The Shield - Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose - stood tall in what was advertised as their final match as a team at WWE Fastlane. It's been a tumultuous last few years for the legendary faction, as it's seemed like every time WWE attempted a reunion, something unfortunate happened to cut it short. Following their initial breakup in 2014, the trio were first set to reunite for a match at TLC 2017 in October, only for Reigns to fall briefly ill, and Kurt Angle to come out of retirement and take his place at the show.
Following Reigns' return after a month or so, things seemed back on track, until Ambrose went down with a triceps injury in December. He was out for an abnormally long time for such an injury, not returning to the ring until August 2018. The Shield reunited again for a bit, only for Reigns to have to take time off in October 2018 to battle a recurrence of his previously undisclosed leukemia. Reigns returned to WWE on February 25, 2019, announced that his cancer was in remission, and quickly made clear his desire to reunite The Shield once again.
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The problem this time is that Ambrose is set to leave WWE after WrestleMania in April, as he's declined to sign a new contract with the company. Unusually for WWE, they're openly acknowledging this fact, and heading into tonight's WWE Fastlane event, the 6-man tag team match between The Shield and the team of Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, and Baron Corbin was promoted as Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose's possibly last in-ring hurrah as a group. As one might expect, The Shield made the night count.
The match between The Shield and McIntyre's heel team proved to be a chaotic brawl of epic proportions, which saw fighting all over the arena, and the "Scottish Psychopath" getting sent through a table courtesy of The Shield's trademark triple powerbomb. Reigns looked terrific in his first actual match since returning from battling cancer, diving over the top rope, pulling out his flying drive-by dropkick, and generally kicking copious amounts of butt. In the end, The Shield emerged victorious after triple powerbombing and pinning Corbin in the ring.
In the scripted but often mysterious world of WWE, many fans are wondering whether Ambrose is really planning to leave the company, or if this is all some kind of storyline. After all, it's odd for WWE to be this open with their fans about an upcoming departure. If this truly was The Shield's last match as a team though, they have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.