10 WWE Stars Who Weren't Allowed To Use Their Own Ideas
2. CM Punk: Third Member Of The Shield
A disputed story, CM Punk is adamant that the Shield was his own creation.
It's consistent with everything he set out to do, before that desire was systemically beaten out of him. CM Punk wanted to make WWE better, under the mentality, ironically, old nemesis Triple H has since borrowed with NXT: by promoting and backing hungry, talented Independent imports in response to the decay that had set into WWE's old guard.
He pitched three men for the role of his back-up trio of ringers: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Kassius Ohno, all of whom were trapped in a development system they had outgrown before they had entered it. Punk was so high on Ambrose that he once volunteered to wrestle him on his day off, and labelled him "our" secret weapon well before his debut on social media. It's bizarre to think of Punk using that determiner now, incidentally.
Ohno was a pitch too far: Punk's history with the former Chris Hero was as rich as it was excellent, but WWE was not at all interested. Ohno was released a year later, and never figured prominently into WWE's plans, despite his work in William Regal's great (and very painful-looking) swan song.
He's of far more value now: respected for his immense wrestling acumen, Ohno has a job for life under Triple H.