"You kidding me?" - Seth Rollins on WWE's WrestleMania idea for Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns
Seth Rollins says WWE’s decision-makers originally wanted The Shield to separate in order to set up Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 30.
The Shield defeated Kane and The New Age Outlaws in a six-man tag team match at the event. Two months later, the popular trio split up after Rollins attacked Ambrose and Reigns with a steel chair on RAW.
Speaking on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions show, Rollins recalled how he was not originally scheduled to compete in a match at WrestleMania 30.
“They wanted to break us up back in January [2014], maybe December [2013] even," said Rollins. "Somewhere there they wanted to go to Ambrose and Roman at that year’s WrestleMania, which was 30 in New Orleans. I was left out, maybe as special referee or something like that, and I was like, ‘You kidding me?’"
04/06/14
"Double-Triple"
At Wrestlemania 30, The Shield faced the team of Kane and The New Age Outlaws, to which, The Shield won in quick fashion https://t.co/3WTEP7VFQV
The Shield’s WrestleMania 30 match against Kane and The New Age Outlaws lasted just two minutes and 56 seconds. Seth Rollins jokingly blamed Steve Austin’s lengthy opening segment with Hulk Hogan and The Rock for the match getting cut short.
Seth Rollins did not want The Shield to break up when it did
What were @WWERollins and @TheDeanAmbrose thinking following #TheShield's break-up in 2014? #TableFor3 #WWENetwork https://t.co/IVw2mJJuup
The Shield performed as heels for 15 months and babyfaces for four months before Seth Rollins betrayed the group in June 2014.
On the Broken Skull Sessions, Rollins explained how he initially rejected WWE’s idea to separate The Shield because he thought they had a babyface run ahead of them.
“The crowd was just starting to get behind us, and eventually over time it was like, ‘Alright, they’re too cool, we can’t boo them no more,'" Rollins continued. "So we were like, ‘Dude, no, what are you doing? We’re not ready for that yet. We got a whole run as a babyface. We’ve done a year and a half, two years as heels, we’ve got a whole run as babyfaces. That’s a lot of merch money we’re leaving on the table here."
Seth Rollins added that WWE’s higher-ups did not inform The Shield about their break-up until the day of RAW on June 2, 2014. At that point, he still felt it was too early to separate him from Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. But WWE went through with the split, and it remains one of the most memorable angles in recent memory.
Please credit Broken Skull Sessions and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.