They'll go through hell to end The Nexus
Due to injuries suffered at SummerSlam; Ambrose, Roman, Apple Bloom & Scootaloo were declared unable to compete for the time being.
While The former Shield and The Crusaders were gone, the likes of John Cena, Daniel Bryan & Prime Time Players stepped up to deal with The Nexus.
So matches for the next PPV were set, at Night of Champions it was gonna be Bryan's rematch for the Intercontinental Title against Ryback, Slater & Gabriel challenging the Prime Time Players for the Tag Team Titles, the non-title Ziggler & Neville vs. Otunga & Tarver & Wade Barrett vs. John Cena for the United States Championship.
Prior to the PPV on an episode of RAW, The Nexus had attempted to persuade Daniel Bryan & Darren Young to rejoin the group, those two being former Nexus members themselves, Bryan only for a week though, Barrett had the microphone, making his statement to the two Nexus alumni.
"Bryan, Darren, you both have history with us, when The Nexus first arrived you two were part of that, you helped us take this company by force, we made an impact as 8 rookies from NXT invading the Main Event of RAW and left the WWE Universe talking, especially after laying John Cena to waste, if you two join us again we can do ten times the damage we've done before, so what say you?"
Darren & Bryan looked to each other, then to Barrett, Bryan took the mic.
"You think I should join you? When I was chosen as the scapegoat for the Nexus Invasion, you all did absolutely nothing to help get me back, I was able to come back because the fans wanted me back that much, and what happened when I came back? I helped defeat you at SummerSlam, a month later I won the United States Championship, so as for if I should come back? My answer is NO! NO! NO!"
Bryan did the arm gestures while saying "NO!" and then Darren grabbed the mic, "You all labeled me The Weakest Link of The Nexus, why in my right mind would I rejoin the same group that dumped me like that, when you can likely do it again, me and Titus have done more together than you in a long time Barrett! My answer is no too!"
Barrett sighed, "Shame really, unfortunately, if you're not Nexus...then you're against us!" Barrett then kicked Darren and attacked Bryan, soon the rest of the Nexus stormed the ring to beat down the two men.
Eventually the other Anti-Nexus group came in to fend them off, the Nexus wasn't gonna go all out yet, but they were ready for war.
Come Night of Champions, the matches came to fruition, Ryback defeated Daniel Bryan with his Shellshock to retain the Intercontinental Title, Ziggler & Neville defeated Otunga & Tarver after a Zig Zag to Red Arrow combination on Otunga, Slater & Gabriel defeated The Prime Time Players to win The Tag Team Titles following a 450 Splash from Gabriel to Darren and Barrett managed to defeat John Cena for the US Title following a failed Attitude Adjustment, and a Bull Hammer Elbow.
After the match, the Nexus ran in to beat down John Cena, soon the other Anti-Nexus members came, but this time The Nexus was ready, they were able to fight off the assault from the rebels.
Then all of a sudden, 'Retaliation' played through the arena, the Nexus members looked tot he stage and out came Dean Ambrose with a Kendo stick in hand and attacked the Nexus members, going crazy with the Kendo stick.
During the scuffle, 'The Truth Reigns' played and Roman also came out and hit a Superman punch on several Nexus guys.
Afterwards, 'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders' intstrumental played and Apple Bloom along with Scootaloo ran to the ring to help fend off The Nexus.
"Ambrose! Reigns! Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! They're back, and they want revenge!"
Soon The Nexus cleared the ring and Barrett grabbed his US Title to show it off, indicating that he's the real winner here.
The Next day on RAW, The Nexus came out to the ring, Barrett flaunting his US Title, Slater & Gabriel flaunting the tag team titles and Ryback flaunting his Intercontinental Title.
Barrett grabbed the mic, "It would seem that those two former Shield Members and their little ponies thought they could get one over on us last night", he stopped talking a moment, observing the crowd reaction, "Well I digress, we still outnumber them, and we've shown we can go to war with the best, including John Cena, so if they want to come out and try fighting again...we're right here!" Barrett said.
