100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever

58. Cracks Within The Shield (2014)

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Edge
WWE

The 2014 Royal Rumble is such a strange one to revisit, with this the final WWE appearance of CM Punk for nine years, the return of Batista, and infamously the Rumble where poor Rey Mysterio was booed out of the building because he wasn’t Daniel Bryan. This was also the Royal Rumble where the cracks really started to show in The Shield.

By this point, it was extremely clear that WWE viewed Roman Reigns as the breakout star of The Shield, and it was only a matter of time before the group went their separate ways. While Roman, Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins would work together in dominant fashion - amassing a whopping 18 eliminations between them - that teamwork would crash to a halt thanks to Ambrose.

Spotting an opportunity to toss Roman Reigns over the top rope, this plan not only spectacularly backfired on Ambrose, but it also saw Seth Rollins eliminated, too. After the Lunatic Fringe had failed in his attempt to eliminate Roman, the Big Dog repaid the favour by throwing out both of his Shield buddies.

Unsurprisingly, The Shield would be no more just five months later. The only real surprise, though, was that it was Rollins as the one to turn on his brothers, not Dean Ambrose.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.