Seth Rollins was part of the iconic faction named The Shield while coming to the main roster from NXT. The group dominated the entire WWE for a couple of years before Rollins decided to stab his brothers in the back to go solo.
At that point, he was given a major push in the roster with the Money in the Bank briefcase in hand which later made him the WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 31.
For the entire time-being, he used his finishing manoeuvre, Curb Stomp which was his signature move and quite adjacent to his character. But, it was banned all of sudden after the night he won the title at the grandest stage of them all. There were no definite reasons disclosed, as of why the officials have banned this move made famous by The Architect.
Recently, the current Raw tag team champion opened up on the topic on the Sam Roberts’ wrestling podcast where he revealed that Vince McMahon was the key reason for this. Apparently, The Boss did not like the finisher that portrayed Rollins squashing someone’s head with the move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbMf_OE8g3I
WWE has already turned to a PG product, and hence the move was not appropriate for the audience. Hence, he ordered that the move can’t be used to anyone from that point onwards. Check out the statements, here that will help to understand the scenario:
“So Vince McMahon is sitting, you know, wherever Vince McMahon sits on a Monday morning, and he’s seeing me on the Today show, and I look great in a suit. I’m representing the company – I look great in a suit – and I’m wearing the title, and then he sees this package with me stomping another man’s head into the ground and it being called a curb stomp on national television. And he thought to himself, ‘Well, that is not a good representation of what I want my top guy to do.”
In case you have forgotten, it was the night of Wrestlemania 31 where he also competed in a match against Randy Orton where the latter one delivered a spectacular RKO converting the Curb Stomp move. It was a simple move which can be delivered from any position and further turned into another spectacular move.
It was pretty unfortunate for Seth Rollins to witness his signature manoeuvre getting replaced, overnight. Since then, he used the pedigree as his finishing move borrowing it from his mentor, Triple H. This was further changed following Wrestlemania 33. He now uses a knee to the face as his finishing move.