10 Photos showing Roman Reigns' WWE transformation

#8 The Shield’s debut

The turtle necks did not last for long

Heading into the Survivor Series 2012 pay-per-view, much of the talk surrounded CM Punk and the potential end of his year-long WWE Championship reign ahead of his Triple Threat title defence against arch-enemy John Cena and the up-and-coming Ryback.

In the end, everybody was left talking about three relatively unknown Superstars – Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose – who made a huge impact in the main event by triple-powerbombing Ryback through the announce desk, helping CM Punk to retain his title.

Fun fact: As well as wearing questionable turtle neck attire, The Shield were originally supposed to carry shields with them for their debut. However, Vince McMahon felt it made them look weak, so the idea was dropped on the day of the PPV.

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#7 Tag Team Champions

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns held the Tag Team titles

After taking out major Superstars including John Cena, Randy Orton and Sheamus, one of The Shield’s first milestone moments as a trio came at Extreme Rules 2013 when all three members of the villainous group won titles on the main roster for the first time.

Dean Ambrose defeated Kofi Kingston earlier in the night to win the United States Championship, while Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins began their dominant reign as Tag Team Champions by defeating Team Hell No duo Daniel Bryan and Kane.