Seth Rollins WWE

Seth Rollins Stripped Of WWE World Title — Here’s How WWE Will Crown His Replacement

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Rick Ucchino | Last updated Oct 20, 2025 8:16 PM ET

Recent reports have been proven to be accurate. Seth Rollins is going to be out of action for quite a while due to injury and he was stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship Monday Night on Raw.

General Manager Adam Pearce made the official announcement in front of a sold out crowd at the Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California, ending Rollins' second reign with the title after 78 days.

He successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on CM Punk to win the title back at SummerSlam, which was the culminating moment of a three-week-long ruse that saw Rollins pretend to be suffering from a serious knee injury. It's a cruel twist of irony that his run with the gold is being cut short after he was actually hurt in a match.

@WWERollins is INSANE!

Watch live on the ESPN app: https://t.co/jKAIj8nxxt pic.twitter.com/WzsyFYSOgn
— WWE (@WWE) October 11, 2025

Rollins has already undergone shoulder surgery, according to Adam Pearce, to repair the damage he sustained after he delivered a coast-to-coast diving headbutt on Cody Rhodes at WWE Crown Jewel. The kayfabe cover up for that injury was the attack by Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed last week in Australia.

The timeline for Seth's recovery is still up in the air. The Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer reported over the weekend that the company will get a better feel for how long he'll be out of action once his surgery has been completed.

“They don’t know all the damage in his shoulder," Meltzer said in his report. "They hope he’ll be okay for WrestleMania. There’s no way of knowing one way or the other today... But, he’s out for months."

What's next for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship?

WWE

A new World Heavyweight Champion will be crowned at Saturday Night's Main Event coming up on November 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

CM Punk defeated Jey Uso and LA Knight in a No. 1 Contender's Triple Threat Match last week, which automatically earned him a spot in that title fight. His opponent will be determined later in the night on WWE Raw when several Superstars compete in an over-the-top rope battle royal.

The next edition of Saturday Night's Main Event will be the first to stream exclusively on Peacock, with a brand new 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) start time. Since these quarterly specials no longer air on the NBC network, WWE now has the option to begin the show an hour earlier.

This article first appeared on Wrestling on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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