Kyle Brandt Details Idea Behind Work With Seth Rollins, Getting Threats From Fans

Seth Rollins has been appearing on “Good Morning Football” for months, giving his thoughts and opinions on all the news around the NFL.

Ahead of the NFL Draft, Rollins was once again on set, when he got into an argument with co-host Kyle Brandt that led to Rollins leaving the set. The next day, it was revealed to be a work.

Speaking to Jimmy Traina of the SI Media pod, Brandt explained how it all came together.

“I’ve worked with Seth for over a year and consider him a friend in the industry. Love him. Loved him before I met him. I knew it was going to be he and I at the Draft, just alone at the desk. It’s me and a pro wrestler at the Draft. We have to bring something better than ‘Where is Sonny Styles going to land on Thursday?’ We have to put on some kind of show. I like the old WWF. I like the heels. I text Seth, ‘Can we do a work? I’ve always wanted to do that. It’s a fantasy of mine.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, do you have an idea?’ Seth is up for anything. I started piecing it together and saw we were going to be talking about (Aaron) Rodgers. Seth famously hates Rodgers. There was this question about Seth doing WrestleMania where he’s almsot 40 and Rodgers playing this year and he’s 42, which one is more difficult? I was like, ‘This is it.’ Seth and I are texting and I’m like, ‘I’ll push you. I think you should walk off.’ ‘Great.’ We tell very few people. We told the producer of Good Morning Football so he doesn’t hit a panic button and I texted a few bosses, a boss at ESPN, a new boss, and a boss at NFL Network. Seth let a few people know,” he said.

Brandt then recalled the segment and how he was egging Seth on and poking at him before Seth finally snapped.

“I was prepared for a fight. A back-and-forth screaming match, one-upmanship, you insult me, I insult you. I had a full magazine of ammunition to fire at him. Seth played it differently than I anticipated. We didn’t talk through it that much and we didn’t rehearse. I started hitting Seth with my heavy artillery, and he played it like he was disappointed and hurt. I just kept using all my stuff. ‘You’re a night one guy. Becky can actually win.’ Seth just walked off. He leaves and throws a towel at my face, which was a complete adlib, which was awesome, and it was perfect. He leaves, we go to a commercial, and it’s disarray. There are people on set who don’t know. There are people who are in charge of Seth’s transportation who didn’t know where he went. I have to start the next segment. Jamie (Erdahl) and Manti (Teʻo) are shook,” he said.

He continued, “Over the next 24 hours, it was very strange. I don’t regret it at all, but I didn’t think I was going to be that much of a heel. I thought it was going to go ‘Seth and Kyle have a fight. Seth leaves.’ It was, ‘Kyle bullies Seth off the set and goes way below the belt and insults him until he leaves. Kyle is a prick.’ It was everyone. The wrestling fans went nuts. I had many threats of physical violence in my mentions. All that stuff, which now I can laugh about. I had industry people being like, ‘What was that? What did he do to you?’ There was disappointment in how rude I was to Seth. The problem was, we committed to 24 hours. The other funny thing is Seth and I had to go to some of the same engagements throughout that day, including the Draft. We couldn’t be around each other. I was even thinking, ‘Do I go and throw a drink in Seth’s face? Do we escalate it?’ We just left it where it was. The next day, we do the dramatic hug and that was it. It was one of the weirdest 24 hours of my career because everyone was so mad at me.” 

Brandt confirmed that there was zero direction from ESPN, TKO, or WWE despite the working relationship between WWE and ESPN.

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