When The Shield made their debut in 2012, people instantly took notice, and they dominated the WWE roster in the years that followed. A lot has happened since then. The group has split up, and reunited and Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns have all found success on their own as well.
The trio recently got together to film an episode of Table For 3 on the WWE Network, and Rollins brought up their trusted mentor, Joey Mercury. Rollins said that he had recently been in touch with Mercury, and that they think of him as the 4th member who was a “behind the scenes Shield brother.”
For the first few years of their main roster run, The Shield were inseparable, and Roman Reigns said that it was Joey Mercury who encouraged them to stick together (via WrestlingInc).
“A lot of it came from Joey. Remember, he told us… I know y’all remember he told us,” Reigns continued, “he told us, do you know what I mean, ‘you guys are going up together. I know [Ambrose] and [Rollins] worked together a lot. [Reigns] hasn’t really been around those two a whole lot, but y’all have to stick together. Y’all have to let the whole locker room, everybody needs to know that The Shield are like a legit unit, always together, walking the hallways, sit in catering together.’ And we did that. We rode together. [Ambrose] slept on the floor the majority of the time and I owe [him] one for that one. Do you know what I mean? We trained together. We did everything together. I think that until we were able to break the tripod and get our own two feet for each man down, we leaned on each other until now and everybody leans on us, so that’s what Vince [McMahon] and Hunter [Hearst Helmsley] are looking for. [Rollins] remembers that talk. They want leaders.”
Of course The Shield never officially had a 4th member on TV, but due to Roman Reigns’ absence they’ve recently taken on honorary members such as Kurt Angle at TLC, and Triple H at a recent WWE live event.
Roman Reigns is expected to return soon, so hopefully we’ll be seeing more of the reunited Shield before 2017 comes to an end.
