The Chaotic Tag Team Debut That Created Top Stars For WWE (And AEW)

Every few years, a wrestling stable seems to come along and become the "It" group of the promotion its involved with. For WCW, it was the nWo; for New Japan in the 2010s, it was Bullet Club and Los Ingobernables de Japon; for AEW in the last few years, it's been the Blackpool Combat Club, which later morphed into the Death Riders. But for WWE in the 2010s, it was The Shield. Consisting of Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins, The Shield was unlike the other notable stables. They were more serious than D-Generation X, less cocky than Bullet Club and LIJ, and significantly less bloated than the nWo. They were also a unique mixture; two proven indie wrestling commodities in Rollins and Ambrose (who gained fame as Tyler Black and Jon Moxley before coming to WWE) teaming a WWE homegrown talent in Reigns, whose family legacy in wrestling dated back generations.

Alas, all those ingredients wouldn't have mattered if Ambrose, Reigns, and Rollins tripped and fell face first, Shockmaster style, during their debuts. Fortunately, they did not during their out of left field appearance at the 2012 Survivor Series, interfering in a three way match between CM Punk, John Cena, and Ryback for Punk's WWE Championship. The trio took out Ryback while never touching Punk nor Cena, allowing Punk to pin Cena and pick up the win. It was a dynamic debut, and questions lingered over whether The Shield, as they quickly became known as, were aligned with Punk, or even Cena, with the group remaining cryptic along the way. Still, one last obstacle remained; the group's first match together, which took place at TLC, where they battled Ryback, Kane, and Bryan Danielson in a TLC match.

As far as debuts go, the waters don't get much deeper than it did for Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins that night. Not only was this a major PPV match, and a TLC match no less, but it was only The Shield's second match ever as a team, following a house show match against Kane, Danielson, and Ryback the night before. Naturally, it didn't matter one bit; the three made an immediate statement with what most fans considered to be the Match of the Night at WWE TLC, and one of the greatest debut matches ever. It didn't hurt either that they won, defeating Kane, Danielson, and Ryback decisively and beginning a televised undefeated streak that would last until June 2013. Save for a brief lull following that loss and the start of their association with The Authority in August, The Shield never looked back, remaining a force till their break up in 2014.

Since then, all three Shield members turned out to be franchise singles stars, though not necessarily for WWE. Ambrose, Reigns, and Rollins would all become WWE Champions during their run with the promotion, and Reigns, after a rocky few years, would cement himself as WWE's top wrestler in the 2020s. He remains that today, as does Rollins, who recently began his second reign as WWE World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam. As for Ambrose, his time as a top guy would come in AEW instead, after he jumped to the promotion in 2019 and became Jon Moxley once more. Moxley now holds the record for most AEW World Championship reigns, and is considered by many to be their top star and the promotion's heart and soul. So in a way, one could argue The Shield, and their successful debut all those years ago, was responsible for creating top stars in multiple promotions. Just another feather in the cap of arguably the best stable of the 21st century.