What's Next for Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins After Stunning Shield Breakup?

This past Monday Night Raw was an emotional roller coaster. Emotions ran high for the fans and The Shield itself as Roman Reigns kicked off the show by vacating the Universal Championship and announcing he has leukemia.

There was a huge upswing at the end of the night, though, when Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre to capture the Raw Tag Team Championships.

It was a much-needed win after the massive loss from earlier, but immediately after the celebration started, all that joy was reversed again as Ambrose turned on Rollins, destroying what was left of The Shield.

Raw ended in a frenzy with so many questions and no answers, so let's try to make sense of what is going to happen next.

What About the Raw Tag Team Championship?

Starting off a tag team title run with a split spells doom for Ambrose and Rollins as champions, so it seems likely they'll be dropping the belts soon enough.

Braun Strowman's interference could give Baron Corbin grounds to render the title win void, striking it from the record books and awarding the titles back to McIntyre and Ziggler as if the loss never happened.

Alternatively, since they are entitled to a rematch, Ziggler and McIntyre could simply reclaim the belts that way, especially if Ambrose were to leave Rollins to fight the battle in a handicap match, just to solidify his status as the heel in this feud.

However, there is actually still a chance they keep the belts a little while longer.

Ambrose had been struggling with conflicting thoughts on whether to be loyal or turn on his friends and even expressed frustration at being called The Lunatic Fringe. It would be interesting if WWE played into this by giving him somewhat of a split-personality angle.

That would be an explanation for his sudden turn after such a joyous victory and set the two up for a complex story to unfold.

Sometimes Rollins could be teaming with his best friend who has his back and would fight to the death by his side, like when they won the titles. Other times Rollins could be forced to tag with someone who has it out for him and would gladly pull the trigger with The Architect in the crosshairs, like what happened immediately after the title win.

Credit: WWE.com

Sooner or later, they'll have to lose, but until the inevitable happens, that dichotomy could provide an interesting storyline between evil Ambrose and heroic Ambrose.

Then, when push comes to shove and the two are ready to fight in singles action, evil Ambrose will be able to fully take charge and the story can shift to the other title.

What About the Intercontinental Championship?

Lately, so much attention had been put on The Shield as a team that the Intercontinental Championship was pushed aside for the time being.

Once Ambrose and Rollins lose the Raw Tag Team Championships, all of that unity will go out the window and the intercontinental title will once again be a focal point.

But since this is more of a personal feud, rather than one that revolves around a quest for gold, will WWE take that out of the equation?

If the belt won't be a part of their story, it's best for Rollins to drop that, too. He could have a random match against someone like Bobby Lashley and Ambrose could come out to interfere and cost him the title.

That would free Ambrose and Rollins from the shackles of having a belt between them, as well as give more of a purpose to whoever the new champion would be.

However, WWE may just keep this simple by having Ambrose really drive home his turn by being the one to take the title away from Rollins.

After all, he did tease that he could have been the champion had he opted to fight Rollins when Corbin gave him the option. Maybe that is still weighing on his mind.

Ideally, WrestleMania would be a great time to see this story unfold and put a major spotlight on the title with these two surrounding it, but this angle is too hot right now. WWE can't extinguish the flames and hope to restart the fire in five months.

There's a chance the Survivor Series card allows for some freedom to avoid the two clashing in singles competition, but by the time TLC comes along, they'll be overdue for a true confrontation.

That's enough time for Rollins to drop the belt to someone else via interference from Ambrose if that's the route WWE is going, but if Rollins still has it in December, Ambrose needs to become the new champion.

That would give them some breathing room to keep feuding until 2019 when they'd have to go their separate ways for WrestleMania, likely with Ambrose defending the Intercontinental Championship and Rollins up to something else.

When Will They Reunite?

The Shield has broken up before, but they got back together, just like all stables tend to do. That is why Evolution was able to reform temporarily and why D-Generation X and even nWo still roll together every so often.

Somewhere down the line, Ambrose and Rollins will be fighting on the same side again. It's not a question of if, but when.

The easy prediction is that this happens when Reigns is healthy enough to return. He can be the reason they set aside their differences because once The Big Dog is back, fans will want to see The Hounds of Justice together again.

Of course, the timetable for that is completely unknown. It may not be for quite a while, unfortunately, so patience will be necessary.

Ambrose and Rollins are brothers in arms and no matter how bad things get, fights can lead to reconciliation and family eventually always finds a way to come back home.

In the meantime, let's see how Rollins and Ambrose manage to take two championships, the strong bonds of friendship and the painful stings of a breakup, mix that all together and turn it into what is sure to be one of the best feuds over the next few months. 

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.