When The Shield waited backstage all night and WWE didn't use them

Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins burst onto the scene as The Shield at WWE Survivor Series 2012. The main event saw CM Punk retain the WWE Championship against John Cena and Ryback, with the latter becoming the three-man group's first target.

A month earlier, Punk also defeated Ryback at Hell in a Cell 2012 after receiving help from crooked referee Brad Maddox. Behind the scenes, the relatively unknown Ambrose, Reigns, and Rollins waited around, hoping to receive their first main roster opportunity.

In 2019, Rollins revealed on E&C's Pod of Awesomeness that The Shield's debut was originally due to happen that night:

"We were all at the pay-per-view excited, didn't really know what was going on, nobody was really talking to us and we were there, and we were ready to do something but we didn't know what was gonna happen or anything like that. And then no one approached us all day and nothing happened." (H/T ewrestling)

It is unclear what WWE's decision-makers had planned for The Shield if they were to debut at Hell in a Cell. Based on their Survivor Series booking, they would almost certainly have played a part in CM Punk's title defense against Ryback.

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Dean Ambrose also spoke about The Shield's delayed WWE debut

Jon Moxley, formerly known as Dean Ambrose in WWE, wrote about his experiences as a Shield member in his 2021 book MOX.

The AEW star recalled how Big E was also present backstage at Hell in a Cell 2012. At one stage, it looked as though the former Intercontinental Champion was going to become the fourth member of The Shield:

"Me, Seth, Roman, and Big E were all in Atlanta for the Hell in a Cell PPV," Moxley wrote. "If there was truth to these [debut] rumors, this mystery angle would likely involve some or all of us — we didn't know who. We didn't even know what it was, but we speculated we might all be in a group together. We were getting little bits and pieces of intel, enough that we learned that whatever was going down wasn't gonna go down tonight, after all."

While The Shield eventually debuted at Survivor Series 2012, Big E's first main roster appearance took place a month later. He made an instant impact on the December 17, 2012, episode of RAW by attacking John Cena.

What are your favorite memories of The Shield? Let us know in the comments section below.