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CM Punk and Roman Reigns’ Heated WWE History, Explained

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Heading into WrestleMania 42 WWE’s two biggest stars — CM Punk and Roman Reigns — are re-igniting a near 15-year long feud.

Punk was on top of the WWE in 2012 as Champion, and everyone wanted a piece of him. As the story goes, he pitched a three-man group of mercenaries to protect him and the title.

The Shield was CM Punk’s idea

Originally, the group was going to consist of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Punk’s long-time friend Chris Hero. Reigns later replaced Hero. The Shield debuted at Survivor Series in 2012 and at first, they were aligned with Punk. However, they quickly used their power as a trio to wreak havoc on the men’s division and they started taking titles of their own. In 2026, The Shield is regarded as one of the greatest WWE factions of all time, helping launch the careers of all three men.

“They wanted Roman Reigns. They came to me and they were like ‘what about........

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