Roman Reigns replaced CM Punk's personal pick in The Shield: Who was he?

The Shield was one of the most iconic stables in WWE, consisting of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Jon Moxley (fka Dean Ambrose). The group debuted in 2012 when they served as mercenaries for CM Punk. In fact, Punk originally played a part in picking members of The Shield, and The OTC ended up replacing his original choice.

This leads to the question, who did CM Punk originally want in The Shield? Looking back, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Roman Reigns in the group. But, according to The Best in the World's sworn enemy, Seth Rollins, former WWE Superstar, Chris Hero was meant to be the third man alongside himself and Moxley.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Seth Rollins revealed that when Punk was originally approached with the idea, it was to have The Shield be his bodyguards, rather than mercenaries hired by Paul Heyman. With that in mind, Punk actually wanted Hero, Rollins, and Moxley. However, WWE was sold on Roman Reigns, so as a compromise, he was included in the group instead of Hero.

"Punk liked myself and Moxley, and I think Chris Hero actually was his pick at the time to be the third guy, cause he had Chris had a long history. But, "they" really liked Roman, "they" being the office and WWE. You know, they weren't sold on Chris yet," revealed Seth Rollins.

It's hard to imagine how things would've unfolded if Hero was in The Shield instead of Reigns. Would he have had the same level of success as the 39-year-old? There really is no telling.

Roman Reigns will enter SmackDown as the one and only Tribal Chief

2025 has been a good year so far for Roman Reigns. He kicked off the year with his appearance on WWE RAW's premiere on Netflix, where he took on Solo Sikoa in Tribal Combat. The winner of the match would walk away with the Ula Fala and the right to be the one and only Tribal Chief.

Now, heading into this week's SmackDown, Reigns will be a very happy man. After all, he will be walking in with the Ula Fala around his neck, and the OG Bloodline on top. It's a good day to be The OTC, but that doesn't mean he is out of the woods just yet.

While he may have dealt with Solo Sikoa, The Street Champion is unlikely to be gracious in defeat. The same goes for Drew McIntyre, who lost to Jey Uso on Monday, but will still have his eye on revenge. It will be interesting to see what Reigns' first Friday back as the only Tribal Chief brings.