In 2012 a mysterious and dominant faction debuted in WWE called “The Shield.” The group was comprised of NXT Superstars Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose (AEW‘s Jon Moxley) that made their shocking debut at WWE’s TLC pay-per-view defeating Ryback and Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane). During their tenure, Reigns and Rollins captured the WWE Tag Team Championships together. The group wrestled everyone from Randy Orton, Sheamus, John Cena, the New Age Outlaws, Dolph Ziggler, and CM Punk, to name a few. The group officially disbanded after Rollins was revealed to be in cahoots with The Authority, famously swinging a steel chair into the backs of Reigns and Ambrose to complete his turn.ย
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That move would go on to catapult Rollins into the main event as he became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion for the first time at WrestleMania 31 when he cashed in his MITB briefcase against Reigns and Brock Lesnar. It launched the careers for Reigns and Ambrose as well. Ambrose went on to become a three-time Intercontinental Champion, WWE World Champion, and RAW Tag Team Champion when he and Rollins briefly made up in 2018.ย
Though Reigns was winning championships, his rise to stardom was a much slower one. Reigns is a former three-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Intercontinental Champion and United States Champion. He didn’t get the title of “The Tribal Chief” until much later, and he now stands at the top of the company as one of the most dominant champions of all time as the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
The current World Heavyweight Champion Rollins recently opened up about the memorable breakup of the faction in an interview with GQ Sports. Rollins and Becky Lynch were discussing some of their essentials and when the metal chair was brought up, they both spoke about some of their most fond memories using the weapon. “And for me personally, the black chair changed the trajectory of my career,” Rollins said. “I swatted Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose with a black chair very similar to this nearly, almost a decade ago now at this point. Turned on my best friends in a very devious moment. I do not regret breaking up The Shield. If you wanna make an omelet you got to break a few eggs.”
The Shield reunited in 2017 and continued through the rest of Ambrose’s contract. They once again disbanded in 2019 with their final match taking place at a WWE Live Show “The Shield’s Final Chapter.” Not long after that Ambrose officially debuted for AEW as Jon Moxley at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view and signed a full-time contract.
