PORTLAND, Ore. — The Shield may have formalized their reunion last week with their trademark fist bump, but for the first time in three years, Raw opened with the crackle of “Sierra, Hotel, India... ” and the sight of Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns donning black and marching through the audience to surround someone in the ring — in this case, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, who quickly turned over the mic and made his exit.

It was awesome (as the WWE Universe chanted), and if there were any concerns that The Hounds of Justice had lost a step, they immediately launched into a scorched-earth proclamation to pick up right where they left off at WWE TLC. And even though Ambrose's tough talk inadvertently got Braun Strowman added to the upcoming TLC Match last week, The Lunatic Fringe only doubled down on his resolve  — he reiterated that The Shield could take on any number of opponents and challenged their TLC foes to throw down on the spot.

The Miz, Braun Strowman and The Bar came to the stage to oblige, but Angle got between the two squadrons, reminding them that The Bar would challenge Ambrose & Rollins for the Raw Tag Team Titles and Strowman would battle The Big Dog in a Steel Cage Match tonight.

It was enough to stop the fists from flying, but there’ll be no such restraint on anyone’s part come Sunday.

Donning their signature gear, The Shield make their entrance through the crowd to kick off Raw.