Following his split from the Shield, Seth Rollins (left) is confronted by his former teammates.
On the post-Payback Raw on June 2, 2014, Triple H announced his intention to continue Evolution's feud with the Shield, but Batista, leaving Triple H one man short. Later that night, with the Shield in the ring, Triple H's "Plan B" for destroying the Shield turned out to be Seth Rollins suddenly attacking Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns with a steel chair, signalling Rollins' official departure from the group and re-alignment with the Authority.[1] On the June 9 episode of Raw, Reigns and Ambrose (still labelled as the Shield) defeated 3MB (Heath Slater, Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal) in “3-on-2” handicap match.[2] After the match Ambrose and Reigns addressed Rollins' betrayal, with the former describing Rollins as a "cancer" in the Shield, while the latter said Rollins "committed the most unforgivable sin".[2] Rollins would go on to describe his betrayal as severing a business relationship and that he had destroyed "his own creation" to further his own career.[3] Later that night, Ambrose and Reigns had what would be their final match as the Shield, teaming up with John Cena to defeat the Wyatt Family.[2]
While Ambrose and Reigns did not fall out with each other, they did begin to take separate paths, as Ambrose declared his intentions to take revenge on Rollins while Reigns set his sights on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[2] On the June 16 episode of Raw, Ambrose debuted new theme music while no longer wearing the Shield's attire,[4][5] while Reigns largely retained the Shield's ring attire and theme music. This indicated that Ambrose and Reigns were working on their own and that the Shield had quietly disbanded.[6][7][8] On the June 24 episode of Main Event, Reigns confirmed that he was already on his own and no longer with the Shield, thus confirming that the Shield had already dissolved.[9]
Reigns and Ambrose alliance (2015)
On January 9, 2015 episode of SmackDown, Roman Reigns was about to be put into a 2 on 1 handicap match against Seth Rollins and Big Show, until Dean Ambrose came to the aid of Reigns and helped defeat them. They continuously helped each other against the Authority. On the April 23, 2015 episode of SmackDown, Ambrose and Reigns defeated Luke Harper and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins. On the May 4 episode of Raw, Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins, and as per pre-stipulation by the Director of Operations Kane, Ambrose gained his first opportunity for a world title, being added to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at Payback and making it a fatal four-way match, also including Randy Orton and Roman Reigns.[10] The fatal four-way match match ended with Rollins pinning Randy Orton after a Pedigree.[11] On the May 25 episode of Raw and the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Reigns and Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins and Kane. Ambrose later faced Rollins at Elimination Chamber, after multiple interference by the Authority on Rollins' behalf, Reigns involved himself to help Ambrose, who won by DQ, after Rollins pushed the referee into him.[12] On the May 25 episode of Raw and the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Reigns and Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins and Kane. Ambrose later faced Rollins at Elimination Chamber, after multiple interference by the Authority on Rollins' behalf, Reigns involved himself to help Ambrose, who won by DQ, after Rollins pushed the referee into him.[13] Despite the win, Ambrose did not gain the championship, however he still took the title belt with him and challenged Rollins in a ladder match at Money in the Bank, which he would go on to lose.[14]
Feud with the Wyatt Family (2015–present)
On June 14, 2015, at Money in the Bank, Reigns would compete in the Money in the Bank ladder match in which he failed to win after Bray Wyatt interfered, attacking Reigns while he was trying to retrieve the briefcase.[15] Later that night, it was announced that Reigns would face Wyatt at Battleground, where Reigns would be defeated by Wyatt, after Wyatt Family member Luke Harper would attack Reigns.[16][17] On the June 29 episode of Raw, Kane and Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns in a ‘no disqualification’ tag team match, after Bray Wyatt interfered and attacked Reigns.[18] On the July 13 episode of Raw, Bray Wyatt fought Ambrose to a no contest due to interference by Reigns. On the July 16 episode of SmackDown, Ambrose and Reigns defeated Sheamus and the Big Show, by disqualification. On the August 3 edition of Raw, Reigns and Ambrose teamed with Randy Orton to defeat Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Sheamus, in a 6-man tag team match. On the August 6 edition of SmackDown, Reigns challenged Wyatt to a tag team match at SummerSlam, with Reigns and Ambrose facing Wyatt and Harper, which Wyatt accepted.[19] At SummerSlam, Reigns and Ambrose defeated Wyatt and Harper.[20] On the August 24 episode of Raw, Reigns and Ambrose fought Wyatt and Harper in a SummerSlam rematch. During the match, Braun Strowman made his WWE debut, joining the Wyatt Family and helping Harper and Wyatt attack Reigns and Ambrose.[21]
On the September 3 episode of SmackDown, after Reigns and Ambrose defeated The New Day by disqualification, Ambrose announced "I'm not done yet!" and asked for a match at Night of Champions. It was later confirmed that the three members of The Wyatt Family would face Reigns, Ambrose, and a partner of their choosing in a six-man tag-team match at the event. During the September 7 edition of Raw, Ambrose and Reigns had just defeated The Ascension and were about to leave the ring when the Wyatt Family appeared on the TitanTron, with Bray Wyatt warning that anyone willing to join their enemies would be doomed. Reigns and Ambrose were later seen talking to Randy Orton, thus prompting the Wyatt Family to assault Orton following his match.[22][23] On the September 10, 2015 edition of SmackDown, Ambrose recruited Reigns' cousin Jimmy Uso, to team with them against the New Day. They won via disqualification after Jimmy Uso was attacked by the Wyatt Family during the match.[24] Shortly before the match at Night of Champions began, the third team member was revealed to be the returning Chris Jericho, who lost the match after Strowman made him pass out. After the match, a frustrated Jericho purposely bumped into Ambrose and Reigns as he stormed off.[25]
