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Seth Rollins Admits That He Stole The Stomp

Originally posted on The Sportster | By Josh Coulson | Last updated Dec 17, 2025 9:51 AM ET

Seth Rollins has one of the most devastating finishing moves in WWE today: the Stomp. Effective yet simple, you might wonder why no one in wrestling ever used it before him. Well, they did, and Rollins is entirely okay with the world knowing that he stole the move and co-opted it as his finisher.

Seth Rollins Was Inspired To Use The Stomp By Alex Shelley

Rollins was a guest on Games With Names, where he explained where he got the idea to use the Stomp and recalled the first time he ever used it as his finisher.

I stole it. Straight up yoinked it. I stole it from Alex Shelley, who wrestles in WWE now. He stole it from a Japanese wrestler named (Naomichi) Marufuji. Marufuji is like a God when it comes to innovating wrestling moves.

Although Rollins used it after Shelley, and Shelley got the idea from Marufuji, The Visionary does make the distinction that he believes he was the first person to use it as their finisher. However, even that wasn't his idea.

I was doing a different finisher but using the Stomp as a signature move, and it just looked so nasty that the guy producing the show, TJ Wilson, who is still a producer for WWE now, he was like, 'you should really think about using that as your finish'.

It's not like stealing a wrestling move is anything to be ashamed of. Everything from a move to a gimmick is either inspired or stolen from a wrestler that came before, or a combination of a few different things from wrestling's past. With decades of professional wrestling having come before them, coming up with something truly unique in 2025 is almost impossible.

Rollins Was Forced To Stop Using The Stomp For A While

There was a period during Rollins' career when he retired the Stomp and used Triple H's Pedigree as his finisher instead. The switch worked perfectly at the time, as it was during a period in his career when Rollins fell in line behind The Game as a part of The Authority. However, the true reason for abandoning the Stomp happened behind the scenes.

Rollins has revealed since that, out of the blue, Vince McMahon decided he didn't like the move. He told Rollins he could see his son Shane doing the move on Stephanie as kids, and he worried that it was too easy for children watching at home to mimic and do serious damage to each other if they were to copy it.

Clearly, McMahon moved past that eventually as the move was eventually reinstated as part of Rollins' arsenal. Although it's a legitimate fear to have, as the move can be performed by and on almost anyone regardelss of size difference - that's one of the reasons it's so good - if you start banning moves because they can be performed by children, you end up on a slippery slope where all sorts of moves are banned, and it's hard to know where to draw the line.

This article first appeared on The Sportster and was syndicated with permission.

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