When The Shield first debuted they were quickly established as a dominant force on the WWE main roster, and together they ran through some of the biggest names in the company.
The Shield faced off against John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in 2013, and Jon Moxley revealed in his new book Mox that original plans called for them to lose the match. However, the Hounds of Justice talked to Vince McMahon, and the Chairman of the Board reconsidered.
“If [we] went out there with Cena and took the f***in’ schmootz and got pinned like everybody else, we would then become everybody else. It would kill us. I remember…being in the car with an uneasy feeling in my stomach. ‘I ain’t f***ing doing it,’ I said. ‘Whether they fire us or we get Cena’d and killed off…we’re dead either way.'”
Moxley also noted that he and the other Shield members had to go through some awkward moments when they refused some of the ideas that WWE creative pitched for them.
“We would go on a long undefeated streak in six-man tags. The writers kept trying to beat us. We refused time after time, standing our ground together. It got downright awkward sometimes, but we had strength in solidarity. We knew the equity in what we had built and were not willing to give it away.”
