In June 2013, a (kayfabe) dispute between members of the McMahon family for control of the WWE began. The CEO and chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon, his daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Triple H decided to control Raw as a team. However, they differed between the three decisions.
On the July 8 edition of Raw, Triple H, Vince and Stephanie would decide the fate of the Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero. While Vince wanted to promote her as the definitive General Manager of the show, Triple H voted for the resignation of Guerrero. Stephanie then upheld the decision of the husband, and Vickie resigned. Immediately after the resignation of Guerrero, Vince promoted Vickie's assistant, Brad Maddox, as the new General Manager of Raw. On the July 19 edition of SmackDown, Vince announced that Guerrero would be the General Manager of the show.
During the July 15 episode of Raw, WWE Champion John Cena chose to face Daniel Bryan for the title at SummerSlam. In the following weeks, Bryan has undergone a physical transformation which included a haircut and use of a suit to appease Vince McMahon, who hadn't seen him as a top player for the company, while Triple H saw him as a future star. He folded the transformations by refusing to cut his beard. Also, Triple H was announced as the special guest referee for the WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
At SummerSlam, Bryan defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship. However, immediatly after the match Triple H gave to Bryan a Pedigree, so that Randy Orton could cash in his Money in the Bank contract, turning heel for the first time since 2006. The following night on Raw, Orton appeared with Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H for a title coronation. Triple H invited Bryan to the ring to clear the air from SummerSlam. This proved to be a ruse however, as Orton delivered an RKO to Bryan, and the McMahon's stood over him, holding the WWE Championship high. On the same night, The Shield began working for Triple H as his enforcers. They would begin aiding Randy Orton against Daniel Bryan, while also attacking wrestlers such as Big Show and Dolph Ziggler for speaking out against Triple H's regime.
On the September 2 edition of Raw, as punishment for speaking out against Chief Operating Officer Triple H's authoritarian rule, Cody Rhodes was forced to put his job on the line when he faced Randy Orton in a non-title match; Rhodes lost and was duly "fired". Over the next few weeks, his brother Goldust also lost to Orton with Cody's reinstatement on the line, while his father Dusty Rhodes, after confronting Stephanie McMahon, was knocked out by Big Show while pleading for his sons to get their jobs back. At Battleground, a fired Cody Rhodes and Goldust earned their jobs back by beating Rollins and Reigns in a non-title match. On the October 14 Raw, Rollins and Reigns faced the Rhodes brothers again with the tag titles on the line in a no disqualification match; The Shield lost the tag titles after an attack by Big Show.
It was later announced that Orton would defend his WWE Championship against Bryan at Night of Champions. At Night of Champions, Daniel Bryan defeated Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. However, the next night on Raw, Triple H stripped Bryan of the title, due to a fast 3-count by referee Scott Armstrong, but refused to give the championship back to Orton. Shortly afterwards, in an interview with Michael Cole, Triple H made a rematch between Orton and Bryan at Battleground for the vacant WWE Championship. The match ended in a no contest after Big Show knocked out both competitors. Bryan and Orton once again faced off for the vacant championship at Hell in a Cell, where Orton won the title after special guest referee Shawn Michaels attacked Bryan, proving his allegiance to the Authority.
As result of speaking out against Triple H, Big Show was placed into a three-on-one handicap tornado tag team match against The Shield, which Big Show lost. Additional punishment followed with Big Show being forced to sit ringside and watch his friends being attacked by The Shield at the risk of being fired. Following this, Triple H and McMahon claimed Big Show was broke, and in order to save his job, forced him to knock out his friends including Daniel Bryan, Dusty Rhodes, and The Miz.
When Big Show attempted to revolt on the September 30 episode of Raw, he was almost arrested for threatening to knock out Triple H, but Stephanie McMahon would come to his aid, insulting him afterwards. At Battleground, Big Show interfered in the WWE title match between Bryan and Orton and knocked out both of them, sending a message to Triple H and The Shield as well. The following night on Raw, he was slapped and fired by Stephanie McMahon after Big Show said Stephanie and Triple H had told him to knock out Daniel Bryan. On the October 7 Raw, Triple H was knocked out by Big Show and was carried out by officials out of the arena.
