Every since the Shield broke up in 2014, the three members have gone on to very successful singles careers. But while Dean Ambrose was the vocal leader of the trio during their run together, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins began to accumulate major titles faster than Ambrose – Reigns and Rollins had both had World title runs prior to Ambrose claiming his. But this Sunday at SummerSlam, Dean Ambrose has a chance to hit a milestone – not just personally, but in the WWE – that neither Rollins nor Reigns have yet to accomplish: become the 16th member of the WWE Grand Slam club.
In professional wrestling (most notably the WWE and GFW), a Grand Slam Champion is someone who has one four titles with the company: a World title, a Tag Team title, and two secondary singles titles (the Intercontinental and US titles) or a secondary and tertiary (the Intercontinental plus either the European or Hardcore).
While many have decried that the Cruiserweight title should be considered part of the Grand Slam eligibility list, it appears because it’s a specific weight class, it isn’t available to every wrestler, so therefore is ineligible.
Grand Slambrose: Dean Ambrose On The Verge
The first man to do it in the WWF was “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels in 1997, when he won the WWF European Championship, adding to his trophy case of a WWF World Heavyweight title, WWF World Tag Team title, and WWF Intercontinental title (Shawn Michaels himself coined the term “Grand Slam Champion”). Since Michaels accomplished the feat, only fourteen other men in WWE history have been able to lay claim to the Grand Slam Champion tag.
Triple H, 2001
Accomplished by: Winning the WWF World Tag Team Titles with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, April 29, 2001
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWF European, WWF World Tag Team
Kane, 2001
Accomplished by: Winning the WWF Intercontinental title, May 20, 1991
Grand Slam: WWF World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF Hardcore
Chris Jericho, 2001
Accomplished by: Winning the WWF World title, December 9, 2001
Grand Slam: WWF World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF European
Kurt Angle, 2002
Accomplished by: Winning the WWE Tag Team titles with Chris Benoit, October 20, 2002
Grand Slam: WWF World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWE Tag Team, WWF European
Eddie Guerrero, 2004
Accomplished by: Winning the World Heavyweight title, February 15, 2004
Grand Slam: World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWE Tag Team, WWF European
Edge, 2006
Accomplished by: Winning the WWE World title, January 8, 2006
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWF Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWE United States
Rob Van Dam, 2006
Accomplished by: Winning the WWE World Heavyweight title, June 11, 2006
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWE World Tag Team, WWF Hardcore
Booker T, 2006
Accomplished by: Winning the World Heavyweight title, July 23, 2006
Grand Slam: World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF Hardcore
Jeff Hardy, 2008
Accomplished by: Winning the WWE World title, December 14, 2008
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF Hardcore
JBL, 2009
Accomplished by: Winning the WWE Intercontinental title, March 9, 2009
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF European
Christian, 2011
Accomplished by: Winning the World Heavyweight title, May 1, 2011
Grand Slam: World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF European
Big Show, 2012
Accomplished by: Winning the Intercontinental title, April 1, 2012
Grand Slam: WWF World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWF World Tag Team, WWF Hardcore
The Miz, 2012
Accomplished by: Winning the Intercontinental title, July 23, 2012
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWE United States, WWE Tag Team
Daniel Bryan, 2015
Accomplished by: Winning the Intercontinental title, March 29, 2015
Grand Slam: WWE World Heavyweight, WWE Intercontinental, WWE United States, WWE Tag Team
With Dean Ambrose already having held the WWE World Heavyweight title, WWE Intercontinental title and WWE United States title, he needs just the a run as WWE Tag Team champ to complete the circuit (Reigns and Rollins both only have World, United States and Tag Team). And this Sunday at SummerSlam, should the reunited Ambrose and Rollins defeat Sheamus and Cesaro for the Raw Tag Team titles, then WWE’s resident lunatic fringe will become the 16th man in WWE history to join the Grand Slam Championship club.
