#1 William Regal
Before Dean Ambrose became a Shield member and William Regal was given the role of NXT General Manager, the two men were involved in two matches on FCW television in 2011 and 2012.
Regal was victorious in the first meeting – a 15-minute match in October 2011 – and it turned out to be the penultimate win of his WWE career, with his final televised victory coming against Kassius Ohno on NXT in March 2013. The second encounter with Ambrose, in June 2012, also lasted 15 minutes before it ended in a no contest.
Around the time of the second match, there was plenty of buzz around Ambrose after he confronted Mick Foley while he was signing autographs during the week of WrestleMania XXVIII. However, Foley was unable to get medical clearance to face the relatively unknown Ambrose, so the incident did not result in a match.
A few months later, and without having any experience on NXT television, Ambrose joined forces with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in November 2012 to form The Shield.