Real Reason Why Shield Triple Threat Never Happened at WrestleMania

Seth Rollins just peeled back the curtain on one of WWE’s biggest “what ifs”—why fans never got a Shield triple threat at WrestleMania.

Speaking on The Sal Licata Show on January 29, 2026, Rollins reflected on scrapped plans to break up The Shield at WrestleMania 30 with a triple threat match—and how it morphed into one of his biggest regrets.

“Yes, it was a thought,” Rollins said when asked about a Shield triple threat at WrestleMania. “A little bit of inside baseball—the initial breakup for The Shield was meant to be at WrestleMania 30. Roman Reigns was going to wrestle Dean Ambrose, with me as special guest referee. I wasn’t even going to be in the match.”

Rollins admitted he was relieved when that version was scrapped, and the group continued for a few more months, including their legendary feud with Evolution.

“Luckily, that idea got jettisoned. We ended up having a pretty good next year… not a full year, but a few more months. We got the six-mans with Evolution in there which were really good.”

Eventually, WWE did pull the trigger on the Shield triple threat match—but it wasn’t at WrestleMania. It happened at Battleground in 2016, a decision that frustrated all three members. So why didn’t it happen at WrestleMania? According to Seth, it wasn’t their call.

“We ended up doing the triple threat randomly on a Battleground pay-per-view if I'm not mistaken. And all three of us, Roman, Dean, and myself, fought against the idea of doing the triple threat match at Battleground because we believed it was a WrestleMania main event. We were overruled by our overlord at the time, who is no longer part of this organization.

To this day, at least for me, it’s one of the bigger regrets I have—that we didn’t get to do that match properly and tell the proper story at the biggest pay-per-view of the year.

So there you go. That’s my story. There were many conversations about it—why it happened, when it happened, when it should have happened. And for me, I regret that we didn’t get it done the right way.”

These comments came just days after Rollins told GQ that a full-blown Shield reunion is highly unlikely—citing his strained relationship with Roman Reigns and Jon Moxley’s departure from WWE.

“Not a lot of love loss between myself and Roman Reigns. Dean Ambrose—Jon Moxley—not currently with the company, don’t know if he’s ever coming back. I would say chances are very slim.”

While that epic moment may be in the rearview, Rollins’ behind-the-scenes reveal shows just how close we came to seeing one of the biggest triple threats in wrestling history take place on the biggest stage.

Do you agree with Seth Rollins that the Shield triple threat should have happened at WrestleMania—or was Battleground good enough? Let us know your thoughts.

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