After waiting a moment, no one came out, Barrett took to the mic, "Figures, they don't want to come out when they're challenged, they'll only come out when-"
"Hey! Hey Wade! Up here!" Barrett looked and saw Ambrose on the titantron with Roman, Apple Bloom & Scootaloo.
"What are you doing there!? Come here and fight like a man!" Barrett said.
"Oh you wanna fight like a man, though you're hiding behind 5 men", Ambrose shot back.
"You hide behind 2 fillies"
"And they have more balls than any of you"
That enraged Barrett & The Nexus, "Think you're clever don't you, remember I am the United States Champion, one of the most prestigious title in the history of this business!" Barrett held up his title to show it off.
"Yeah I kinda held that belt you idiot, I'm the longest reigning champion in WWE History, it took 20 guys to take that title from me!"
Barrett scowled, "Consider yourself lucky that I have a US Title match with Cena later, otherwise I'd challenge you to take this belt from me"
"Yeah even if Cena wasn't challenging you would want nothing to do with me", Ambrose taunted.
Roman then took his turn to speak, "You all have great numbers, but numbers don't mean anything if you don't know how to use them, there's a reason The Shield lasted longer than The Nexus and had better success, if doesn't matter if we're out numbered, we got you bitches outgunned", Roman said.
Barrett slammed the mic down and gestured for the four to come down to the ring and try that tough talk, Ryback then picked up the mic, "I have an idea, since I don't have a title match, how about one of you come down here and try to take this belt from me later tonight?"
The four grinned, Ambrose spoke, "That sounds like a great idea, give us two hours to figure out who's gonna take that belt from you"
Ryback offered a smile, then 'The Time is Now' played, John Cena came out for his US Title rematch, though he wasn't alone, Daniel Bryan, Neville, Ziggler & The Prime Time Players came out to watch Cena's back.
The match was pretty even for the most part, back and forth, though Nexus members had attempted several distractions, Cena's alliance also made sure to keep The Nexus at Bay.
However the distractions started paying off once some Nexus guys had shoved Ziggler to some steep steps, injuring his knee, and Ryback grabbing Bryan and powerbombing him through the announce table, the others got beaten down.
Cena looked really concerned for his friends, he lost focus and Barrett hit his Bullhammer Elbow to take Cena down for the 3 count.
'We are One' played as Barrett played as Barrett celebrated with his title, then the Nexus ran in to beat down Cena, only for Ambrose & Reigns to run out with steel chairs, Apple Bloom & Scootaloo running out with Kendo sticks, causing the Nexus to flee, Ryback shouting, "Not yet!"
Ambrose glared intently at them and did the belt motion to his waist, signifying that he's gonna get their belt.
Two hours later it was time, Ryback was in the ring with Otunga & Tarver at his corner, waiting for who was gonna challenge for his belt.
Much to his surprise, 'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders' instrumental played, Apple Bloom made her way to the ring with Ambrose accompanying her.
Ryback looked confused, "You can't be serious", he gestuered to Apple Bloom in a confused way, "She can't challenge for my belt, this must be a violation of some policy"
Ambrose went to grab a mic, "You challenge any one of us, and to be honest, Roman and I would like to take the Tag Titles from Slater & Gabriel, so we're leaving a little something for Apple Bloom"
Ryback looked to her, she was dressed to compete, though it consisted of jeans and her Dean Ambrose inspired shirt, she was ready though.
Ryback sighed, "Fine, don't blame me when you get crippled"
The bell rang and Apple Bloom immediately ran in to do a drop kick on Ryback's leg, barely doing much, he stomped down on her but she dodged and drop kicked the other leg.
"Don't adjust your TV sets ladies and Gentlemen...you are watching a filly challenge for a championship belt", Cole said.
Ryback constantly went after Apple Bloom but she constantly moved out the way, as if he were a bull and she was a matador, she even shouted "Ole" at one point when she made him go head first into a turnbuckle.
Ryback looked furious, he was being outsmarted by a filly, though to Apple Bloom's credit, she's a very smart young filly.
During the match, Otunga attempted to distract Apple Bloom but Ambrose rushed in and slammed Otunga against the steel steps, then got into a brawl with Tarver.
