The road to SummerSlam now runs through a Shield reunion of a different kind.
The June 29 edition of WWE Raw closed with Seth Rollins interrupting a promo from Roman Reigns, setting the stage for a blockbuster showdown. Rollins told Reigns that he was holding a championship that rightfully belonged to him and declared that it was “time to collect.”
Reigns wasn’t having it, firing back that Rollins was at the back of the line and had not earned another title opportunity. That prompted Rollins to run down a lengthy history of getting the better of his former Shield brother, claiming he had “owned” Reigns for years.
Rollins pointed to several moments as evidence: helping Cody Rhodes defeat Reigns at WrestleMania 40, beating Reigns himself at WrestleMania 41, the fact that Reigns never managed to defeat him during his four-year world title reign, and cashing in his Money in the Bank contract at WrestleMania 31. He also reminded Reigns that he was the one who ended The Shield by driving a chair into his back.
Rollins offered Reigns one final chance to beat him, warning that the opportunity might not come again with a new generation of stars on the rise. While acknowledging that Reigns has assembled a Hall of Fame-worthy career, Rollins cautioned that if Reigns turned the match down, he would never escape the “Ghost of Seth Rollins.”
Ultimately, Reigns admitted that he needed to beat Rollins and accepted the challenge. The two former Shield brothers will collide at SummerSlam.