2015: Year of the Shield

When you think of 2014-2015, the most frequent players in WWE have been the rising stars of the Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose). Throughout their tenure, these three have made a huge impact in their own way. As the Shield, they were a dominant force to be reckoned with. They left a trail of destruction. From John Cena, The Rock, Undertaker, etc, the Shield spared no one. The Shield won every title except for the WWE Title and the IC Title. Even when the group split, they were still highly featured in storylines. As we know, Roman was the muscle of the group. Ambrose was the voice. Rollins was the workhorse.

Fast forward to 2015, each star has made their own separate mark as singles competitors. With the exception of John Cena, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar, the former Shield members have been the biggest standouts from start to finish. Now, time to take a look at their journeys through the year.

Roman Reigns:

Roman Reigns has been a central figure for the WWE throughout the year. From the time that he won the Royal Rumble, Roman has been under the microscope of the Wrestling Community. Like him or hate him, Reigns has been a talking point. Reigns went from being prematurely positioned as The Rock/John Cena 2.0 by being in the Main Event of WM 31 to enduring a roller coaster ride to the top of the mountain. Fans in Philadelphia booed Roman out of the building when he won the Royal Rumble. Even when The Rock raised his hand, the fans still were not happy because they looked at Roman's journey as too predictable. The fans all across the IWC could clearly see Vince's plans for him to be the face of the company and they rebelled. The backlash against Roman was among the most intense that I ever witnessed for anyone besides John Cena. They felt that WWE was forcing Roman to become a megastar when in their eyes he was not their ideal choice (ex: Daniel Bryan). Like the year before with Batista, the fans were dissatisfied because WWE did not let their Internet Hero Daniel Bryan win the Rumble. Fans even threatened to cancel their Network Subscriptions (how many REALLY did it?). To make matters even worse, Reigns defeated Bryan at Fastlane to keep his spot as number 1 contender for WrestleMania. People that were anti-Roman were only supporting him because they did not want to see Brock Lesnar hold the title any longer. As a result of the heat from the fans, WWE pulled the plug on crowning Roman as WWE Champion. Instead, they pulled the trigger for Seth Rollins to cash in his Money In The Bank Briefcase as he pinned former Shield colleague Roman Reigns to win the WWE Championship. After the carpet was pulled from under his feet at WrestleMania, Reigns participated in the MITB Ladder Match. Instead, Bray Wyatt cost him the match as Sheamus won the Briefcase. During this time, Roman was severely scrutinized by the IWC for his lack of mic skills. They continued to make fun of him and count him out because they thought he was too green. Fans thought he was more style than substance and heavily compared him to Cena. After losing his shot to be the number 1 contender, Roman went into a feud with Bray Wyatt that reached its culmination at Hell In A Cell as Reigns conquered his enemy. Along the way, Roman worked hard to improve himself in the ring as he delivered better quality matches compared to where he was after the Shield split. Many fans still were not satisfied. When Rollins was sidelined due to injury, people started to put their stock in another Ring Of Honor Alum, Kevin Owens. The Roman hate was so out of control that fans cheered when Sheamus cashed in his MITB Briefcase at Survivor Series to defeat him for the Title. I can understand someone supporting a Kevin Owens, but Sheamus?! That is ridiculous. People were so bent on hating everything about Roman that they picked someone who is basically a caricature as WWE Champion. Clearly, Sheamus was not the answer as WWE went back to the drawing board with Reigns. The night after TLC, Roman Reigns wrestled Sheamus in Philadelphia. Vince McMahon booked the match with the stipulation of Reigns being fired if he did not win. So, it was meant for him to win that night. After multiple times of being close and falling short, Roman finally reached the mountain and stayed there. That night, Reigns defeated Sheamus to recapture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Roman won the title in the same building where the fans booed him at the Royal Rumble 11 months earlier. Roman's journey came full circle from winning the Rumble in January to winning the Title in December in the exact same arena. Instead of boos, Roman was greeted with cheers from the crowd. Roman's friend Dean Ambrose and his cousins The USO's came to the ring to celebrate with him. Not to sound like a cliche, but it was great to see this journey reach a happy ending at the end of the year. Losing at WrestleMania turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Reigns, because it gave him time to make adjustments to improve. The WWE probably wanted to test Roman to see how he could handle adversity and he has clearly passed this test. 2015 ends with the rise of the Roman Empire.

