1. There Was Still Plenty Of Life Left In The Shield
It makes sense to turn an act when its starting to get a bit stale. Hulk Hogan was left with little choice but to turn against all of his Hulkamaniacs back in 1996. He needed a new spark to stay relevant. Some wrestlers, like a Kofi Kingston or Dolph Ziggler have stagnated and desperately need a change in direction. The Shield didnt need that. They were only a few months into their babyface run, and doing just fine. It wasnt like Alberto Del Rios face turn that was a massive flop. They were over as a unit. Rushing into turning one of them against the others reeks of desperation. If WWE argues that there arent enough heels that are over enough to battle the group, then they have no one but themselves to blame. After all, heels with actual potential like Del Rio, Ryback, Jack Swagger, Damien Sandow, Wade Barrett, Brodus Clay and Drew McIntyre have all been booked poorly over the past couple years. The tag division is also depleted, and true top stars are few and far between. WWE had something in The Shield, and they panicked and gave it all up. Sometimes management does listen to the fans, but usually it is only because all of their other plans have failed. After all, had Batista not flopped, and CM Punk not left the company, and had the Daniel Wyatt run not been so embarrassingly and obviously awful, then Daniel Bryan wouldnt have main-evented WrestleMania. It didnt matter that the crowd was passionately cheering him on for months. Likewise, it simply didnt matter that fans still loved The Shield. If Vince McMahon wants to do something, then logic and fan reactions be damned.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
