The Shield

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and then-reigning NXT Champion Seth Rollins debuted at Survivor Series on November 18, 2012, interfering in the triple threat main event between CM Punk, John Cena and Ryback for the WWE Championship, allowing Punk to pin Cena to retain the title. On the November 26 episode of *Raw*, the group identified themselves as "**The Shield**" and vowed to rally against "injustices". Despite claiming that they were not working for either Punk or his manager Paul Heyman, over the next few weeks on both *Raw* and *SmackDown* they routinely emerged from the crowd to attack Punk's adversaries. They also attacked Randy Orton after he defeated Brad Maddox, who was the referee who helped Punk defeat Ryback during their Hell in a Cell match at the previous Hell in a Cell event for the WWE Championship. This led to The Shield's debut match at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 16, where they defeated Ryback and Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.

After TLC, despite continuing to attack Punk's and Maddox's adversaries such as Ric Flair, Brodus Clay, and Sheamus, The Shield soon expanded their ambushes to other wrestlers, such as Mick Foley, Tommy Dreamer and Ricardo Rodriguez. The Shield's attacks were also used to write off wrestlers from television via injury angles, such as Randy Orton and Sin Cara, who were already suffering from legitimate injuries.

On the January 2, 2013 episode of *NXT* (which was taped on December 6, 2012), The Shield made their first appearance as a group in *NXT*, where Rollins was the inaugural NXT Champion. Rollins defended his title against Corey Graves, but Ambrose and Reigns attacked Graves to cause a disqualification so that Rollins retained his title. After the match, The Shield then fended off the entire *NXT* locker room, but retreated from Big E Langston. On the January 9 episode of *NXT* (which was taped on the same date as the previous episode), Rollins lost the NXT Championship to Langston in a no disqualification match after the *NXT* locker room neutralized the interference of the other Shield members.

On the January 7 episode of *Raw*, The Shield once again aided CM Punk by attacking Ryback during their Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWE Championship, which resulted in Punk retaining the title. On the January 21 episode of *Raw*, The Shield attacked The Rock, Punk's WWE Championship contender at the Royal Rumble, resulting in Mr. McMahon declaring that their interference in the title match would result in Punk being stripped of the championship. Four days later on *SmackDown*, Punk denied an alliance with The Shield before calling them out and informing them that he did not want them to interfere in his upcoming title match. However, during Punk's title match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, during a blackout, The Rock was attacked by The Shield in the darkness and when the lights came back on, he had been put through the announce table, leading to Punk pinning The Rock and retaining the championship; the match, however, was immediately restarted by McMahon with The Rock winning the WWE Championship. The following night on *Raw*, it was revealed through footage played by McMahon that Punk's manager Paul Heyman had been paying The Shield and Brad Maddox to work for him all along.

On the January 28 episode of *Raw*, The Shield attacked John Cena, as well as Sheamus and Ryback when they attempted to save Cena. The next week on *Raw*, Maddox called out The Shield and revealed that he was the one who had given McMahon the footage showing that they were working for Heyman, thus prompting The Shield to attack Maddox until they were forced to retreat. The Shield justified their attacks due to a "decade of injustice" caused by Cena. This set up a six-man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber, which The Shield won. They continued their feud against Sheamus, having several matches against him, including a six-man tag team at WrestleMania 29, where The Shield defeated Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show.

On the April 8 episode of *Raw*, The Shield attempted to attack The Undertaker, but were forced to retreat by Team Hell No. This led to a match where The Shield defeated the combination of The Brothers of Destruction and Team Hell No (Undertaker, Kane and Bryan) on the April 22 episode of *Raw*. On the April 26 episode of *SmackDown*, Ambrose made his singles debut against The Undertaker and lost via submission, but after the match The Shield attacked Undertaker. Ambrose then started a feud with United States Champion Kofi Kingston, winning the title at Extreme Rules. At the same event, Rollins and Reigns defeated Team Hell No to win the WWE Tag Team Championship.

From May to August, The Shield defended their championships against several opponents. Ambrose faced Kingston, Kane, and Rob Van Dam, while Rollins and Reigns faced Team Hell No, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton, and The Usos. On the June 14 episode of *SmackDown*, The Shield's unpinned/unsubmitted streak in televised six-man tag team matches came to an end at the hands of Team Hell No and Randy Orton, when Bryan submitted Rollins.

On the August 19 episode of *Raw*, The Shield began working for chief operating officer Triple H and aiding WWE Champion and "the face of WWE" Randy Orton against his rival Daniel Bryan, while also attacking wrestlers like Big Show and Dolph Ziggler for speaking out against Triple H's regime. At Night of Champions on September 15, The Shield had successful title defenses when Ambrose defeated Ziggler while Rollins and Reigns defeated The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil).

