“Nooooo!!!” his scream rang through the arena.  Chants of “you sold out” soon followed, while feelings of disgust, horror, rage, shock, sadness, nausea, confusion and for some, glee, emanated through the hearts of many.  For others, namely those closely connected, their sentiment was nothing short of a feeling of betrayal – a knife to the core.

 

The week after the chair shot heard around the world mutilated the already bruised and battered back of Roman Reigns, which resulted from a brutal encounter against Evolution at the Payback pay-per-view, fans cry out, “Why, Seth, Why?”  Why did Seth Rollins betray his partners…his teammates…and in the words of Roman Reigns just minutes before the vicious attack – his “brothers”?

 

The attack came just one night after a glorious defeat of Evolution at Payback.  In their second epic encounter – an elimination, no holds barred match – each member of The Shield eliminated a member of Evolution.  It was a shut-out, and The Shield looked stronger than ever.  So, again, why, Seth…why?

 

The members of Evolution seemed to take the defeat with slight modicum of grace.  Batista declared that he wanted to move beyond the war with The Shield; when told that this would not be the case, he quit.  Randy simply agreed with Triple H that they “never lose” and perhaps, they could have some redemption through Randy’s defeat of Roman Reigns in a standard match later that evening.

 

After celebrating their victory from the Payback event, Roman, with his “brothers” at his side, stood in the ring prepared to face Randy Orton.  But something was off when Randy (and his Evolution partner, Triple H) came to ringside.  There was no Batista; there was a sledge hammer; and there was a “plan B.”  Plan A – a defeat over The Shield at Payback – failed.  Dean Ambrose seemed not to care about plan B; he stepped forward towards Triple H and Randy Orton, as if to say, “bring on plan B or any other plan for that matter; we’re ready for it.”  Roman Reigns seemed a bit less confident, though he stepped forward, too.  His reaction was of uncertainty, as he looked to the right at Dean and then to the left at Seth.  Seth, with a chair handy (originally thought to ward off the super powers of Triple H’s sledgehammer), nodded slightly at Roman’s silent inquiry of this plan B.  So what was plan B?  Would the Wyatts enter the ring and attack The Shield from behind?  Would a supposedly retired, CM Punk enter the fray?  Would Batista change his mind and return, as he did once before?

 

Following Seth’s nod to Roman, plan B happened.  “Nooooo!!!” a fan’s scream rang through the arena, as all watched Seth position himself behind Roman and swing the chair, landing it squarely on Roman’s back.  Roman dropped to his knees.  Dean stood stunned at the sight before him.  His face told a story of abject confusion.  Could this be happening?  Could his brother truly be a traitor?  Dean charged toward Seth and then suffered the same fate as his fallen partner.  He was planted on the mat after a brutal chair shot, and the beatings ensued.  The fans became irate.  Chants toward Seth of “you sold out” soon followed, while feelings of disgust, horror, rage, shock, sadness, nausea, confusion and for some, glee, emanated through the hearts of many.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seth Rollins committed one of the most shocking acts of treachery in the history of wrestling.  And there have been many…from Shawn Michaels ending his tag team with Marty Jannetty to Hulk Hogan turning his back on WCW and joining the NWO to Steve Austin joining The Alliance.  For those closely connected, their sentiment is nothing short of a feeling of betrayal – a knife to the core.  Following the match, Roman Reigns posted a tweet expressing this very emotion: “Trust for me is dead,” he tweeted.  As for the fans, we are left asking “Why?  Why, Seth…why did you do it?  We believed in The Shield.  Why didn’t you?”