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The SHIELD were arguably the most dominant faction in a long time, wreaking havoc since their debut at Survivor Series 2012, where they interrupted the WWE Championship Triple Threat and aided CM Punk to victory. What made The SHIELD special was that they looked more of a team than anyone else; it seemed like the three of them were made to be together, and the way they gelled as a team was excellent.
Although it is claimed that Seth Rollins created The SHIELD, what was apparent was that Ambrose was their leader, at least in the initial stages. He had been the one who had been given a singles championship during The SHIELD’s reign, which was the United States Championship, and he went on to hold it for a full year. Rollins and Reigns would also hold the Tag Team Championships, but only for five months, when they lost to The Rhodes Brothers.
While The SHIELD spent the majority of their time together as heels, it was their babyface run that truly took them to stardom. This was because it played around the story against Evolution, in which they came out on top each time, including in the main event of Payback. It was on the Raw after Payback, however, that things went wrong, and Rollins joined The Authority, turning on his partners, and laid out the foundation for a great phase in the WWE.
While Reigns would momentarily go after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and other members of The Authority, Ambrose would immediately direct his attention to Rollins, a feud which culminated at Hell In A Cell 2014, where the two main evented the show. After that, however, the three went their separate ways, only to be brought together again.
This article analyses the paths of each SHIELD member, and sees how far they’ve come since they all went solo last year.
Dean Ambrose
Ambrose has had the worst pay-per-view record of the three, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t the most over with the crowd. Since Money In The Bank 2014, Ambrose had lost every pay-per-view match he had participated in.
He came up short against Rollins in all their bouts, lost to Wyatt in every match, made it to the final four of the Royal Rumble this year only to be eliminated, lost to Bad News Barrett at FastLane, and lost at WrestleMania as well. It wasn’t until Extreme Rules, in a street fight against Luke Harper, that Ambrose picked up his first win on pay-per-view.
After that he lost again at Payback in a Fatal Four Way for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but he did pin Rollins at Elimination Chamber, only to have controversy get in his way. So technically, he has held no championship so far in his run outside of The SHIELD, even though he stole both the Intercontinental and WWE World Heavyweight Championships.
Despite having main evented four, soon to be five, pay-per-views, it’s Ambrose’s short-comings and lack of gold that put him below his former partners from The SHIELD, but this is only so far. There is still a lot to come from Dean Ambrose, and he’s a future world champion without a doubt.
Roman Reigns
Controversial as always, Roman Reigns can boast that he was the first of the three to main event WrestleMania, in his hard-hitting, violent match against Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. However, he wouldn’t want to boast that he was unsuccessful, losing not to Lesnar, but to Rollins.
While in The SHIELD, Reigns was the most popular member, mostly because of his sheer strength and look. After the SHIELD split, however, those were the same reasons he was disliked, along with his somewhat limited in-ring skills and constantly criticised microphone skills. Whichever way you look at it though, Reigns is trying as hard as he can, and he is improving in every way.
One other thing which is criticised of Reigns is that he kept The SHIELD’s entrance and music. But in all honesty, this isn’t an issue. The way Reigns has been booked as of late shows that he is destined to be a world champion one day, even if it was already supposed to happen.
Seth Rollins
It’s quite clear that Seth Rollins has come the longest way since he, in his own words, destroyed The SHIELD. In his first pay-per-view as a singles competitor, he won the Money In The Bank briefcase, and then he defeated the likes of Ambrose and even John Cena. During this time he was The Authority’s golden boy, and it has been clear that WWE is very protective of Rollins. Out of 11 pay-per-view matches, Rollins has won seven, and main evented six (if you count WrestleMania).
He was a part of arguably the best Triple Threat ever against Brock Lesnar and John Cena, and despite not being in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania, he walked out with the championship thanks to his Money In The Bank briefcase. He has defended against Randy Orton, Reigns and Ambrose, and even though he was pinned by the last of those, making him lose his title, he is still the champion because of his own disqualification caused earlier in the match.
Rollins now looks to defend against Ambrose again in a ladder match at Money In The Bank, and all sources point to a showdown between him and Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. Rollins has easily been the most successful member of The SHIELD so far, but that could all change in the future.
