WWE Turned Iconic Faction’s Mistakes Into The Shield’s Success

A former WWE star thinks the company learned from their mistakes with one faction to turn The Shield into a massive success.

In late 2012, the WWE landscape was changed forever when Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns made their shock main roster debut as The Shield. Together, they rose up the ranks as The Authority’s Hounds of Justice before fan support turned them into a beloved trio as they did battle with the reformed Evolution in the spring of 2014.

But Triple H always has a plan B, and it turned out to be Seth Rollins who betrayed his brothers and struck out on his own. All three men went on to capture the WWE Championship and later reformed before splitting again when Ambrose turned on Rollins after Roman Reigns was forced to take a hiatus due to a leukaemia diagnosis.

When Dean Ambrose left WWE in early 2019, the company put the trio back together for one final run and an uncharacteristic farewell for the departing star. Six years later, Seth Rollins was World Heavyweight Champion until he had to relinquish the gold due to injury, Roman Reigns has just returned in time for a major role in WarGames, and Dean Ambrose is now AEW’s resident tap out artist, Jon Moxley.

But did Nexus walk so The Shield could run?

WWE Learn From Mistakes With The Shield

Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, former WWE star David Otunga reflected on his time in Nexus and thinks WWE learned from their mistakes with his group to turn The Shield into a roaring success:

I think we would have had a major run kind of like The Shield. Because if you ask me, I feel like The Shield was Nexus 2.0. What they did with The Shield—everything they did wrong in Nexus—they made sure they did it right with The Shield.

Everything they did wrong in Nexus, they made sure they did it right with The Shield.