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The Shield is finally back!
While that is no doubt a great thing for various reasons, especially since it finally gives WWE a chance to turn Roman Reigns into a top guy, the move isn't without its causalities. In fact, while The Barclay's Centre seemed to come unglued when the big reveal happened, they seemingly forgot all that this move meant for the future of the company.
With that being said and WWE pulling out there ace in the hole to finally get the fans behind Roman Reigns in a way that hasn't happened since the original Shield debuted, what happens next? Furthermore, what happens to everyone in the title picture that isn't Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, or Seth Rollins?. Do they even have a chance now?
Believe it or not, the answer to that question is a resounding no and while there will no doubt be contenders that step up to the challenge of beating all three members of The Shield and winning a title, it's not something that's going to happen right away. In fact, judging by the way WWE has booked The Shield in the past, it could be a while before Reigns loses his title.
Who's going to be most affected though? Who will have to wait a while before they ever get another shot with the big red belt? Also, who is set to fall at the hands of The Shield as their reign progresses? In the end, it's not a perfect science at all and the situation could change on a dime, but here are five people that are going to be negatively affected by this.
#8 Finn Balor
Let's be honest here.
Finn Balor losing clean to Roman Reigns on Raw Monday Night is only going to hurt Balor's stock with fans more and pretty much knocks him out of the title picture in the process. In fact, between Bruan Strowman almost winning the title and The Shield reuniting, it seems like Balor has essentially become an afterthought.
Unfortunately for Balor, that most likely means he will not be getting a rematch anytime soon and will most likely be moved back down to the mid-card. then again, even if he does get a rematch, he's a sitting duck due to the fact that The Shield will triple team him if he comes closing to winning the title.
If nothing else, the shield reunion creates an unwinnable situation for Finn Balor moving forward. Not only is that evident by the extremely low chance of him taking back the title with Reigns as champion, but also by how much fans have already forgotten about Balor after what happened on Raw the night after Summerslam.
#7 Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler.
The WWE Universe was left in a state of euphoric shock when The Shield reunited to help Roman Reigns retain The Universal title, but some are wondering how that latest development shapes their feud with Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. Some are even fearing that McIntyre will be fed to The Shield as a way to show how powerful they are
Unfortunately for Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler, that could completely kill their gimmick of trying to shake up the red brand and make McIntyre look like a neutered giant in the process. Furthermore, a loss to The Shield this early in McIntyre's run could severely damage his stock and lead to fans giving up on him.
In the end, it doesn't seem like a very winnable situation and believes it or not a lot of fans are upset about this. Of course, WWE could also surprise fans and have one or two of the younger stars get a win over the legendary Shield faction, but it doesn't seem very likely with how dominantly they have booked The Hounds of Justice in the past.
#6 Bobby Lashley
Once upon a time, a Universal title shot for Bobby Lashley seemed like an obvious conclusion and way to get fans behind someone else besides Brock Lesnar, but now it seems like The Shield now has that role. Unfortunately for Lashley, this either means his title run will have to wait or won't happen at all.
With that being said, Lashley getting put in a main event program with The Shield doesn't seem like a big possibility right now and might not be for at least the rest of the year. In the end, things are not looking good for Bobby Lashley and him being thrown into a match with Baron Corbin on Raw is not a great sign of things to come either.
#5 Bruan Strowman
While WWE could always choose to have Bruan Strowman successfully cash in his Money in the Bank contract and win The Universal title, what are the chances of that happening against Roman Reigns and The Shield? Not only that, what would be the chances of Strowman's title reign even lasting that long with how much WWE is behind Reigns right now.
Interestingly enough, Strowman is rumoured to be taking on Roman Reigns at Hell in a cell, which means that whatever WWE's decision is, it will be revealed to the fans at the pay per view. What's also interesting here is how a hell in a cell match could be a good way to neutralize The Shield and force the match to be one on one.
Whether that ends up in a victory or a crushing defeat remains to be seen, but Strowman's chances of being champion got a lot bleaker when The Shield reformed Monday Night on Raw and it could get even worse from there. In fact, for Strowman, it most likely will get worse from here depending on what side of the fan base you fall on.
#4 The Raw tag team division.
Another huge victim of The Shield reunion will no doubt be the tag team division, who will be turned upside down by The Hounds of Justice. In fact, WWE already switched The IC belt back to Seth Rollins at Summerslam, which is a pretty good indication that they are at least open to the idea.
Between that and the fact that the tag team division has been lacklustre at best storyline wise and you have a division that can absolutely become road kill in the wake of The Shield. In the end, The Shield were amazing in tag team and six-man tag matches in their heyday and WWE could be very interested in bringing that back to a floundering division.
#3 Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose
Whether The WWE Universe likes it or not, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are and will continue to play second fiddle to Roman Reigns throughout this title reign. Not only is that going to upset a lot of fans that want to see Rollins and Ambrose succeed, it's also going to tempt WWE into changing history and having Dean Ambrose break up The Shield.
In the end, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are nothing more than window dressing made to make Reigns title run look good and will likely be used for nothing more then fan support. Of course, sooner or later WWE is going to want to have Reigns be betrayed by Ambrose or Rollins and become the ultimate babyface, but it will take a while to build up.
#2 Anyone who isn't a Shield fan
As impossible as it may seem, there are some in The WWE Universe that is unhappy with what happened on The August 20th edition of Monday Night Raw and believes this is going to bog down the title division and the entire show. Interestingly enough, they seem to be right in some regards, but it depends on who you're rooting for.
While Finn Balor might not enter the title picture for quite a while after losing clean to Roman Reigns in the main event of Monday Night Raw, WWE could still use The Shield to turn Strowman into an ultra babyface. In fact, if Strowman was somehow able to fend off The Shield and win the title in the process, the result would absolutely electrifying.
In the end, it's up to WWE to ultimately do it, but every legendary group has to fall eventually and Strowman would probably be the best benefactor for that fall. Beyond the fact that he would have the distinction of destroying The Shield to win The Universal title, which would be on the same level of a victory over John Cena in the early 2010's
#1 Brock Lesnar
What happened to Brock Lesnar?
Rumour had it that he was supposed to appear at The Raw after Summerslam, but his advocate showed up instead and asked for a rematch. Kurt Angle ultimately told Heyman that Lesnar wouldn't get his contractually obligated match anytime soon, but that was before Kurt Angle was forced to take a break by Stephanie McMahon.
Whether WWE decides to go along with the rematch now is an interesting proposition, especially since it would essentially be putting The Shield against Brock Lesnar, it almost seems certain that the result wouldn't be good for Lesnar. In fact, with how over The Shield reunion was on Raw, Brock Lesnar is quickly becoming an afterthought himself.
Finally, there's the rumour that Vince McMahon is upset with Brock Lesnar for destroying the stage set when he chucked the money in the bank contract up to the ramp. That, along with the rumour that McMahon was also upset with Lesnar for getting his shoulder up during the pin that was supposed to end the match.
In the end, it again looks like Lesnar is going to become an afterthought, much like Balor now is. Unfortunately for Lesnar, that means Vince McMahon doesn't care if his biggest attraction goes to UFC and will rely on The Shield to sustain interest in the product.
