Seth Rollins explains why WWE nixed The Shield's storyline with CM Punk
Seth Rollins recently revealed that WWE ended The Shield’s storyline with CM Punk due to the group’s impressive debut.
The Shield (Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns) arrived on WWE’s main roster at Survivor Series 2012. Although they were originally introduced as CM Punk’s sidekicks, WWE quickly dropped the angle and booked the up-and-coming trio in other storylines instead.
Speaking on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show, Rollins explained why WWE abruptly ended The Shield and CM Punk’s alliance.
“No one really told us what was going on," said Seth Rollins. "We got such a good reaction that they moved us away from being Punk’s security squad almost immediately, within I wanna say a couple of weeks. It was like a loose relationship where we would help out but there was no like, ‘You guys are my guys.’ It was just like we were clearly our own entity, you know what I’m saying?"
Sierra. Hotel. India. Echo. Lima. Delta. Shield.
On this day in 2012, a certain stable made their WWE debut 🔥
Legendary 👊 https://t.co/Vgm0g1qCXV
The Shield feuded with Superstars including Daniel Bryan and John Cena during their first few months on WWE’s main roster. A year after their debut, they lost a three-on-one handicap match against CM Punk at the TLC pay-per-view in December 2013.
Seth Rollins on why The Shield succeeded
One brotherhood. One #Shield.
#ShieldsFinalChapter @WWERollins @TheDeanAmbrose @WWERomanReigns https://t.co/OPl6iv0uIq
The Shield became one of WWE’s most popular acts between their debut in November 2012 and their break-up in June 2014.
Seth Rollins believes the group's unique presentation helped them win over WWE fans, even though they were bad guys at the time.
“Dude, it was like a boy band, you know what I mean?" Rollins continued. "It was a weird fandom where we were heels but no one cared. We came down through the crowd, everything was different, the old Sandman entrance, the music was awesome. Even the promo style, where we were moving the camera around, kind of looking right into it, no one was doing that at the time. Everything was just new."
Rollins added that being in a group felt a lot different to competing as a singles superstar. On the advice of former WWE producer Joey Mercury, all three Shield members traveled and roomed together for their entire WWE run as a trio.
What do you think about Seth Rollins' comments? Sound off below.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.