The Shield: greater than the sum of it's parts?

[Guest Matt Black]

Now that we're about a month or so down the line from the break up of the Shield, I've begun to notice a marked change in my reaction to WWE programming each week. Whereas in the past I would have wound up filled with ardour from three-man power-bombs and synchronised suicide dives between the ropes, nowadays I feel deflated as the attention is once more on a chimpanzee in shorts and a baseball cap who seems to have been taught to speak in a vaguely human manner.

 

You may have guessed from some of my comments here and in the past that I loved the Shield while they lasted, but am I alone in thinking that now they've been split and started off in singles storylines, none of the three are really that compelling to watch in the ring or able to really hold their own now they're flying solo?

 

Seth Rollins seems to have gone from the lynch-pin of the group to a weirdo/creep who wrestles in skin-tight pleather and needs Kane to fight his battles. And why the gloves? is he afraid of leaving fingerprints on the guys he wrestles?

 

When Dean Ambrose foamed and frothed in the Shield, it made sense, as he was "the crazy one" who leaped on the opposition like a rabid dog before Rollins hit an aerial move and Reigns squashed them flat. Now he just flails his limbs in the ring and seems to act like a man with a serious concussion.

 

Roman Reigns, no matter how many matches he's inserted into in order to make up the numbers, just doesn't come across as being ready to win a world championship in terms of his in-ring presence or the position that he's booked in.

 

Anyone actually think they're better off now than as the Shield?

 

I understand the team couldn't be kept together much longer, I'm just amazed at how lacklustre the three are now that its gone.

[Guest Magic]

It's just crappy booking. Reigns in particular has been booked awfully, but the whole thing has be bungled. From the split onwards its been dire. They should have stuck together for at least another few months until it really made sense to split, but to me it looks as if they've just went "Oh Batista's away? What should we do? F*ck it, split the Shield and turn Seth."

 

It screamed of having been done on a moments notice with no real long term plan and now Reigns is suffering for it because he's just existing in the upper midcard with nothing really to do. He needs to be getting built up to be ready to headline main events, but he can't because his booking is sucking and he's just treading water as an added part to the John Cena show.

 

The Ambrose/Rollins stuff is kind of ok, but I would never have went down that route of heel Seth in the first place so I can never really get into it. All the time I'm just thinking "The Shield break up should have been booked so much better." So I can't really enjoy it.

 

So to answer the question, I don't think they're bad individually at all, I just think they've been booked crap and they're just having to deal with what they've been given.

[Guest John Hancock]

An actual picture of WWE's actual head writer;

 

http://www.scotthammond.co.uk/uploads/rainbow_bungle_800.jpg

[Guest Matt Black]

An actual picture of WWE's actual head writer;

 

http://www.scotthammond.co.uk/uploads/rainbow_bungle_800.jpg

 

LOL'd so hard I actually ROFL'd and then PMSL...

[Guest Jack]

The booking of Reigns has been really weak so far and it's no surprise that he's getting hurt by the lack of direction he's being given. He's still over but he's lost the momentum that he had whilst in The Shield and it's a shame. I'm sure he'll get that back but it's deflating anyway.

 

As for the other two, Rollins winning the MITB was fine, the random Ambrose ambushes are good, the promos are good too but the fundamental problem is that Rollins should be the face and Ambrose should be the heel. I don't have any complaints about the job the wrestlers are doing, I just think it'd be more suited if Ambrose was the one who had aligned himself with the Authority rather than Rollins. Had the roles been reversed, I'm sure both Ambrose and Rollins would have more momentum than they have right now. Like Reigns, they're still over but it could have been better.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

I think what hurt Roman was being inserted into these World title matches and not actually doing anything. When the Shield split and the weeks after Reigns was getting the reaction of the night but WWE did the wrong thing in making him promise a title win, personally I think it's hurt his aura. The match Orton should be built up maybe as much as Cena/Lesnar as there is no denying Orton needs a boost too at the moment.

 

Rollins I think is doing fine, he's playing the overconfident chosen one pretty well. Okay the ring attire is pretty scary lol but the guy can work when he steps in the ring. Since the split he's sold like no other to make Ambrose look like a deranged loon. I do think though he needs to come out on top after the feuds runs it's initial course.

 

Ambrose is a nut, and he's amazing.....but can this type of character last long term in WWE?

[Fletch 204]

I dont think theres anything really wrong with the three of them separately at all.

 

I agree with what was said, Reigns was pushed to the top, and then hasnt won and now will work program with Orton and probably Trippers. IN reality the way the booking is going, Ambrose vs HHH is just, if not more likely.

 

I'll be honest, Im captivated by the Rollins vs Ambrose feud. I really do hope they have Ambrose interupt every cash in attempt. I hope he doesnt even tease cashing it in until say Survivor Series, or later then when he does, BOOM Ambrose. WrestleMania they actually go to have Rollins cash in after the Main Event (Hopefully on Reigns) and boom, Ambrose. I'd really love the idea of Ambrose costing him every time so that the expiration on the shot runs out, a first for the MITB. Ive literally just got around to watching Battleground on the Network (like Ive just finished watching the Ambrose/Rollins attack that should of been a match), and I think its got a lot of legs left and both guys are playing it wonderfully.

[Guest BeorimJ]

I am torn when it comes to this. I have been a Reigns fan since they started in WWE, and he has definitely been hurt in popularity by the booking. I thunk, being so unexpected, the fact that it was Rollins, not Ambrose that split was great. He seems to really have fun playing heel, and that translates into fun to watch. And Ambrose continues the tradition of Stone Cold and CM Punk. And yes, i used those names all together, and think Ambrose makes a near perfekt Anti-hero... So Ambrose and Rollins have benefitted in my eyes. Just Reigns is a loosing party here.

[Burakiosaurus 129]

Reigns just hasn't got 'it' on the mic...he could get better, but I'm just not feeling it when he speaks.

 

Amrbose reminds me of Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire and has the best mic skills of the lot of them I feel.

 

Seth's turn was done well I think, timing of it was eh, but when is a good time really, nothing will come close to Shawn kicking Marty through the window.