Since returning from injury, Seth Rollins has experienced a very unconventional path to where he is now. Attacking Roman Reigns at the Extreme Rules 2016 event, Rollins would defeat Reigns for the WWE Championship just a month later at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view. However, he would lose shortly after becoming champion again, as Dean Ambrose cashed in his briefcase and defeated Rollins to capture his first WWE Championship.
Rollins had another opportunity to become champion as he faced Finn Balor for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam 2016. Rollins lost to Balor and was unable to win the title. He then started to shift over to becoming a fan favorite after Triple H betrayed him during the four-way match to determine who would win the vacant Universal Championship (Balor had to relinquish the title following Rollins powerbombing him on the ring barricade) and assisted Kevin Owens.
Since then, Rollins has feuded with Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Samoa Joe en route to gaining retribution from Triple H at WrestleMania 33 . Following that match, Rollins feuded with Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt and spent most of the latter half of 2017 in tag teams with Dean Ambrose and Jason Jordan, winning the Raw Tag Team Championship with both competitors. Now, after winning his match and the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 34 , Rollins joins his Shield brethren as Grand Slam Champions.
GRAND. SLAM. CHAMPION. @WWERollins is your NEW #ICChampion at #WrestleMania ! pic.twitter.com/Y87N68rF71
— WWE (@WWE) April 8, 2018
Unfortunately, due to medical issues (at the time) with Reigns that altered their reunion match at TLC and an injury from Ambrose which altered their tag team championship path, the Shield had to abruptly end without gaining much traction. In an interview with the National , Rollins commented on whether The Shield will reunite once again.
“It was a little unfulfilled in that we had some hiccups along the way. Ambrose’s injury, Roman’s sickness so we couldn’t do everything out of it that we wanted. But it did allow us to do some really weird things like have Kurt Angle and Triple H as our partner. So that was a little icing on the cake I guess, stuff you weren’t expecting.
“But I think the cool thing I think we learned about this year was the Shield are always going to be there. Never say never. When the time is right we will get back to it. It is kind of like DX in that way. It is never going to go away. As long as me, Ambrose and Roman are still around kicking, screaming and fighting you can throw us together.”
As a singles competitor, Rollins receives one of the biggest ovations from the crowd and is continuing the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship. Moreover, Rollins has been one of the most impressive competitors in WWE this year, specifically based on his 65-minute match on a February edition of Raw , defeating both Roman Reigns and John Cena.
