4 famous wrestling factions that almost had different members

#3 The Shield

The Shield could have looked very different

Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose debuted at Survivor Series 2012 as three relatively unknown guys from NXT. Five years on, they’re three of the most successful, popular names in WWE.

However, had CM Punk liked the original idea that was presented to him by head writer Eric Pankowski, the last five years of WWE could have been very different.

Pankowski’s suggestion was for Punk to be the leader of a heel faction including Rollins, Big Show and Daniel Bryan, but "The Best In The World" immediately shot it down and suggested that he should be aligned with Rollins, Ambrose and Kassius Ohno.

WWE liked the idea but, as the Chicago native told Colt Cabana on the infamous episode of his Art of Wrestling podcast, they chose Reigns instead of Ohno to be the third member of The Shield, with Punk – originally set to be the leader of a new faction – continuing as a singles wrestler.