After 12 long years of going back and forth, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have finally end their feud.
Reigns and Rollins put on what can arguably be considered match of the year at WWE’s SummerSlam on Sunday night. Before we get to end, let’s go back to the every beginning of The Shield.
In November 2012 at Survivor Series, the world was introduced to Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns as enforcers for CM Punk, who was the WWE Champion at the time. They would later be known as The Shield.
For two years, the trio dominated the WWE and held the tag team and the United States championships among them. However, their high climb would come to an abrupt halt at the hands of The Authority and Rollins.
On June 2, 2014, Rollins shocked the world when betrayed Reigns and Ambrose, by hitting them in their backs with a steel chair and joined Triple H and The Authority.
This heel turn left fans with more questions than answers. In hindsight this needed to happen because the build up led to an epic rivalry.
Throughout the years, fans have seen these “brothers” join forces or go against each other. Fans never saw before last night’s SummerSlam main event, was Reigns defeating Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This little known fact was something that Rollins held over Reigns’ head, so the build to this match was personal.
Before the match happened, the mind games began with Rollins incorporating The Shield’s music with a hologram of himself wearing his old Shield gear before debuting a new look with his own entrance music. The anticipation began to set in as fans eagerly awaited the arrival of the WWE Champion.
Once both of them were in the ring, they exchanged words before fists. Both wrestlers paid tribute to the third member of The Shield, Dean Ambrose, (Jon Moxley) who wrestles in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
They also saw the ending a trauma-filled obsession when Reigns decided to win the match fairly without using the steel chair that Rollins originally brought into the ring.
Both Reigns and Rollins held no punches and pulled out surprise moves from their arsenal. It’s a match that many will be talking about for many years to come.
“This is how a story is supposed to be told,”Dre, co-host of Sped-Ed Class Podcast said. “This is how you finish a story with no interference, no weapons, no cheap shots, and no excuses.”
He added, “Two brothers who saved a company when nobody wanted to be near it. The story alone is impeccable. It’s the tale of 14 years in making and the strategy outweighed the emotions on both ends.”
Roman Reigns ends up victorious and closes the door this feud.
Brian H. Waters, host of The Wrestling Wrealm Podcast said, “Roman Reigns proved his matches belong in the conversation as he gets it done without help and finishes his stories.”
This was hands down a 10 out of 10 main event and a perfect way to end SummerSlam weekend.
Many of Reign’s colleagues, friends, and fans took to Twitter to express their gratitude and love for him.