It’s been a roller-coaster of a night for Seth Rollins, and the best thing you can say about The Beastslayer’s evening was that it ended on an up note. Facing Sami Zayn, Rollins fought through a hellacious effort by The Critic of the Critics to cement himself as Monday Night Raw’s pre-eminent workhorse/standard-bearer, drawing yet another parallel between himself and Brock Lesnar.

While Rollins was gritting it out in the ring, battling through a legitimately impressive performance by the former NXT Champion, Mr. Beast in the Bank was conspicuous by his absence, visible only in brief cutaways to his private locker room, where he watched the match with contract in hand and a blank stare on his face. Rollins seemed cognizant of the fact that The Conqueror could rear his head at any second, and a Figure-Four Leglock from Zayn did considerable damage to his surgically-repaired knee. But The Beastslayer still caught Zayn with a Stomp as he slid through the ropes, only stopping to scream “This is my life!” — perhaps more at Lesnar than Zayn — before administering a second for the win.

The victory appeared to give The Kingslayer no peace. He visibly asked himself where Lesnar was as the camera lingered over the post-match scene, and while uncertainty turned to joy in Raw’s closing moments as The Beast failed to appear, the feeling may be unsustainable. As good a night as it was for Seth, Lesnar has a full year to make his move. There’s plenty of time left.