...24 hours after The Shield had defeated Evolution in a gripping elimination six-man war at June 2014's Payback pay-per-view, Batista walked out on Triple H completely, leading to Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose closing the show with a united front to prove their dominance over the fallen heels.
'The Game' and Randy Orton swaggered out to confront them, with Hunter noting coyly that he always had a "Plan B". It was the cue for Rollins to annihilate his two 'brothers' with a steel chair. So the story eventually revealed, at some point during the day, Hunter had paid off 'The Architect', and offered him an accelerated ascent in the ranks of the Authority. He took the opportunity.
Rollins was loathed for ripping the heart out of such a popular unit, and his subsequent feud with Dean Ambrose harnessed all that sympathy into an initially prosperous run for the 'Lunatic Fringe'.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