The ref looked outside and yelled for Ambrose & Tarver to stop fighting, when the ref went back in Ryback had accidentally tackled him outside the ring when he attempted to go after Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom attacked Ryback's legs a few times but me managed to kick her back.
Outside Ambrose had shoved Tarver against the ring post and ran inside to attack Ryback and attacked him a it, when Ryback hit Ambrose, he simply rebounded and then hit Ryback with a hard clothesline.
At this point Barrett had ran to the ring and attacked Ambrose and they fought outside the ring.
When Slater & Gabriel ran down to ringside to attempt interference, Roman also ran down to attack both Slater & Gabriel, soon Scootaloo ran down to assist in the fight.
Meanwhile Apple Bloom had gone back inside the ring and went to the top rope, the then leapt at Ryback with an elbow similar to how Ambrose does his elbows, only for Ryback to Heat Hook Clothesline her, he got to his feet and shouted "Finish, it!"
He got her into position for Shell Shock and went for in but mysteriously tripped.
"It's Sweetie Belle! She's back!" Cole said, referring to the fact that Sweetie Belle was now on the apron with a sinister grin on her face.
Ryback struggled to get up, then Rollins suddenly appeared in the ring and hit a Curb Stomp, then rolled Ryback on his back and put Apple Bloom over Ryback.
Rollins then threw the ref back in the ring and he counted "1, 2, 3"
"Here is your winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion...Apple Bloom!" Lillian said.
'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders' Instrumental played as Apple Bloom was given the belt, though she was still out of it from the clothesline.
"What!? No! That can't happen!" JBL shouted.
"It did, Apple Bloom is the New WWE Intercontinental Champion", Cole said.
"That's a disgrace to all former champions, including myself!" JBL said.
"Don't speak for us", Booker said.
Rollins had already made his way to the back, though Sweetie did stop to applaud Apple Bloom for her win. In the ring Ambrose held Apple Bloom in a hug as she clutched to her belt. After some celebrating everyone went to the back, Apple Bloom still in shock.
"Ah can't believe I'm the Intercontinental Champion, mah name's on the same list as the likes of The Rock, Jeff Hardy, Edge & Macho Man Randy Savage!" Apple Bloom said.
"You did great kid", Ambrose said and ruffled her head.
Later in the show, there was a Fatal Four Way Number One Contender's match, it was Sheamus vs. Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho vs. Rusev.
During the match, Rollins interfered and attacked Randy Orton and the two started brawling, during the brawl the Nexus came out to attack Rollins, soon Sweetie came out to help, then Ambrose, Roman, Apple Bloom & Scootaloo.
During the Brawl, Jericho got the victory when he did the Code Breaker to Sheamus and pinned him, 'Break the Walls' played as Jericho celebrated, it was short lived as Rusev had did his running super kick to Jericho, though he soon got wrapped up in the big brawl.
As a result of all this, the following Smackdown matches were Jericho vs. Rusev, Roman & Dean vs. Barrett & Sheamus & Rollins vs. Orton.
During this event, The Prime Time Players used their rematch against Slater & Gabriel, unsuccessfully though.
While Jericho was victorious in his match, Roman & Dean won their match after Roman hit his spear on Sheamus, Barrett ran away. During Rollins vs. Orton, the match had ended in DQ when Orton hit Rollins with a chair, Sweetie then used her magic to take the chair away and hit Orton a few times, though Barrett & Ryback ran down to the ring to attack Rollins, luckily Ambrose & Roman made the save.
As a result of this Triple H announced a surprising match for WWE Hell in a Cell the following Raw, "In 3 weeks at Hell in a Cell, the Main Event will be all Six Members of The Nexus vs. Dean Ambrose...Seth Rollins...and Roman Reigns...that's right, The Shield is back! And they will be partnered with Apple Bloom...Sweetie Belle...and Scootaloo, The Cutie Mark Crusaders! Now in this match the Tag Team Titles, US Title and Intercontinental Title will be on the line...if The Nexus wins, Barrett, Slater & Gabriel retain and Ryback gets his Intercontinental Title back, however if The Shield & The Crusaders win, then not only does Apple Bloom retain, Ambrose & Reigns become the Tag Team Champions while Seth Rollins wins the United States Championship!"