Triple H later announced that Big Show is banned from WWE for life, after many run-ins and assaults on various superstars, however on the November 4th Raw, The Authority was forced by the Board of Directors to give Big Show whatever he wants in return for not suing the company. Big Show wanted his job back and a WWE Championship match at Survivor Series, which he received. He was then forced to compete in a handicap match against The Shield and Randy Orton. Big Show won the match by disqualification after Kane, who had recently pledged allegiance to The Authority, distracted him. The Shield proceeded to Triple Powerbomb him through the announcers table. The next week on Raw, after Orton lost to Cody Rhodes and Goldust by countout, Big Show would came out to attack Orton, chokeslamming him through the announce table. However, Orton would go on to successfully retain his title against Big Show at Survivor Series.
On the November 25 edition of Raw, Orton's long time rival, World Heavyweight Champion John Cena, suggested that there should only be "one champion" in WWE, so Triple H stated there would be a unification match at the TLC pay-per-view. Orton defeated Cena at TLC to unify his WWE Championship with Cena's World Heavyweight Championship, and with that victory officially being recognized as the final World Heavyweight Champion. Orton would then defeat Cena again in the subsequent rematch at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, aided by The Wyatt Family. On February 23, 2014 Orton defeated John Cena, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, Christian and Cesaro at WWE's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event to retain his WWE World Heavyweight Championship and secure his position in the title bout at WrestleMania XXX on April 6, 2014.
Daniel Bryan's feud with The Authority intensified due to Authority members getting involved in Bryan's matches. A frustrated Bryan challenged Triple H to face him in a match at WrestleMania XXX, with the latter continually refusing. After Bryan rallied dozens of his fans to occupy the ring on the March 10 episode of Raw, Triple H finally accepted Bryan's challenge. Bryan added a stipulation where, should Bryan win, the match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will become a Triple Threat match with Bryan. The following week, Triple H declared that whoever won the match between Triple H and Bryan would be inserted into the championship match, ensuring a Triple Threat.
In March 2014, The Shield broke away from The Authority, as they felt as though Director of Operations Kane was using them as his own personal enforcers, and that he wasn't in position to give them orders. Kane recruited Road Dogg and Billy Gunn to deal with The Shield, but they lost at WrestleMania XXX. Triple H also lost to Daniel Bryan, but gained some revenge after the match by assaulting Bryan's injured shoulder with a chair shot. Ultimately Bryan would prevail in the main event, despite further interference by Triple H and Stephanie, when he made Batista submit.
The next night on Raw, Triple H challenged Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The Shield were ordered by Stephanie McMahon to help Triple H winning the title. Bryan was attacked by Orton, Batista and Kane before his title defense to ensure Triple H's victory. However, The Shield interfered during the match and attacked the Authority, preventing Bryan from losing the title. The next week, The Shield competed in a 11-on-3 handicap match where Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins were outnumbered and assaulted by eleven superstars after the match ended in no contest. Orton, Batista and Triple H, reunited as Evolution, came to the ring and proceeded to attack The Shield.
Meanwhile Stephanie and Kane continued Authority's feud with Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title. Following WrestleMania XXX, after Kane and The New Age Outlaws lost to the Shield, Kane was berated by Stephanie McMahon to find the "Big Red Monster" that he was before, and retrieved his mask-vowing to send his former tag team partner Daniel Bryan to the depths of hell. That same week on Main Event Kane came to the ring wearing his mask and beat down Big Show, who had just won a match with Jack Swagger. Kane brought Show in the ring for a chokeslam and then attacked him outside of the ring with the steel steps. On the April 21 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced he'd challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Extreme Rules. Kane then attacked Daniel Bryan, hitting three Tombstone Piledrivers, one on the floor, one on the steel steps and one on the announcer's table. The following week on Raw, Kane ambushed Bryan's wife Brie Bella during her title match against Paige and attempted to drag her through a hole in the ring. Kane would also chokeslam Bryan. At Extreme Rules, Kane was defeated by Bryan, and The Shield beat Evolution. The next night on Raw, Triple H would force Ambrose to defend his United States Championship against 19 other wrestlers in a 20-man battle royal, which Ambrose was eliminated last by Sheamus, ending Ambrose's WWE record reign at 351 days. Triple H would then book The Shield to compete in a six-man tag team match against The Wyatt Family, which the group lost with a distraction by Evolution, who proceeded to assault the Shield.
