Last night (Jan. 26), the WWE hosted its annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV). The ending of the eponymous match was met with nearly unanimous disdain from those watching, including WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley and the thousands of fans in the Consol Energy Center, who mercilessly booed winner Batista (and anyone who was not Daniel Bryan for that matter).

However, one aspect of the match that has been praised was the long-expected monster push of Shield member Roman Reigns. While the Shield have been perhaps the best booked stable in years, running roughshod over the WWE since their debut way back in November 2012 at Survivor Series, in recent months the cracks have been propagating in their foundation. As any professional wrestling fan knows, these break-ups are best used to give one of the members a strong singles push.

If you told fans back in 2012 that the Shield would be breaking up around this time, they would’ve had no time believing you. However, if you told them that the former Leakee, Roman Reigns, would be the breakout star of the group, they’d probably be taken aback. When the Shield first formed, most thought of Reigns as the lucky one riding on the coattails of indie darlings Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

Fast forward to 2014 and Reigns has not only the most momentum behind him out of the group, but his superiority has been plainly stated on WWE television. While the writing has been on the wall since Reigns was the only member able to beat CM Punk in a one-on-one match, Reigns’ performance last night sealed the deal.

Over the course of the Rumble match, Reigns’ first, the powerhouse of the Shield eliminated 12 superstars, breaking a 13-year-old record set by Kane when he eliminated 11 superstars back in the 2001 Royal Rumble. Notable eliminations included a violent toss of Kofi Kingston (who saved himself from elimination not once, but twice, in spectacular fashion earlier in the match), his superman punch on Luke Harper, and of course, his triple elimination of Antonio Cesaro and teammates Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

The betrayal of his teammates, especially after Rollins prevented Ambrose from eliminating Reings earlier in the match, was perhaps the coup de grâce to those still holding out for the Shield to stay united.

Also of note is that Reigns’ record-breaking elimination of 2012 Rumble winner Sheamus left the Samoan-American in the final two with eventual winner Batista. What was remarkable was that even the Batista is being billed as the conquering hero and his return popped a big rating on the Jan. 20 edition of Raw, the crowd turned on “The Animal” and were firmly behind the upstart Reigns.

So where do we go from here?

The obvious answer is a match at Wresltemania. I don’t expect the Shield to be completely finished when we tune into Raw tonight. I’m holding out for at least one more of their brilliant six-man tags at February’s Elimination Chamber PPV; hopefully in the chamber itself.

In the weeks between Elimination Chamber and Wrestlemania, however, I fully expect Reigns to fragment from the rest of the group. The way things are looking now, Reigns is most likely to face-off with Ambrose at ‘Mania with Rollins playing the part of the conflicted.

Reigns and his spear, the best protected finisher in the company, should have a nice run with Ambrose’s United States Championship and by this time next year should either be winning the Rumble or on his way to breaking the Undertaker’s streak.

As far as Rollins and Ambrose go? The rumor mill is indicating that we will see them continuing the Shield with a new member. My pick: Leo Kruger. I know he’s going by “Adam Rose” now, but his South African hunter gimmick compliments the Shield perfectly, and I mean hey, at least we know he can dress the part.

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