The number of championships you win in WWE isn’t the only way to recognize success. The kinds of championships you win also play a huge part in that. So, when Dean Ambrose became a tag team champion for the first time in his career Sunday at SummerSlam, it was about more than just proving what a reunited Ambrose and Seth Rollins can do when they work as a team. It also put Ambrose in select company in WWE history, as he became only the 16th wrestler to ever achieve a Grand Slam with the company.
A Grand Slam is a concept within quite a few sports where there are four major accomplishments to rack up: in WWE’s case, it’s achieved when a wrestler wins a primary WWE title (such as the WWE Championship or Universal Championship), one of whatever tag team championships exist at that time, and both of the secondary titles, which right now are the United States Championship and Intercontinental Championship.
Ambrose won the United States title back in May 2013 when he was with the Shield, and then held it for longer than anyone else in WWE has. His first Intercontinental title run wouldn’t come until 2015, when he defeated Luke Harper for the strap.
While for a bit there it seemed like the mid-card might be where Ambrose would live forever, he would eventually enter the main event scene and become WWE Champion by first winning the Money in the Bank contract in 2016 and then cashing it in later that night against Seth Rollins, who is both the man who betrayed him for his own benefit and the man he just won the RAW Tag Team Championships alongside.
Not coincidentally, Rollins is also close to joining the ranks of Grand Slam champs. He, like the third of three Shield members you’ll read about here today, Roman Reigns, is just an Intercontinental Championship win away from managing the feat. That doesn’t mean Rollins (or Reigns) will get it, though: not every wrestler gets the opportunities that allow for the Grand Slam, which is how Dean Ambrose is just the 16th ever.
John Cena, who is tied with Ric Flair for the most WWE Championships in hisory, hasn’t done it — he too is missing the Intercontinental belt. Randy Orton is missing a US title run. Kofi Kingston is a primary championship away from pulling it off. Sheamus, who just lost his first tag team title to Ambrose and Rollins, is an IC victory away from a Grand Slam. Lots of wrestlers get close, but far fewer actually finish off the foursome.
Under the old format for the Grand Slam — WWE titles come and go, changing the titles within the Grand Slam format but not the format or concept itself — there were 12 Grand Slam champs: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Kane, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Jeff Hardy, John “Bradshaw” Layfield, Christian, and Big Show. Under the current format, there are a few more who qualify: Edge, The Miz, Daniel Bryan, and now, Ambrose.
If you’re interested in the specific dates and titles involved in all of this, Wikipedia has you covered. And if you’ve got the WWE Network, well, you can watch most or all of the matches that made this happen thanks to someone dating all of these victories in a table, taking all of the tough work out of the process for you.