5 Reasons The Shield Reunion Didn't Work

The Shield in a rare moment of unity in 2017.
The Shield in a rare moment of unity in 2017.

I have a confession to make. I loved the Shield.

Starting with their first appearance at Survivor Series 2012, I loved watching them work together. They had many amazing six-man tag matches in their two years as a team, during their first run.

Waiting for their surprise appearances during 2013 was one of the reasons that year was among my favorites in WWE history. But the past is the past for a reason, it never truly comes back.

As we look back on the Shield Reunion in 2017, it had a lot of factors working against it. Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns had all gone onto greener pastures and the quality of teams for them to fight doesn’t really exist in the 2017 brand extension WWE world.

The deck was stacked against them by outside factors and then the WWE made other booking choices to simply make it a lot worse. As we look back on The Shield’s underwhelming reunion in 2017, I present my five reasons why the Shield Reunion of 2017 didn’t work.

#5 Replacement Shield members

The Shield with their dad.
The Shield with their dad.

I got into professional wrestling during the Monday Night Wars. One of the things I enjoyed most were the cool stables like the nWo. The nWo was at its best when the faction was small.

The chaotic unit of Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall was simply the best version. As it got way more bloated, it took away the original cool factor. The Shield is the exact same way.

The Shield is Rollins, Ambrose and Reigns. They are all excellent in-ring workers whose styles complement each other well. They referred to themselves as brothers and acted the part in their in-ring work. That is why it hasn’t been working in 2017 with replacement Shield members.

Sure I loved seeing Kurt Angle wrestle at TLC 2017 but we were provided with no logical reason for Angle to fight with the Shield. And having Triple H as a Shield member overseas?

It makes no logical sense. That idea is beyond ridiculous with the long history of Triple H fighting with and breaking up the Shield in the past. There is only one Shield and using other members dilutes the appeal of the group.

#4 They kept their individual theme music

We didn't see much of this entrance in 2017.
We didn't see much of this entrance in 2017.

What made The Shield cool? It was their entrance. We would be watching your average wrestling match in 2013 and their entrance music would suddenly hit, making the crowd roar in unison.

The crowd would turn and watch as the three wrestlers in riot gear would come through the audience and cause havoc. How many times did this happen in the 2017 reunion tour? It was only a handful of times.

If the point of your group is a true brotherhood of wrestlers why did Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns continue to come out to their own entrance music and in their own individual ring gear?

The fun of a faction is seeing them work together and not only when it suits them.

#3 They didn’t work as a team

They can't even wear the same outfits?
They can't even wear the same outfits?

It is amazing to think that every single time since the Shield broke up in 2014, their Triple Powerbomb (when they teamed up to take out a common foe) got a massive reaction.

Fans loved seeing these three individually gifted performers, united for a common purpose.

So imagine my surprise when other than their excellent Survivor Series match, they didn’t work as a team. Roman Reigns continued to fight for The Intercontinental title on his own. His interactions with the other two was severely limited.

Rollins and Ambrose didn’t fare that much better. They had many singles matches against Sheamus and Cesaro and they didn’t back up their friends on numerous occasions. It is a strange brotherhood when you are not around to help.

#2 Not enough quality opponents

We needed more matches like this in 2017.
We needed more matches like this in 2017.

Some of the best things The Shield had going for them in late 2012 through 2014 were the amazing six-man matches we got to see. They defeated a wide variety of teams consisting of talents like Ryback, John Cena, Kane, Daniel Bryan, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, The Big Show, The Usos and CM Punk.

In their match with The Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber 2014, the crowd chanted “This is Awesome” before the match begun. It was a golden era of high quality six-man tag matches and The Shield had a lot of wonderful talent to feud with.

That is simply not the case in 2017. It certainly doesn’t help that the brand extension limits the amount of heels for The Shield to fight in 2017. I don’t think a lot of people where excited to see encounters with the likes of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel.

Sheamus and Cesaro are great but they literally ran that possible feud into the ground with too many matches in a short span. The best match by far was with The New Day but the brand extension limited the possible chance for a rematch.

The WWE had a lack of strong heels and The Shield floundered because of it.

#1 Injuries and illness

You know things aren't going to work when Dean Ambrose gets injured.
You know things aren't going to work when Dean Ambrose gets injured.

Injuries are terrible. Nothing in pro wrestling history can derail momentum like injuries do. The reunion seemed to be particularly cursed in this regard.

I mean having Reigns go down with an unexplained illness less then two weeks before their first reunion match...that is really bad luck. That really was one of their only real six-man tag matches they have really could have had.

Now with the new long-term injury to Dean Ambrose, the odds of seeing a real Shield reunion seems slim.

With all the things that have gone wrong in just the two short months they were back together, it seems like it wasn’t really meant to be.


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