7 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (Sept 29)
3. How Not To Reform The Shield
Not as a contrived means of getting crowds to cheer Roman Reigns, in a sentence.
People loved The Shield because, in an era defined by alienating John Cena dominance, Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose emerged as the future of the company - and redefined it - with a perfect mission statement and an astonishing embarrassment of awesome six-man tag team matches. This was an act booked brilliantly, and consequently, easy to invest in...
...but they hate Roman Reigns more. The worst part of this reunion is in its inevitability. WWE's mentality is backwards; almost fittingly, the old Reigns-picks-the-bones routine, once a precision-calibrated method of popping the crowd, will be met by jeers - because everybody knows this is as transparent a vehicle as a glass tank. The Miztourage trio of Miz, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel pose no threat whatsoever to the Shield. Even Roman himself said that the Shield would "kill" them. This is not an emotional reunion forged in the face of some great threat; it's an empty, one-sided battering à la Survivor Series' 2011 and 2015. The optimistic outcome sees heel jobbers Dallas and Axel emerge with a degree of currency - in a match bespoke designed to get an established babyface over as a babyface.
It's all backwards. Nothing is going to work, at this rate. Reigns could hire a bunch of pros to hand out bl*zzers to the crowd, and they'd still whinge that he doesn't know how to apply a Fujiwara armbar.