On the May 19 episode of Raw, Maddox defied Triple H's orders of not allowing any members of The Shield at ringside by making the guest commentators Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. The following week, Brad was relieved of his duties by The Authority by having Kane attack him at the start of the show. At Payback, Evolution was defeated by The Shield in a Six Man No Holds Barred Tag Team Match after Evolution failed to eliminate a single member of The Shield. The following night on Raw, Batista, who was frustrated with not receiving a proper one-on-one match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, quit the WWE. Later in the night, before a match between Roman Reigns and Randy Orton, Rollins attacked both Ambrose and Reigns with steel chairs and thus turning on The Shield. That same night, Stephanie McMahon would force Daniel Bryan to compete in a stretcher match against Kane at Money in the Bank and if Bryan is not medically cleared by then, he would be stripped of the title. On June 9, Bryan's doctor stated Bryan was not clear to compete; therefore, Stephanie stripped Bryan of the championship and made it the prize for the titular Money in the Bank ladder match. That same night, The Authority automatically granted Orton a spot in the ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, while Kane was added to the match by Triple H on the June 23 episode of Raw, hinting that he was in the match only to help Orton to take back the WWE World Heavyweight title to The Authority.
Meanwhile, after Seth Rollins turned on his Shield teammates, he started a feud with Dean Ambrose, and on the June 17 episode of Main Event, acting on behalf of The Authority, he announced a traditional Money in the Bank ladder match for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship contract at Money in the Bank and named himself as the first entrant. After realized that Ambrose would ruin his chances at Money in the Bank, on the June 23 episode of Raw, Rollins convinced Triple H to add Ambrose to the match. On June 29 at Money in the Bank, Rollins won the briefcase after Kane helped him; however, in the main event both Orton and Kane were unsuccessful as John Cena won the title.
The next night on Raw, The Authority booked a fatal-four way match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Cena, Orton, Kane, and Roman Reigns at Battleground. The feud between Ambrose and Rollins continued after Money in the Bank, with Ambrose stated that every time Rollins would attempt to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, he would attack Rollins and stop him from getting a championship opportunity, thus setting up a match at Battleground.
At Battleground, Ambrose was ejected from the arena by Triple H. Later that night, Rollins came out and announced that he had won his match by forfeit. Ambrose would then burst into the ring and attack Rollins and a vicious brawl ensued where both men had to be pulled apart by both The Authority and security. In the main event, after started to help Orton, Kane then rebelled to Orton and both men decided to work for themselves, though leading Cena to win the match and retained the title when he pinned Kane.
Since Daniel Bryan left WWE to recover from his injury, Stephanie McMahon started a feud against The Bella Twins by constantly putting Nikki in handicap matches. Brie Bella returned to WWE television on the July 21 episode of Raw, appearing in the crowd as a fan, and as part of an ongoing storyline Stephanie was arrested for battery after she slapped Brie and for resisting arrest. That same night it was also announced that Triple H would chose John Cena's opponent for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam; after apparently seemed to choose Orton, though he was attacked by Reigns and started a fight with him in the crowd, Brock Lesnar made his return on Raw and was chosen by Triple H to face Cena at SummerSlam for the championship.
When Orton realized that Reigns costed him a title shot for the WWE World Heavywight Championship, he brutally assaulted and attacked Reigns on the July 28 episode of Raw, challenging him for a match at SummerSlam on the August 1 episode of SmackDown. That same night, the feud between Stephanie and The Bella Twins continued when McMahon accepted a match against Brie (who would get her job back) at SummerSlam exchange to drop all the charges. Ambrose won a Beat the Clock challenge match which allowed him to choose the stipulation for his match against Rollins at SummerSlam. Ambrose chose a lumberjack match.
