Full Predictions for Each Member of The Shield Through WrestleMania

The night was November 18, 2012.

In the middle of a Triple Threat match for the WWE Championship that saw CM Punk defend his title against John Cena and Ryback, three NXT standouts jumped the guardrail, attacked Ryback and put him through a table before returning to wherever it was they came from.

Those three young competitors were Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, and in the weeks that followed, they would become known as The Shield and would promise to restore justice to World Wrestling Entertainment.

Their first official match came on December 16 at the TLC pay-per-view. At that show, they met Ryback, Daniel Bryan and Kane in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match that was, in this writer's humble opinion, and with all due respect to Triple H and The Undertaker, the best match of the year.

From there, they would pick up wins over the elite stars in professional wrestling. John Cena, the aforementioned Undertaker, Sheamus, Big Show and Randy Orton all fell in the name of justice.

By May, all three members of the dominant faction were wearing gold.

They accrued losses as time passed but continue to be booked strong. They have remained relevant thanks to their role as enforcers for Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in recent months. More importantly, their in-ring work remains as good as ever, as evidenced by recent matches against the Rhodes brothers, the Usos and Daniel Bryan and CM Punk.

With the road to WrestleMania rapidly approaching, The Shield figures to play a major role on the show. What will it be and will the trio even remain intact until then?

Let's take a look at what the weeks and months ahead have in store for Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins.

November

With CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatt Family already announced for Survivor Series, it frees up The Shield to partake in other bouts.

Based on this past Monday's Raw and the continued interaction between Reigns and Rollins, Goldust and Cody Rhodes and the Usos, it appears as though the former Tag Team champions will be involved in a match with those two teams, as well as No. 1 contenders, Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro.

Expect a traditional Survivor Series elimination tag match that pits Reigns, Rollins, Swagger and Cesaro against the Usos and the Rhodes brothers. Reigns will win the match for his team, further establishing him as the dominant tour de force he is while staking The Shield's claim to another Tag Team title match.

Ambrose, meanwhile, will captain a traditional Survivor Series team of his own. He will join Damien Sandow, Ryback and Curtis Axel in a match against Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston.

Midway through the match, Truth will catch Ambrose with a roll-up and eliminate him from the match, stunning the world.

December

Reigns and Rollins' quest to regain the WWE Tag Team Championship titles will continue into the TLC pay-per-view, where they will meet the Rhodes brothers, the Usos and the Real Americans in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.

As one would expect from a match involving those eight Superstars, it will steal the show and become a late addition to the Match of the Year discussion.

Cesaro and Swagger capitalize on their recent push and capture the titles as Reigns and Rollins' losing streak in title matches continues.

Ambrose, on the other hand, will have his hands full with R-Truth, who receives his second straight shot at a secondary title on a December pay-per-view. Truth will put up a valiant effort against the United States champion but has no real shot of dethroning him.

He will fall victim to the same headlock driver that has beaten some of the most talented performers in the industry over the last year.

All the while, The Shield remains a key part of the Authority angle.

It will also be in December that dissension within the group begins to rear its ugly head. Ambrose will continue to deliver jabs at his teammates for losing another big match and failing to regain the Tag titles while he continues to tout his successes.

Rollins will take notice, but it is Reigns who is growing especially tired of the not-so-subtle knocks on he and his partner.

January

The Shield will remain strong in January, picking up wins as a group despite conflict between Ambrose and Reigns.

At Royal Rumble, that conflict will be amplified when Ambrose sneaks up from behind and eliminates Reigns from the 30-man Battle Royal. The United States champion will remind Reigns of the "every man for himself" concept behind the match, but it will be another case in a long line of instances in which Ambrose is more concerned about himself than his partners.

February

February sees the destruction of The Shield after 15 months of dominance.

During a United States title match between Ambrose and (insert midcard babyface here), Reigns will inadvertently catch his teammate with a spear, setting him up to lose the title after nearly a year as champion.

Ambrose will confront Reigns after the match, and the latter will finally unleash his frustrations on Ambrose. The two will brawl around the ring. When Seth Rollins attempts to separate them, he will be shoved aside by Reigns.

At Elimination Chamber, Reigns will meet Ambrose in a one-on-one match but will fall in defeat when Rollins catches him with a flying knee to the back of the head.

It will appear as though Rollins and Ambrose have decided to remain together, but that will only be the case for a short time.

March

Reigns spends all of March taking on Rollins and Ambrose in a number of different scenarios. He will meet them in singles matches, in handicap matches and in handicap elimination matches.

After one memorable loss to Reigns, Ambrose will browbeat Rollins, blaming him for a loss. Rollins will respond by attacking Ambrose, signaling the complete collapse of he group.

It will be announced that, at WrestleMania XXX in New Orleans, the three former members of The Shield will meet in a Triple Threat match that is reminiscent of the one between Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase that signaled the end of Legacy in 2010.

April 6, 2014

In the biggest match of the three young stars' careers, Reigns will pin Ambrose following a spear and pick up the win en route to a major push that sees him become a legitimate main event threat later in the year.

Conclusion

Trying to predict what will happen between now and WrestleMania XXX in six months is impossible. Considering today's creative process in WWE consists of constant rewrites and last-minute booking decisions, the landscape of the company is ever-changing.

To list predictions as I have above is more in the realm of fantasy booking than any legitimate hypothesis or prognostication.

The one thing that seems certain is that Roman Reigns will be the immediate breakout star of the post-Shield WWE.

Recently, the staff of WWE.com discussed the next WWE champion. Reigns was not only one of the Superstars included, he was featured on the front page of the website with the WWE Championship in his grasp.

Regardless of whether that photo is manipulated or not is irrelevant. It was clearly an image the company wanted to tease, and even now, relatively early in his career, he has the look of a champion.

Ambrose and Rollins will go on to achieve great success in the company and may have more long-term upside than Reigns, but they will be positioned as the heels following the breakup and will have larger hills to climb to get to the promised land.