If you’re lucky enough to prove your worth as a performer in WWE, it’s possible to rack up a whole lot of accolades and titles in short order. For example, company golden boy and fan … whatever the opposite of “golden boy” is, Roman Reigns, is already a three-time WWE Champion. But there are some accomplishments that are still pretty, pretty, pretty rare.
Take the WWE Grand Slam. This is a lifetime accomplishment that — under its current format — consists of an individual having won a world title (currently this means either the Universal Championship or the WWE Championship), a tag team title, and both secondary titles (the Intercontinental Championship and the United States Championship). Only 16 wrestlers have ever achieved that feat, and only eight under its current format (including four men who were already grand slam champs under the old format).
Something that was kind of a surprise to many was that the most recent WWE Superstar to complete the Grand Slam was Dean Ambrose, who sealed the deal by winning the Raw Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam alongside Seth Rollins. By doing so, Ambrose became the first member of the vaunted Shield threesome to be a Grand Slam champion. That meant both Rollins and Reigns would need to secure the Intercontinental Championship one day to join him in those hallowed ranks.
On Monday, Reigns finally captured his missing title, when he defeated The Miz to win his first Intercontinental Championship and become the 17th Grand Slam champion.
Now, suddenly, Rollins — the first member of the Shield to become a world champion — is the odd man out of the Grand Slam club. He’ll get there someday, but for now he’ll have to settle for having the best abs in the Shield. (We think; Roman doesn’t get photographed topless very often.)