This caused a cheer from the crowd, though Triple H put his hand up a moment, "One more thing...This match will take place inside, The Hell in a Cell!" that got a bigger reaction from the crowd, soon enough though The Nexus came out to complain, but Triple H blew them off, "Time to man up or piss off!"
Triple H left Nexus to complain amongst each other.
Meanwhile Ambrose had a word with Apple Bloom, "We have a big match soon, The Hell in a Cell is no joke, did you have a chance to check out a match like that on the Network?"
Apple Bloom nodded, "Ah saw the one between The Undertaker & Mankind, and the one between Triple H & Kevin Nash"
"Right, and you saw what The Undertaker did, he nearly killed Mankind, and Triple H did everything in his power to beat Nash, using all the tools, literally, now I was in the cell with Rollins last year, it's no joke, I nearly got injured"
"Have any of our opponents been in one?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Just Ryback, he fought CM Punk 3 years ago"
"Ok so at least more on our side have experience"
Ambrose nodded, "Now you need to be extra careful in this match, now let's review the other Cell matches, first up I'm gonna pull up is No Mercy from 13 years ago, The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar"
They spent the next day reviewing the cell matches, and through out the month all the competitors prepared for the matches.
Then came the PPV, Wyatt had just retained his title against Jericho and the cell lowered after the match.
'We Are One' played as Barrett, Slater, Gabriel, Otunga, Tarver & Ryback made their way to the ring, "One the way to the Ring, David Otunga, Michael Tarver, Ryback, The WWE Tag Team Champions Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel & The United States Champion Wade Barrett, The Nexus!"
Once all the members arrived they each anxiously waited for their opponents to come out, pacing, adjusting their wrist tape or jobbing in place.
All of a sudden the lights went out, and a song played through the arena.
Look Here, are 3 Little Ponies, ready to sing for this crowd, listen up, cause here's our story, we're gonna sing it VERY LOUD.
'We Are the Cutie Mark Crusaders' song played as the girls arrived on stage, Scootaloo on the right, Sweetie on the left, Apple Bloom in the middle, holding up her Intercontinental Title.
"Their opponents first, on the way to the ring, from Ponyville, Equestria; Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle & The Intercontinental Champion Apple Bloom...The Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
The Crusaders arrived in the ring and started singing the chorus to their entrance:
'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders
And we're going to find out who we are
And we'll never stop the journey!
Not until we have out cutie marks!'
After that music faded, the girls just waited in the ring, facing off against The Nexus, then these words echoed across the arena.
Sierra, Hotel, India, Echo, Lima, Delta...Shield.
'Special Ops' played to the crowd cheering and the camera panned around the arena, soon enough the Shield appeared in the crowd, dressed in their riot gear attire, much to the satisfaction of the crowd.
"On the way to the ring, at a total combined weight of 707 lbs., Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns...The Shield!"
The Shield arrived in the ring and glared at The Nexus and stood by the Crusaders.
The crowd started chanting, "Reunited! *clap 5x* Reunited! *clap 5x*"
The ref rang the bell and the groups collided, Ambrose attacked Barrett, Roman attacked Ryback, Rollins attacked Tarver, Apple Bloom attacked Slater, Scootaloo attacked Otunga & Sweetie attacked Gabriel.
Ambrose and Barrett brawled a bit and fell out the ring and fought outside, soon Ambrose had tackled Barrett against the cell and punched from there.
Roman slugged it out with Ryback to the point where Ryback had kicked Roman in the gut & tossed him out the ring, going head first into a cell wall.
Rollins kneed Tarver in the corner and pounded on him in the corner.
Apple Bloom dodged Slater's attacks and attacked his legs and ran again the ropes to do a running tackle against slater's abs.
Sweetie Belle also kicked Gabriel, though he grabbed her and tossed her outside the ring, Sweetie colliding against the wall.
Otunga knocked Scootaloo to the ground and pressed his foot on her ribs.
Ambrose slammed Barrett's head on the apron a few times and then tossed him against some steps, though he got attacked from behind by Ryback, though Ambrose kneed Ryback and slammed his head against the cell.
