It’s very easy to argue that 2014 was the year, and the rise of three men: Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins. Those three men began the year as one of the most dominant factions ever in the WWE, “The Shield.”
The Shield started off the year battling the reformed group known as “Evolution” (HHH, Randy Orton, and Batista). The two teams would compete in two epic matches, the final one coming at the Pay-Per-View “Payback.” The following night on WWE’s flagship program “Raw,” the course of these three men’s careers would change.
The night after “Payback” Batista quit, and it looked as if “The Shield” had won. Then the unthinkable happen, Seth Rollins took a chair and single-handedly destroyed “The Shield.”
The disbandment of “The Shield” ended up being bitter sweet. On one hand fans hated that one of the best factions in WWE had finally gone their separate ways. Then on the other hand the split would culminate with the three men going out and becoming three of the biggest stars in WWE today.
Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns would go on to have some very big matches throughout the rest of 2014.
Roman Reigns would have one of the most high profile matches in his career at “SummerSlam” when he would face, and defeat Randy Orton.
Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins would go on to have a great rivalry. The rivalry would end with them in the main event of the Pay-Per-View “Hell in a Cell,” in a “Hell in a Cell” match.
Every Pay-Per-View after WrestleMania 30 has centered on these three men.
On January 25th the WWE will have one of its biggest events of the year, the “Royal Rumble.” That Pay-Per-View will host the Rumble match itself, in which Reigns and Ambrose will compete, and be favorites to win. Also the second main event will be a “Triple Threat” (Seth Rollins vs John Cena vs Brock Lesnar) match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
There is a very good chance that two of these men could come out of the “Royal Rumble” event with a ticket to the main event of WrestleMania.
Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns have been the centerpieces for WWE’s storylines for almost a year now. The split of the group formally known as “The Shield” has yet to have the climax it so rightly deserves.
The best possible end to the story known as the destruction of “The Shield,” would be for Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns to compete for the richest prize (the WWE title), on WWE’s biggest stage, “WrestleMania.”