WWE WrestleMania 29: Why It Matters And What It Means For The Future

Randy Orton, Sheamus & Ryback vs. The Shield

I don€™t know how The Shield happened, or what their purpose in life is. To me it looks as if Vince owed these guys something but had nowhere to put them. They are as perfect an example of the type of flavorless booking that I have been ranting about throughout the article. Which is not a knock on the wrestlers themselves. By all approximations, they should all be valuable talent; a die-hard indie worker, a member of one of pro wrestlings most talented families, and the NXT inaugural champion (where the competition was supposed to mean something). Which is why I am so confused. Why take three fresh talents who could quickly outshine many on the currently bloated roster and team them up in a lame vanilla-minded group, give them a stupid name, dress them up as rent-a-cops, and have them run around with the lights off? Apparently I am not the only one asking these questions, because now they are in a real match; at Wrestlemania nonetheless. Which means they will, in all likelihood, actually have to wrestle. And as exciting a prospect as this may be for the WWE universe, there are still a laundry list of problems which I feel are worth mentioning -- namely, their opponents. There is no questioning the talents of Orton and Sheamus. Both are excellent competitors who have had some amazing battles over the course of their careers, and both have made a nice niche for themselves in the annals of wrestling history. Ryback is relatively new to the party in comparison to his partners for this matchup. He is also a beast, who is more than capable of having excellent matches against the right opponent. His size and the current booking trends in the WWE often see him in matches that make no sense against opponents he has no business being in the ring with. Which is an unfortunate turn of events, because there is nothing worse in this industry than watching a good wrestler being booked into oblivion. Having said all that, this match probably looks pretty good to most people. At least, on the surface. After all, what€™s wrong with having three strong performers carry some of the developing talent through a big-game match at the grand-daddy of them all? Nothing, provided the strong talent that is doing the carrying hasn€™t spent the past year already making the newcomers look good while at the same time losing matches against whatever wrestler The Shield is supposed to be in the services of. Which is exactly what we have here. Orton, Sheamus, and Ryback have all, at one time or another, taken some pretty severe beatings at the hands of The Shield. Which makes The Shield look like a serious threat. They are, after all, taking out some of the biggest names on the WWE roster. However, doesn€™t it add more than a little insult to injury that all of these beatings at the hands of The Shield have occurred during matches with other wrestlers? Haven€™t the three men opposite The Shield here done enough to make everyone look good? Don€™t they deserve something a little bit better at Wrestlemania than some lame revenge angle that nobody will remember come Monday morning? If The Shield wins, and in my opinion at this point it is more than possible, I would mark that as the canary in the coalmine for the business of professional wrestling as we know it. And if The Shield loses, then all we can hope is that they are forced by some unmentioned stipulation to go back to guarding whatever shopping mall they came from until the gimmick fairy grants them their wishes.