On August 17 at SummerSlam, Orton lost to Reigns, but Rollins defeated Ambrose and Stephanie defeated Brie after Nikki turned on her sister.
On the September 29th episode of Raw, former WWE roster members and current road agents Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble were seen taking orders from Triple H, and used in segments throughout the show. On the October 6th episode of Raw they appeared again, as Michael Cole's commentary confirmed that they were working as associates of The Authority. On the October 27th, 2014 episode of Raw, a day after losing to Cena at Hell in a Cell, Orton attacked and RKO'd Rollins after being jealous that Rollins defeated Ambrose and receving the favor of Triple H and Stephanie, turning face again in the process. Later on that night, Stephanie McMahon and Triple H attempted to have John Cena join them to secure his future in the company. When he refused, they said The Authority always wins and set up a Survivor Series rivalry.
In the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, The Authority secured the final spots on their team with Mark Henry, Rusev - after helping him retain the United States Championship in a rematch against Sheamus - and Luke Harper. The Raw before the event, The Authority granted Harper an Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler - who had joined Team Cena - and he won the championship. Stephanie then put Team Cena members Big Show and Sheamus in a match for a future World Title opportunity, only for Rusev and Henry to attack both men, leaving Sheamus injured that he had to drop out of Team Cena. Cena secured the spots on his team with Ziggler and Big Show still staying on, and they were surprised with the additions of Erick Rowan and Ryback. On the November 21 episode of Smackdown, in response to comments made by Cena stating that he felt responsible for his team, Triple H announced that if Team Cena loses, all of Team Cena - except Cena himself - would be fired. Later that night, with Cena absent, the rest of Team Cena were attacked by Team Authority and a chair-wielding Triple H.
At the event, Sting made his WWE debut by attacking the Authority's crooked referee Scott Armstrong and Triple H, after which Ziggler lastly pinned Rollins to give Team Cena the win, thus ending The Authority. After the Survivor Series loss Triple H and Stephanie McMahon left Raw to return to WWE's headquarters. The remaining members of the Authority, plus Big Show, would still associate with each other, often labelled as "The Remnants of the Authority".
On the December 29 episode of Raw, Rollins was invited as the special guest for the talk show hosted together by special guest hosts Christian and Edge. Rollins however took out Christian and with the help of Big Show and J&J Security held the show's guest host Edge hostage while Rollins threatened Cena - who attempted to rescue Edge - to either bring back the Authority or he would Curb Stomp Edge (who retired from in-ring competition due to neck issues) on his Money in the Bank briefcase and leave him potentially paralyzed. To save Edge, Cena was forced to bring back the Authority. Even so, Rollins tried to break Edge's neck anyway, but Cena thwarted him and Rollins beat Cena up with the help of Big Show and J&J Security. After beating up Cena, he along with his partners proceeded to the ramp. Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman then came out to the ramp and Heyman shook the hand of Rollins. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon then came out and celebrated their return. On the 5 January episode of Raw, as a reward for bringing back the Authority, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon added Seth Rollins to the WWE title match at the Royal Rumble. Their following course of punitive action was to put former Team Cena members Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan and Ryback in matches with overwhelming odds, which they all lost, and Bad News Barrett took the Intercontinental Championship from Ziggler in the process. Later that night, the Authority continued their mock celebration of John Cena dubbed "John Cena Appreciation Night", only to (kayfabe) fire the three cohorts of Cena at the end of the night. Two weeks later, Big Show, Kane, and Rollins faced Cena in a 3-on-1 handicap match as part of the Authority's effort to remove Cena from the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at Royal Rumble, with Rollins' team getting the numbers advantage. They were eventually unsuccessful as the returning Sting distracted Rollins' team allowing Cena to pin Rollins to reinstate Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback and keep his spot at the pay-per-view's title match., and when Triple H demanded Sting to enter the ring personally, Brock Lesnar would appear instead, attacking Big Show and Kane.
