Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have been at the top of WWE since arriving on the main roster in 2012 as The Shield with Dean Ambrose. After a few splits and reunions, Ambrose left the Stamford-based company and became Jon Moxley in Tony Khan’s AEW, while Rollins and Reigns have dominated WWE’s main event scene.
All three members of The Shield have done battle against each other. WWE held the 11th Rollins vs. Reigns televised singles bout as the main event of SummerSlam Sunday this past August. The 33-minute spectacular saw Roman retain the World Heavyweight Championship, which tied up their televised singles series at 5-5 with one double count-out.
Rollins recently spoke with ESPN New York and revealed his true thoughts on the SummerSlam loss to Reigns. Peter Rosenberg touted the match as an absolute masterpiece, and asked Seth how happy he was, personally and professionally, with how the bout went down.
I think it was a core moment in my career. I think it really put a kind of a stamp on the last decade or more of what WWE has become from when The Shield came in in 2012, to now as we’re starting to transition out of our era into whatever the next generation is going to be,” Rollins said. “I think it really kind of put a stamp on that, and that was a lot of pressure going in.
Rollins continued and mentioned how there are Shield-related hurdles with Moxley being in AEW.
You know… we’re missing one of our core guys in Mox, who’s over in AEW, and I think that, you know… when it’s just the two of you who’ve been here and not left, and kind of went through all of the bad times to get to the goods times… there’s a lot of pressure to do that story, and I think the fan expectation, uh, service, and I felt really proud of the fact that we were able to do that, and I think deliver what our audience really enjoyed,” Rollins said. “I appreciate the kind words. I had a lot of fun. Roman is, you know… one of the best there is, and we’ve always had a tremendous chemistry, whether we’re on the same side or against each other. So, I came out of it feeling really, really good, happy to have that one done, I think. We started with a bang, we had a lot of great moments in the middle, and that felt like a nice kind of closing chapter to sort of see what the next one is going to be.
The Architect reiterated that the door is open for another showdown with The Tribal Chief. Rosenberg asked the inaugural NXT Champion to predict if SummerSlam 2026 was the last major Rollins vs. Reigns singles bout.
I don’t know that that’s the case. I think it closed the loop on The Shield as a… you know, the betrayal story. I felt like I think it closed the loop on that. I felt it allowed both of our characters to move in different directions, and so we’re not tethered to that chair-shot from 12 years ago,” Rollins said. “You know… we can kind of take the characters as we have over the years, but there’s always been that sort of through-line. I think now it feels like… that’s sort of, for better or worse, complete. But you know… I’m 40, Roman’s 41, I think, maybe 42, I’m not sure. But, I mean… we still got time. We’re still in the prime of our careers. So, never say never. I think you could always come back to it. I don’t think either of us are going anywhere from the top of the card anytime soon. So, as long as there are titles to be won and legacies to be made, I can see it happening again.
Rollins is currently being held off WWE TV with his Money In The Bank status up in the air. Seth last wrestled on the live event tour of South America in early September, which were his first four shows since the SummerSlam loss.
