing something right. "I know what Vince was doing. I understand what he was saying. Do I agree with it? Not so much," Rollins said.

-- ON C.M. PUNK LEAVING WWE & HEADING TO UFC: "Punk is a goal-oriented kind of a guy," Rollins said. "Punk was fixated on main-eventing a WrestleMania." Rollins noted he is also goal-oriented, like Punk, but he's not worried about whether or not he main-events WrestleMania one day. "I want to leave a legacy that I can be proud of," he said. "I want to be able to say that I left the business in a better place than when I found it."

As for Punk heading to UFC, Rollins said that if Punk is "in love with something, he'll go after it 100 percent." He noted Punk's lack of experience won't sit pretty with a lot of UFC fighters, but everyone recognizes that Punk is a draw. "As far as how well he’s going to fair, I can’t make any predictions. I'm not one to doubt the guy, but he might end up in a chokehold he regrets."

-- ON WWE LACKING LONG-TERM PLANNING: "Planning for the future is nice, and not to say things are done on a whim, but I mean they just have to be sometimes. You can't account for how the fans are going to be six months from now or how well I'm going to do with the briefcase in the spot that I'm in," Rollins said. He said he's fortunate to have the opportunity holding the MITB briefcase, because it shows WWE has big plans for him. "I'm waiting for The Champ to show back up and we'll see what happens then," Rollins said.

As for the status of the champ, Brock Lesnar, Rollins said it's "weird to not have a champion there, but it makes those few hours that he is with us all the more exciting." Rollins noted that Lesnar is in different situation with the schedule, but he's just going to focus on what he's doing being at every WWE show and not worry about what Lesnar is up to.

-- ON THE GROWTH OF NXT: Rollins said he's even more proud to be the first-ever NXT champion with each passing NXT special considering he started off in WWE Developmental when it was FCW and "so detached" from WWE. Rollins said he's "blown away" by what NXT has become since Triple H took over.

-- ON THE NEXT CALL-UPS: Rollins said that Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, and The Ascension are ready to go. Plus, he wants to see Hideo Itami and Finn Balor in WWE. He also endorsed C.J. Parker, who he called under-rated because the Full Sail audience can't stand him.

-- ON THE CURB STOMP: Rollins credited Japanese star Naomichi Marufuji for introducing him to his WWE finisher. Rollins noted he was on the receiving end of plenty of curb stomps from Marufuji while in Ring of Honor, so he inherited it.

Rollins also talked briefly about his indies career pre-WWE, wrestling in ROH, Sting debuting in WWE, and other topics.



[ Video URL: http://youtu.be/p7UU0Huug2A ]

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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