At Royal Rumble, Rollins was unsuccessful in winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Lesnar in a Triple Threat match also involving Cena. In the Rumble match, both Show and Kane were unsuccessful in winning the match, after Roman Reigns would eliminate both men at the same time. At Fastlane, Rollins, Kane and Show would defeat Ziggler, Rowan and Ryback in a 6-man tag team match. Following the match, Randy Orton would return, attacking J&J Security and Kane. Later that night, Triple H would have a face-to-face confrontation with Sting, which ended up in a brawl, with Sting then issuing a challenge to Triple H at WrestleMania 31, which Triple H would accept. The following night on Raw, The Authority attempted to persuade a returning Randy Orton to rejoin them following his attack of Authority personnel, though Orton would not give a direct answer until the group met up backstage. Orton agreed to come back into the stable and Orton with Rollins would then be placed in a tag team match later that night in a losing effort against Daniel Bryan and Reigns, causing further tension between the two. The tension would finally teach a head a few weeks later when Orton refused a hot tag from Rollins during a match with Roman Reigns. Orton would then brutally beat Rollins for several minutes after the bout, ultimately putting him through an announce table with an RKO.
At WrestleMania 31, The Authority won several big victories; Triple H defeated Sting in Sting's first ever WWE match (shaking his hand afterwards) and Big Show won the 30-man André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. After losing in his singles match against Orton earlier in the night, Rollins cashed his Money in the Bank contract during the main event between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, turning it into a Triple threat match, becoming a world champion for the first time and giving The Authority its first world title ever since Orton lost it in the previous WrestleMania.
At Extreme Rules, Rollins defeated Orton in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the April 27 episode of Raw, it was announced, by vote on the WWE App, that Rollins would defend the title against Orton and Reigns in a Triple Threat match at Payback, which was later turned into a Fatal 4-Way match including Dean Ambrose on the May 4 episode of Raw, after Ambrose defeated Rollins. By that time, signs of dissension were shown between Rollins and Kane, however, after Triple H announced on the May 11 episode of Raw that Kane would no longer be the WWE Director of Operations if Rollins lost the title at Payback, at the event Kane helped Rollins retain the title. On the May 18 episode of Raw, Ambrose challenged Rollins to a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at Elimination Chamber, but Rollins refused. Later in the night, Ambrose attacked Rollins until The Authority granted Ambrose a title match against Rollins at the event. At Elimination Chamber, Ambrose defeated Rollins by disqualification; therefore Ambrose did not win the championship. After the match, Ambrose took the title belt. At Money in the Bank, Rollins defeated Ambrose in a ladder match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. On the June 15 episode of Raw, The Authority reinstated Brock Lesnar, who returned to the WWE and invoked his rematch clause (after losing the championship to Rollins at WrestleMania 31) to face Rollins at Battleground for the championship. During the contract signing, Rollins and Kane tried to attack Lesnar, but Lesnar turned the tables by F5'ing Kane to the floor and using the steel steps to injure Kane's ankle. After Lesnar left, Rollins betrayed Kane and told him that he was nothing, as well as further injuring his ankle with a kick. With this move, Kane was also left out of action indefinitely and this left the Authority with only three active members: Rollins, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon. At Battleground, Rollins retained the championship for a disqualification loss when The Undertaker interfered and attacked Lesnar. Rollins and The Authority then resumed their feud with United States Champion John Cena. After refusing Cena's challenges for Rollins' title, The Authority instead forced Cena to defend the United States Championship against Rollins. Cena defeated Rollins despite suffering a legitimate broken nose during the match. Rollins became a double champion when he defeated Cena in a "Winner Takes All" match at SummerSlam, for both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the United States Championship, after guest host Jon Stewart (who'd been involved in a brief feud with Rollins) attacked Cena with a steel chair, leading to Rollins hitting Cena with a Pedigree onto the chair and scoring the pinfall. The win made Rollins the first wrestler to ever hold the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Championships simultaneously, as well as making Rollins the first wrestler to hold both a world championship and a secondary championship simultaneously since Triple H briefly held the World Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships concurrently in 2002. At Night of Champions, Rollins would lose the United States title back to Cena, but retained the world title against Sting. However, that same night Kane returned with his mask and attacked Rollins.
