"Roman was meant to be the focus" - Seth Rollins reflects on The Shield's WWE run
Seth Rollins has revealed that he and Dean Ambrose knew during The Shield’s initial 19-month run that WWE’s higher-ups had big plans for Roman Reigns.
The three men worked together as The Shield between November 2012 and June 2014. Following their separation, Reigns went on to headline five of WWE’s next seven WrestleMania events.
Rollins clarified on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show that there was never any dissension between the three Shield members. However, he noticed that Reigns gradually became the focus of the group.
“No dissension directly. It’s healthy competition, right? We all hope the best for all of us. I think the one thing that we started to notice probably halfway through the run was that, from a top brass perspective, I think Roman was meant to be the focus. We were starting to get instructions from our producers to put what we like to call ‘Roments’ into the match. Roman… moments… yeah, so the ‘Roments’ where Roman would shine,” Seth Rollins said.
With record-breaking in his immediate future, @WWERomanReigns entered the 2014 #RoyalRumble match with a PURPOSE! #WWENetwork https://t.co/H87dtZdb48
Reigns’ most notable individual moment during his time as a Shield member came at the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view. He eliminated 12 superstars in the 30-man Royal Rumble match, breaking Kane’s then-record of 11 eliminations.
Seth Rollins on The Shield’s mindset as a group
ONE LAST TIME. 🤜👊🤛
In the CITY of BROTHERLY LOVE, THE SHIELD STANDS UNITED! #RAW https://t.co/PFRjHfxxPU
Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins went on to become WWE Champions after The Shield’s separation.
Rollins added that all three Shield members were destined for singles success, but they still put the group first ahead of themselves.
“It’s a good, healthy competition. At no point were we like, ‘This is about us.’ We were never going into business for ourselves. It was always about the group. We knew if the group did well, we’d all be fine on the way out of it,” Seth Rollins said.
The Shield is widely regarded as one of the greatest WWE factions of all time. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are now among the most prominent superstars on SmackDown, while Ambrose (a.k.a. Jon Moxley) is one of AEW’s biggest names.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.