Why Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose will be one of WWE's biggest rivalries of all time
It seems like just yesterday that The SHIELD made their presence felt when they interrupted the WWE Championship match at Survivor Series 2012. It seems like just yesterday when Ambrose won the United States Championship and Rollins and Reigns won the Tag Team Championships on the same night. It seems like just yesterday when the trio put on a stellar match against The Wyatt Family. It seems like just yesterday when they stood tall over Evolution for a second time, sweeping them clean in an elimination tag team match. And it seems like just yesterday when it all came crashing down.
The SHIELD were a breath of fresh air in the WWE. It was a lot like The Nexus, but in a way, completely unlike them. These were just three men, and all three were destined to be big names.
With a burden like that on their backs, it was certain that the three would cross path numerous times. And that has already happened, numerous times.
As soon as The SHIELD split, Roman Reigns went after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and Ambrose and Rollins went after the Money In The Bank briefcase. Both men were the stars of the match, with Rollins coming out on top thanks to an assist from Kane. Their match at Battleground never happened because Ambrose attacked Rollins several times backstage, and at SummerSlam, they changed the way everyone looked at Lumberjack matches, with Rollins coming out on top, thanks to an assist from Kane.
The next night on Raw, after putting on another amazing match, Ambrose was taken out with a kayfabe injury caused by Seth Rollins, and would return at Night Of Champions, when Roman Reigns was legitimately injured, and attacked Rollins, who was supposed to face Reigns.
This is where the rivalry took a turn for the better. In a pay-per-view that had Randy Orton facing John Cena, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose main evented it, and put on a classic Hell In A Cell match, one which truly settled their differences, for the meantime. Rollins won again, with an assist from Bray Wyatt.
Up until this point, Rollins had won in every encounter, but never clean. This was a very interesting aspect of the story.
Ambrose would go on to battle Bray Wyatt for the next few months, who he also main evented with (and lost to) at TLC. After this, he would make it to the final four of the Royal Rumble, steal the Intercontinental Championship at Fastlane, steal the show at WrestleMania, and win in a Chicago Street Fight against Luke Harper.
Rollins, on the other hand, would captain Team Authority (and lose) at Survivor Series, lose to John Cena at TLC, put on one of the best Triple Threats ever at the Royal Rumble, and lose at WrestleMania to Randy Orton, only to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship later in the night, thanks to his Money In The Bank briefcase, which many thought he stole from Dean Ambrose. He would successfully defend against Orton at Extreme Rules, and then he would meet Ambrose yet again.
Before getting to that, let’s look at some of the WWE’s most successful rivalries of all time.