On November 4, 2015, at a live show in Dublin, Ireland, during a match with Kane, Rollins suffered tears in his right ACL, MCL, and medial meniscus, and must undergo surgery and miss 6–9 months of action. As a result, he was forced to vacate the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on November 5. On the following episode of Raw, Triple H announced a tournament to crown a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, then introduced Roman Reigns, who he gave the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, then told Reigns it could be his if he replaced Seth Rollins as the "Face of the Authority". He declined the offer, leading to Triple H "remembering why he chose Rollins and not Reigns" and put him in a match against authority loyalist Big Show, who failed, forcing Triple H to find a new member to replace Seth Rollins.
On November 22, at the Survivor Series, Roman Reigns won the tournament for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship after defeating Dean Ambrose in the final round. However, Sheamus attacked Reigns with a Brogue Kick, and then successful cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and won the WWE World Heavyweight Champioship. Sheamus celebrate with Triple H, thus aligning with The Authority. The following night on Raw, a returning Rusev attacked Roman Reigns for Triple H joining The Authority; later that night, King Barrett joined them as well after attacking Reigns for his tag team partner Sheamus. On the November 30 episode of Raw, Sheamus announced that he had formed his own stable called The League of Nations along with King Barrett (England), Alberto Del Rio (Mexico), and Rusev (Bulgaria). This new stable – with the theme of all members having been born and becoming stars overseas – remained associates of The Authority, while becoming its own entity.
At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Sheamus retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. After the match, Reigns snapped following his loss and attacked Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev. Triple H came to the ring to calm Reigns down and tend to Sheamus, but as he did so Reigns attacks him as well that left him injured and out of action in storyline. Following Reigns's attack on Triple H, Mr. McMahon took temporary leadership of The Authority in Triple H's absence and gave Reigns a title match on Sheamus's request on the December 14 Raw, but gave the stipulation that should Reigns fail to win the title, he will be fired. Despite McMahon and The League of Nations interfering on Sheamus's behalf, Reigns knocked out McMahon and pinned Sheamus to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The Authority began 2016 by forcing Roman Reigns to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Sheamus on the January 4. 2016 episode of Raw with Mr. McMahon serving as the special guest referee to ensure that Reigns would lose the championship. Despite McMahon's attempts to "screw" him during the match, Reigns retained after knocking out McMahon and corrupt referee Scott Armstrong. In retaliation, McMahon announced after the match that Reigns will defend his title against 29 men in the Royal Rumble Match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. At the event, Triple H made his big return, got his revenge on Reigns by eliminating him, and went on to win the Rumble match and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the ninth time by lastly eliminating Dean Ambrose, thus making him a 14-time world champion and returning the title to The Authority in the process. On the February 22 episode of Raw, Mr. McMahon presented the "Vincent J. McMahon Legacy of Excellence" award to Stephanie. Before she could start her acceptance speech, Shane McMahon returned for the first time since 2009 as a fan favorite, and demanded to gain control of Raw, claiming The Authority was running the company to the ground. Mr. McMahon accepted the offer, only if he would win one more match, at which Shane accepted, and Mr. McMahon announced he would wrestle at WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. Later on that night, in the main event match between Roman Reigns and Sheamus, Triple H would come out and he and Reigns would start brawling outside the ring. Triple H would then proceed to smash Reigns' face onto the announce table, (kayfabe) breaking Reigns' nose, and finishing the attack with a Pedigree onto the steel steps. On March 12 at Roadblock, Triple H made his first successful title defense, when he defeated Ambrose, securing his place in the main event of WrestleMania 32 against Reigns, whom he lost the Championship on April 3. On the post-WrestleMania Raw on April 4, Mr. McMahon opened the show to announce that his son, Shane McMahon will run Raw for one night only. However, despite that, Shane continued to run Raw due to "overwhelming fan support" until the April 25 edition of Raw; where Stephanie McMahon returned to announce that Vince McMahon would decide who earn permanent control of Raw at Payback. At Payback, Mr. McMahon announced that both Stephanie and Shane McMahon would run Raw together on a permanent basis; thus, the group was quietly disbanded.