For any WWE fan, The Shield faction means Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose (now Jon Moxley in AEW). The group made its main roster debut during the headliner of the 2012 Survivor Series. Today, it’s hard to imagine the dominant faction with anyone other than these three men. However, at one point, there were plans for The Shield to make its debut with a 4th member. And it was none other than Big E who WWE wanted to align with the group initially.
Before featuring anything on TV, WWE often test-runs its storylines and other creative ideas in live events. And before The Shield made its debut, the group was doing loops on house shows with a 4th member.
Big E once recalled how The Shield could have debuted with a 4th member
Big E, in his WWE 24 Documentary, went down memory lane and talked about the main roster call-ups in 2012. He recalled doing loops alongside Roman, Seth, and Dean, and revealed that there were plans for The Shield to have a 4th member. He stated:
“There was some thought of bringing all four of us in together as a group. Obviously, that changes…”
Unfortunately, the plans were dropped, and he ended up making his main roster debut separately. Big E was paired with Dolph Ziggler and AJ, and the plan for him was to attack John Cena.
Big E admitted that being the 4th member of The Shield would have been fun. However, whatever decisions were made by WWE turned out to be the best for everyone.
The former WWE champion believes Roman’s role as the enforcer wouldn’t have felt the same as he was in the group. As a matter of fact, it was hard for him to imagine there was a chance he could have been the 4th member of The Shield.
Former WWE superstar Dean Ambrose also thought Big E would have joined them on the main roster
Dean Ambrose, who is now Jon Moxley in AEW, talked about his WWE main roster call-up in his book MOX. The former WWE superstar thought either some or all four of them might debut together.
However, it was later revealed to them that WWE had other plans for Big E. Eventually, fans saw The Shield debuting as a three-member group instead of four.
Big E himself became a part of a faction (The New Day) on the main roster that went on to become one of the fan favorites. He also won his first WWE championship in 2021 after cashing his Money in the Bank briefcase.
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