Seth Rollins:

The Self-Proclaimed "Architect" of the Shield has enjoyed a banner year as he has built upon his success from last year following the Shield's breakup. Seth entered the year as the MITB Winner with the opportunity to cash in at any event. He was involved in the Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble involving Brock Lesnar and John Cena. In that match, Seth brought everything he had to the table and put everyone on notice about his abilities. Even in a loss, he showed how effective he can be in the Main Event. However, Rollins was caught in a controversy earlier in the year when he was caught in a Twitter Scandal. Seth's girlfriend leaked out nude pictures of him on Twitter. He became the Social Media Punchline all around the world. It looked as if the biggest push of Seth's career would be derailed because of this controversy because of how ignorant this mistake was. However, Vince McMahon, Triple H and the higher ups still stuck with their plan of keeping Rollins in their back pocket as future Champion. If this happened to anyone else, their career could be over. Not in the case of Rollins because WWE did not issue any punishment towards him. Instead, Seth apologized on Twitter. Even though Seth was not punished, this was a lesson for him to "Keep his Money In the Bank". Fast forward to WrestleMania. WWE is in panic mode from the outrage of the fans towards Roman Reigns. At the last minute, they push the Panic button by sending Rollins to the WWE Title Match to cash in his Briefcase. Seth delivers the Curb Stomp to Roman as he pins him to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It was a crowning moment and a form of redemption for Rollins as he closed the show holding the WWE Crown above his head. It created the spark that WrestleMania needed to create headlines for their main event. WrestleMania is all about the unexpected and this was the right moment. Rollins would fight off challengers from Dean Ambrose to Randy Orton. However, the big issue that faced Seth was how he was made to look weaker with J & J Security and Kane bailing him out. It made him look like he could not win any of his battles on his own. It felt like WWE was going to have them by his side forever to cover him. Rollins always had the ability, but the booking was weak. To make things worse, WWE banned the Curb Stomp. Instead, he had to use the Pedigree. Seth was becoming one of the heel champions that was made to look weak instead of looking strong while cheating. (Ric Flair, Edge, etc) Things changed when Brock Lesnar stepped into the picture and destroyed J&J Security and Kane. Seth proceeded to turn on Kane going into his title defense with Brock at Battleground. Once the chains came off and Rollins was on his own, his matches could be more respected. Seth's match with Brock ended in No Contest as Undertaker returned. Seth's next opponent was John Cena. Rollins had a fantastic match with Cena at Summerslam as he defeated him for the US Championship, making him the WWE World Champion and US Champion. Seth's reign as US Champion was short lived as Cena defeated him at Night Of Champions to win back the title. On the other hand, Rollins defeated Sting that same night to keep the WWE Title. Rollins would defeat Kane at Hell In A Cell to remain Champion. At this rate, it seemed as if he could have broken CM Punk's record of 434 Days as WWE Champion (I was supporting him). Unfortunately, Seth's reign came to an end thanks to an injury at a House Show during a match with Kane. Rollins spent 221 Days as WWE Champion. Nonetheless, Seth enjoyed an outstanding year. For much of the year, Seth was World Champion and dominated the Main Event Storylines. He proved that he could perform an outstanding match even in the midst of poor storylines and booking in between. When J&J Security were taken away, Rollins was able to shine brighter and carry himself better as Champion.

Dean Ambrose:

Dean Ambrose has been on quite a roller coaster in 2015. Early in the year, Ambrose was in the chase for the Intercontinental Title. The booking was awful (as usual lately) with multiple wrestlers stealing the title from R-Truth, Dolph Ziggler, Bad News Barrett to Ambrose himself. This was to set up for the IC Title Ladder Match at WrestleMania 31. Daniel Bryan ultimately won the title, but would forfeit due to injury. Dean would then set his sights on John Cena's US Title as he entered the Open Challenge. From the time that the Shield split, Dean could not win a Pay Per View Match. Finally, he defeated Luke Harper at Extreme Rules. Dean would then have a great match with former Shield member Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber. Ambrose nearly had the match won, but Rollins got himself disqualified for shoving the referee. At Payback, Ambrose wrestled in a Fatal Four Way Match for the WWE Championship that included Seth Rollins (Champion), Randy Orton and Roman Reigns. Dean would soon team with Roman Reigns to feud with the revamped version of the Wyatt Family (w/Braun Stroman). At Night of Champions, Dean and Roman added Chris Jericho as their mystery partner. However, they would lose to the Wyatt Family. When Seth Rollins vacated the WWE Title due to injury, Dean joined the Survivor Series tournament for the vacated title. Ambrose would lose to Roman Reigns in the finals. Ambrose recently became the number one contender for the IC Title as he feuded with Kevin Owens. At TLC, Ambrose defeated Owens to become the new Intercontinental Champion. 

In August 2014, WWE Network aired a special about each of the Shield members on the start of their singles journey since they disbanded. This would lead up to Summerslam. Their was also a DVD called "The Destruction of the Shield". Dean Ambrose himself said that they would own this business. So far, you can say that they have owned 2015. Collectively, they have dominated. On their own, they are on their journey to greatness. I have always been a fan of the Shield, and I would like to see them do great things on their own.