Seth Rollins went face to face with Roman Reigns on SmackDown, and finally referenced the elephant in the room, the third man in the Shield – Jon Moxley.
In the autumn of 2012, the wrestling business changed forever when three turtleneck-clad stars launched themselves onto the WWE stage. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose comprised The Shield and together they ran roughshod over the rest of the WWE roster.
But when Seth Rollins turned his back on his brothers in the summer of 2014, he was charting a course for all three men to all stand at the top of the WWE mountain as WWE Champion at different times. Or all on one night as happened at Money In The Bank in 2016 when Rollins unseated Reigns for the gold before Ambrose cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase he’d won earlier in the night – retribution for the betrayal from 2 years before.
Now The Shield are on everyone’s lips once again with Seth Rollins set to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. However, one key fact has changed since the three men last bumped fists – Dean Ambrose left WWE and shortly afterward re-emerged as Jon Moxley in All Elite Wrestling.
While Moxley has only been referred to by his WWE moniker on their show, that changed on Friday night as Rollins attempted to dress down Reigns on the microphone. The Architect of The Shield told The Tribal Chief that he thought Reigns was using The Usos to maintain his own success, saying:
“[The Usos] are the ones who raise you up, just like me and Mox did in The Shield.”
The moment has not made the WWE YouTube channel’s video of the showdown between Reigns and Rollins but the rest of their verbal sparring can be seen in the video below.
Jon Moxley has had his own week to remember as he made his highly anticipated return to AEW on Dynamite delivering an impassioned speech in which he promised to grab the pro wrestling world “by the balls.”
On AEW Rampage on Friday, it was by the neck that the former AEW World Champion grabbed ‘All Ego’ Ethan Page as Moxley choked out Page to win his first bout back.