8 Reason Why The Shield's WWE Reunion Is Doomed To Fail
Enjoy it while you can, because the wheels are about to fall off...
The Shield's long-awaited reunion is finally upon us.
Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose came back together on this week's Raw, with The Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, and Braun Strowman all tasting their wrath. WWE's most celebrated modern stable have reconciled through mutual enemies, and their next stop comes on October 16th, when Reigns faces Strowman inside a steel cage.
This'll be The Shield's last major hurdle ahead of TLC 2017, where they'll face their foes in a four-on-three Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. It's an enticingly violent prospect, and the trio's track record suggests it'll live up to expectations, but is the grand reunion all it's cracked up to be?
Sure, the early stages have been strong, but this is WWE we're talking about - a company whose creative team have mastered the art of taking white-hot angles and rendering them colder than a polar bear's pudding. This is only the tip of it, though: scratch the storyline's surface and you'll find a multitude of reasons to temper your expectations, despite the solid start.
The Shield's reunion shouldn't be short of fun moments. Cherish them before it all goes up in flames.
8. They Have Ridiculously High Standards To Live Up To
The Shield's trios war with Ryback, Kane, and Daniel Bryan at TLC 2012 is one of the greatest debut matches in WWE history. Wrestling together for the first time, Rollins, Ambrose, and Reigns displayed staggering levels of cohesion, drawing A+ performances from one of the best wrestlers in the company (Bryan) and his two lumbering partners, and producing one of WWE's most exciting all-action bump-fests in years.
They set a dangerously high bar from day one, but The Shield continued delivering excellent matches. The series with The Wyatt Family deserves to become legendary (particularly the Elimination Chamber 2014 bout), their 2014 feud with Evolution remains underrated, they highlighted that year's Royal Rumble, and their electric chemistry ensured they stood out on every single show.
Can the trio live up to these standards in 2017? Perhaps, but it won't be easy.
Sheamus, Cesaro, Strowman, and Miz are talented opponents, but the bout will inevitably be compared to The Shield's classic trios matches. The whole thing will go down as a disappointment if they can't hit the same level, and with WWE's general in-ring standards slipping throughout 2017, it's easy to see that happening.