At Battleground on October 6, after being kayfabe fired, Cody Rhodes and Goldust earned their jobs back by beating Rollins and Reigns in a non-title match. On the September 23 episode of *Raw*, The Shield lost an eleven-on-three handicap elimination match. On the October 14 episode of *Raw*, Reigns and Rollins lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to the Rhodes brothers in a no disqualification match after interference from Big Show. On the October 16 episode of *Main Event*, Ambrose again successfully retained the United States Championship against Ziggler. At Hell in a Cell on October 27, Rollins and Reigns lost a triple threat tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against the Rhodes Brothers and The Usos, while Ambrose retained the championship after a countout loss to Big E Langston.

The first seeds of dissension were sown in The Shield (especially between Ambrose and Reigns) with Ambrose's boasting of being the only member left with a championship, but from then on Ambrose was frequently pinned during The Shield's matches. At Survivor Series on November 24, The Shield teamed with The Real Americans (Antonio Cesaro and Jack Swagger) to defeat the team of Rey Mysterio, the Rhodes Brothers and The Usos in a Survivor Series elimination tag team match, with Ambrose being the first man eliminated.

In late November, they started a feud with CM Punk, leading to a handicap match between Punk and The Shield at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15, which Punk won after capitalizing on The Shield's lack of co-ordination after Ambrose was accidentally speared by Reigns. WWE originally planned to break up The Shield after the match, but they asked to remain together due to their lack of experience as singles wrestlers.

Going into 2014, Punk's taunts increased tension between The Shield members, and Reigns emerged as the only Shield member to defeat Punk in a singles match on the January 6 episode of *Raw*, albeit with a distraction from Ambrose. All three members of The Shield competed in the 2014 Royal Rumble match, during which Ambrose tried to eliminate Reigns, who retaliated by eliminating both Ambrose and Rollins.

On the January 27, episode of *Raw*, The Shield faced the team of Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Sheamus in a six-man tag team qualifying match for the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but lost by disqualification after The Wyatt Family interfered. The Shield vowed revenge, so a match was set up between The Shield and The Wyatt Family. Meanwhile, on the February 10 episode of *Raw*, Ambrose's open challenge for the United States Championship was answered by Mark Henry, with Ambrose retaining by disqualification due to The Shield's interference, and Reigns defeated Henry without interference. At Elimination Chamber on February 23, The Shield lost to The Wyatt Family as Ambrose and Bray Wyatt brawled into the crowd, but Wyatt later returned to the ring with no sign of Ambrose, which caused Rollins and Reigns to be outnumbered and overwhelmed. On the March 3 episode of *Raw*, The Shield lost a rematch against The Wyatt Family when The Shield's poor teamwork led to Rollins walking out during the match.

On the March 7 episode of *SmackDown*, the members of The Shield met in the ring to clear the air on their disharmony, and Rollins explained that his actions achieved his purpose of getting Ambrose and Reigns to finally see eye-to-eye, which led to the trio ultimately reconciling.

During their next storyline, the Shield turned into babyfaces and feuded with Kane after refusing to assault Jerry Lawler. The feud also included The Authority's The New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) after they sided with Kane, culminating in a match at WrestleMania XXX, which The Shield emerged victorious quickly and decisively. Then, The Authority leader Triple H reunited his previous stable Evolution with Orton and Batista, and at Extreme Rules, The Shield defeated Evolution. The following night on *Raw*, Triple H forced Ambrose to defend the United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal without Reigns and Rollins being involved. Ambrose would end up losing the title after he was the last eliminated by Sheamus. At Payback, they defeated Evolution in a No Holds Barred elimination match, in which no Shield member was eliminated.

The following night on *Raw*, Triple H announced his intention to continue Evolution's feud with The Shield, but Batista quit WWE and left Evolution. Later that night with The Shield in the ring, Triple H's "plan B" for destroying The Shield turned out to be Rollins suddenly attacking Ambrose and Reigns with a steel chair, signaling Rollins re-alignment with The Authority. On the June 9 episode of *Raw*, Rollins described his betrayal as severing a business relationship and that he had destroyed "his own creation" to further his own interests, while Ambrose and Reigns (still labelled as The Shield) addressed Rollins' betrayal with Ambrose describing Rollins as a "cancer" in The Shield, while Reigns claimed that Rollins "committed the most unforgivable sin". Later that night, Ambrose and Reigns had their final match as The Shield, teaming up with John Cena to defeat The Wyatt Family.

While Ambrose and Reigns did not fall out with each other, they did begin to take separate paths as Ambrose declared his intention to take revenge on Rollins, while Reigns set his sights on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. While the duo were still referred to as The Shield on the June 13 episode of *SmackDown*, Ambrose debuted new theme music, ring attire, and entrance on the June 16 episode of *Raw*. Reigns, however, largely retained The Shield's ring attire, theme music, and continued to enter the ring through the live audience. On the June 24 episode of *Main Event*, Reigns confirmed that he was on his own and no longer with The Shield, thus confirming that The Shield had dissolved.

