What if The Shield added female members?

The Shield is one of the most successful stables in WWE history. That’s not just a matter of the group being a part of great angles and matches, but what the faction has meant to each member.

Sure, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose each brought a lot to the table in developmental, and may well have become main event level stars even if they hadn’t been put together. But as a unit, they got fast tracked, telling the story that as a well oiled machine the rookies could immediately compete with top level stars on the main roster. Moreover, Ambrose’s skills on the mic, Rollins’s polished in ring game, and Reigns’s look and size all helped cover up for one another’s limitations and present them as a total package.

The group’s legacy? Three guys who’ve all won world titles and had fans pumped when they reunited just three years after they’d originally split up.

One could argue that part of the magic of The Shield was that it stayed small, never diluted by any weak links. But what if WWE were to expand the group in its latest incarnation to give additional talents the rub and freshen the group’s roster? In particular what if The Shield were go with the flow of mixed tag teams and on screen couples WWE has pushed as of late? This article looks at five possible inductees if The Shield added female members.

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5. Nikki Cross

Nikki Cross could meet Dean Ambrose on the Lunatic Fringe.

WWE teased moving Nikki Cross up to the main roster this summer, including her working a number of live events. She hasn’t made the transition yet full time, but she has more or less done all she seems likely to down in Orlando, and has mostly stayed off of NXT television in recent months, suggesting the move might be imminent.

Cross has a loose cannon element that allows her to work face or heel quite nicely, in not so dissimilar style from Dean Ambrose. Moreover, she has experience working alongside men from her time in developmental with Sanity. She could be a fun addition to The Shield’s ranks, and particularly well equipped to be an active participant when the group inevitably gets drawn into wild, brawling situations. Cross could be a particularly potent addition in helping to fend off someone like Alexa Bliss if she came to her Mixed Match Challenge partner, Braun Strowman’s aid.

4. Shayna Baszler

Shayna Baszler certainly has the credibility to match up well for The Shield.

The Shield persona is rooted in being tough and ruthless. As heels, they used these attributes to execute vicious attacks as guns for hire, and eventually to their own designs. As faces, it was these factors that allowed them to topple Evolution and to take on the whole heel roster from Raw in this most recent run.

Shayna Baszler proved herself as a natural heel through her run in the original Mae Young Classic and in NXT. She plays the bully well, backed up by real life credentials as a submission grappler. Her tough persona could work well with the Shield identity, be it if the group were to lean heel again, or if she were to be a rough and tumble addition as a face. In particular if WWE wanted to mix things up with an MMA-inspired dream team of Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey, Baszler could be the ultimate counter weapon to team up with Roman Reigns and represent The Shield.

3. Dakota Kai

Dakota Kai could keep from getting lost in the shuffle with The Shield.

From a reality based perspective, The Shield is first and foremost about pushing elite talents who might have otherwise gone overlooked or underappreciated, or had trouble getting over. Dakota Kai could fit in nicely as a very talented recruit out of NXT who has yet to quite break the glass ceiling to meaningfully figure into the title picture there, and who’d likely as not get lost in the shuffle upon getting called up to the main roster.

Kai may be most valuable in this capacity as not a solo addition, but perhaps one of three female additions to the new Shield. She already has had an oddball kayfabe friendship with Nikki Cross in the past, and playing a female Seth Rollins to Cross’s Dean Ambrose could be a logical enough parallel. Kai isn’t proven as a heel, but given the faction’s face trajectory, and how unlikely it is for fans to fully turn against them as a unit, Kai should be a fine enough addition.

2. Sasha Banks

Sasha Banks could elevate her career to the next level as a part of the Shield

Roman Reigns was purportedly earmarked, from very early on his WWE tenure, to be the guy or at least a very significant figure in WWE. Dean Ambrose also seemed to have buzz around him for the level of character work he had developed on the indies, and fine efforts in developmental. But Seth Rollins? For as athletically remarkable as he is, and for having won an NXT Championship, he was nonetheless the guy with the least clear path forward. The Shield lent him an immediate character, set up his historic heel turn, and paved the way for him to be a top tier star.

Sasha Banks was similarly excellent to Rollins in NXT, and enjoyed a push for her first year and a half or so on the main roster, particularly in her title feud with Charlotte Flair. However, she has since gotten lost in the shuffle, at minimum lagging far behind Flair, Alexa Bliss, and Ronda Rousey.

Participation in a new version of The Shield could be just the ticket to reinvent Banks and make her relevant again. On top of that, her organic popularity and wrestling talent would fit nicely with the group.

1. Renee Young

Could Renee Young join her husband in the ring?

There are ways in which Renee Young is anything but an obvious choice to join The Shield. First and foremost, she’s not a wrestler, nor even a professional athlete one could expect to pick up wrestling easily. She’s a generally well liked broadcaster.

However, Young is also married to core Shield member Dean Ambrose. If WWE were to incorporate women in a Shield angle, it would make sense enough for The Hounds of Justice to have Young’s back, or for her to, perhaps against her better judgment, enter the fray. Surely, Young could get a pop if only for entering for the crowd with the boys, in her own riot gear.

I would by no means suggest a full fledged wrestling run for Young. But adding her to some sort of mixed tag team angle in which she could be heavily protected could have potential, particularly in an era when her relationship with Ambrose is no secret, and has even been a part of WWE’s reality TV programming.