Roman had recovered from being tossed and went in the ring to help Scootaloo by attacking Otunga and upper cutting him a bit.
Apple Bloom had managed to trip Slater out the ring, then she ran to the other side to rebound off the ropes and dived through to attack Slater with a dive, knocking Slater against the cell wall.
As the match progressed, soon it became a bit more violent. Ambrose had doubled teamed Slater with Apple Bloom and went to go grab a Kendo Stick but when he went back to attack Slater, Barrett had rushed into the ring and nailed Ambrose on the head with a steel chair, when Apple Bloom went after Barrett she also took a shot to the head from the chair.
"My God that was viscous!" Cole shouted.
When Ambrose sat up, we see that he had been busted open pretty badly, there was blood all over his face.
Apple Bloom was dazed herself and moved her mane out her face, we see that she also had been busted open, blood tricked down her forehead.
When she notide her blood on her hooves, something in her mind snapped, she glared angrily at Barrett and buck kicked his shin pretty hard, causing him to stumble and then buck kicked his ribs a few times, keep in mind she can buck apples out a tree, so she's strong for her age.
Apple Bloom then grabbed a Kendo Stick and wailed on Barrett, she was like a filly possessed.
Ambrose looked on with pride, he had taught her well, though he found himself being stomped on by Gabriel, Apple Bloom approached Gabriel and whacked him with the Kendo Stick a few times.
Also during the match, Roman had speared Ryback through the Cell door, opening it up, Roman & Ryback started brawling outside the cell, Otuna approached Roman and started attacking him from behind.
Soon everyone else had wandered out the Cell and brawled outside a bit, during the Brawl Roman had grabbed a chair and whacked Otunga & then whacked Ryback across the head, causing some bloodshed.
"There's gonna be quite a few fines here", JBL said.
Soon Gabriel had started climbing the cell, Rollins followed him to the top and the two started brawling on top of the Cell.
"Wow, they're up pretty high", King said.
Eventually Barrett had started climbing the cell and went after Rollins and beat him down with Gabriel.
Scootaloo had also managed to climb up the cell, though her wings helped a bit, she can't fly much but they did help her stay on the cell, once she got to the top she tackled against Gabriel's leg, though Gabriel started stomping on Scootaloo.
Down below, Ambrose & Apple Bloom had assaulted Slater & Ryback a few times with trash can lids that were found under the ring and then each did a running dropkick.
Roman had climbed the cell and helped Rollins & Scootaloo by attacking Barrett & Gabriel, even whacking Gabriel near the edge of the cell, though Gabriel then started fighting back.
Ambrose had taken out everyone below climbed to the top himself to help attack Barrett & Gabriel, though Slater managed to follow shortly after.
Slater pummeled on Ambrose a but but Ambrose fought back and knocked Slater to the edge, Roman had knocked Gabriel to the edge, then Roman ran in and hit his Superman punch on both guys, causing them to fall off the cell and through the announce tables below.
"OH GOOD GOD! SLATER & GABRIEL GOT KNOCKED OFF THE CELL!" Cole shouted.
Barrett looked horrified at what happened to his teammates and attacked Roman a bit but the Shield guys attacked Barrett and brought him to the Center of the cell, Roman let out a roar, the crowd knew what was next.
"Are they gonna do it up there!?" King asked.
Ambrose and Rollins put Barrett on Roman's shoulders and all 3 of them power bombed Barrett through the roof of the cell, Barrett crashing to the mat below.
"AS JIM ROSS ONCE SAID, AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!"
The Shield simply looked down upon their work, then Apple Bloom crawled into the ring and pinned Barrett for the 3 count.
"Here are your winners, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, still Intercontinental Champion Apple Bloom! NEW WWE Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns! And NEW United States Champion Seth Rollins...The Cutie Mark Crusaders & The Shield!"
'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders' played as Apple Bloom celebrated and was given her belt, the other Crusaders joining her celebration.
Soon The Shield themselves had entered the ring and accepted their own respective titles, now 'Special Op' played through the arena. The Shield & The Crusaders are the winners of this war, though a tough war to begin with.
It's a new era now, now they focus on what's next.
Who will The Shield & The Cutie Mark Crusaders feud with next?