Throughout July 2017, Ambrose, who was drafted to the *Raw* brand via the Superstar Shake-up, and Rollins teased a potential reunion between the two, but Ambrose continuously declined Rollins' offer to reunite, primarily due to trust issues from Rollins' betrayal three years prior.

On the July 31 episode of *Raw*, Rollins was confronted by Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus, and later won a match against Sheamus after which the duo attacked Rollins before Ambrose came down to make the save, though backstage Ambrose told Rollins that he would not help him if Rollins got outnumbered again. The following week on *Raw*, after Rollins lost a rematch against Sheamus and was once again attacked after the match, Ambrose did not help him. Later that night, Ambrose defeated Cesaro, only to be subsequently attacked by the duo before being saved by Rollins. On the August 14 episode of *Raw*, an argument in the ring culminated in Ambrose and Rollins brawling with each other only to fight off Cesaro and Sheamus and performing a fist bump to a loud ovation. Rollins and Ambrose defeated the champions at SummerSlam, winning the titles.

At No Mercy on September 24, Ambrose and Rollins made their first successful title defense in a rematch against Cesaro and Sheamus. Then, Ambrose and Rollins reunited with Reigns, who had a feud with The Miz. On the October 9 episode of *Raw*, Miz opened the show with Cesaro and Sheamus, but they were interrupted by the reunited Shield, who attacked the trio, leading to a six-man tag team Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between The Shield and the team of Cesaro, The Miz and Sheamus at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs. Later, Braun Strowman and Kane were added to the match as part of The Miz's team. However, Reigns was pulled out of the match on October 20 due to illness and Kurt Angle took his place.

At the event on October 22, Ambrose, Rollins and Angle won the match. While Reigns was still out of action, Ambrose and Rollins also recruited former rival Triple H to be a one-time member at a house show on November 1. Ambrose and Rollins lost the titles back to Cesaro and Sheamus after *SmackDown*'s The New Day appeared and caused a distraction on the November 6 episode of *Raw*. Reigns returned the following week on *Raw*, and The Shield challenged The New Day to a match at Survivor Series on November 19. which they won. On the November 20 episode of *Raw*, Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship by defeating The Miz following a distraction by the other Shield members. In December 2017, Ambrose suffered a triceps injury and was written off television, thus putting The Shield on a hiatus.

During the group's inactivity, Reigns lost the Intercontinental Championship to The Miz in January 2018. At WrestleMania 34, Rollins defeated The Miz and Finn Bálor in a triple threat match to win the Intercontinental Championship. Rollins and Reigns also continued to acknowledge their on-screen friendship afterwards, working together infrequently, although no longer operating under the Shield banner.

On the August 13, 2018 episode of *Raw*, Ambrose returned from his injury and reunited with Rollins during his feud with Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre. Rollins later regained the Intercontinental Championship from Ziggler, while Reigns won the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam. On the August 20 episode of *Raw*, Reigns retained the Universal Championship against Finn Bálor, with Braun Strowman watching from the entrance ramp. After the match, Strowman attempted to cash-in his Money in the Bank contract, however, Rollins and Ambrose made the save, preventing him from cashing in and putting him through the announce table with a triple powerbomb. At Hell in a Cell on September 16, Ziggler and McIntyre retained the Raw Tag Team Championship against Rollins and Ambrose, while Reigns and Strowman's Universal Championship Hell in a Cell match ended in a no contest following interference from Brock Lesnar. The Shield and the team of Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre had a match at WWE Super Show-Down on October 6, where The Shield was victorious. On October 22, 2018 episode of *Raw*, Reigns relinquished his Universal title due to leukemia and later that night, Ambrose attacked Rollins after they won the Raw Tag Team Championship. Two weeks later, the AOP defeated Rollins in a handicap match to win the Raw Tag Team Championships, with Ambrose attacking Rollins after the match.

In January 2019, WWE confirmed that Ambrose had declined to renew his contract, which was to expire in April. On the February 25, 2019 episode of *Raw*, Reigns returned from his leukemia and reunited with Rollins. Later that night, they assisted Ambrose during an attack from Elias, Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin. The following week, Ambrose saved Reigns and Rollins from McIntyre, Lashley and Corbin, after which the three performed their signature pose. On March 10, The Shield defeated the team of McIntyre, Lashley, and Corbin at Fastlane, which was promoted as the group's final match together. At WrestleMania 35, Rollins won the Universal Championship from Brock Lesnar. Meanwhile on the card, Reigns defeated McIntyre in a grudge match, while Ambrose was left off the card.

Before the formal end of Ambrose's contract with WWE, The Shield made a final appearance during a WWE Network special event called The Shield's Final Chapter. In the main event, The Shield defeated Corbin, Lashley and McIntyre, in both the group and Ambrose's last match in WWE.