First off, another UCONN championship game means another bracket victory for me. As UCONN goes, so does my bracket. SHAAAAABBBBBAAAAAAZZZZZZ, BABY~!
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| Thanks, brutha, for the cool $300 |
Outside the ring, The Shield just exudes badass at every turn. Their motivations have been nebulous at best, which is one of the annoying traits of this writing/booking team. However, their look and promos overcome this lack of storytelling. For most of their tenure on the main roster, they have been treated as a private security force to aid heels such as CM Punk against Ryback and The Authority against The Brothers Rhodes, CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. However, occasionally they fall into the same trap as the Wyatts where they just attack random heels citing "dispensation of justice" like against Cena in February.
Where the booking has really shined is the level they have kept The Shield. There is a great temptation recently to strap a rocket to someone's ass ala Miz or Sheamus give them the championship and then de-push them, which fucks them up. This booking is much closer to that natural progression that you saw with Bret Hart or Steve Austin (closer to Austin). They came in and immediately made their presence felt against the big dogs of the roster: Cena, Ryback, Sheamus and Team Hell No. Then each won titles which estasblished them as a strong mid-card act, but they still very protected. They stalled at this point, but never were jobbed. Once the Authority/Bryan angle started, they naturally became the security force for HHH/Stephanie and had a badass feud with the Rhodes. Again, The Punk feud just so started randomly as this booking team tends to create artificial feuds rather than organic feuds, but positioned them against one of the top 3 faces in WWE. The slow-burn face turn against the Wyatts (which was actually generated organically because The Wyatts cost them a chance at Elimination Chamber) was a thing of beauty. While the match upcoming at Wrestlemania against Corporate Kane & The Corporate Outlaws won't be pretty, it will be effective in establishing them as top level babyfaces.
There will be a part two to this series so I just wanted to focus on th booking for the first piece and how patient the WWE was with this faction.
Must See Matches:
The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No - WWE TLC 2012 TLC Match
The Shield vs Ryback, John Cena, Sheamus - WWE Elimination Chamber 2013
Recommended Matches:
WWE World Tag Team Champs The Shield (Rollins & Reigns) vs. Team Hell No (Bryan & Kane) - RAW 5/27/13
Daniel Bryan w/Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins w/Roman Reigns - RAW 6/10/13
Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns w/ The Shield & Randy Orton - RAW 9/16/13
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| The Shield Stands Tall in Mad Max Times |
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The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No - WWE TLC 2012 TLC Match
Is this the greatest debut match in a promotion in the history of wrestling? Not only is it an excellent match, but it represented a total paradigm shift in how WWE presented six-man tags and a return to more chaotic matches. On commentary, Lawler stated that Rollins tweeted "Tonight, we change the world" Usually, that is a whole lot of carny bluster, but on this night The Shield completely changed the game. It was not the moves or the spots themselves that changed wrestling, it was the presentation and the strategy. The presentation was utter raucous mayhem, but not in the ECW garbage way or the Southern hate-filled brawl way. It was closer to wrestling's version of a gang beatdown. It was three men attempting to survive a ruthless assault from three thugs. There were no neat little segments laid out like a typical wrestling match, but just constant action for 20 minutes or so. That is when strategy was so critical in making this match so unique in the WWE history. The Shield wrestled as a unit. No one member felt like the standout star. They were all equals united by the goal to decimate and defeat their opponents. This meant constant isolation of the opposing team. They would lose the advantage momentarily only to have another member come flying out of nowhere to reestablish command of the match. While Team Hell No were the Tag Champs at the time they were primarily singles wrestlers, thus it made sense that Ryback & Team Hell No would not know how to combat The Shield except by brute force. The Shield is not an equation you can brute force.
Even though, Ryback was on the losing end of the match, I thought he was the standout star of the match. He wrestled huge in this match. Although, he was greeted by "Goldberg" chants early on, by the time he was mounting his comeback the Brooklyn crowd was chanting "Feed Me More". He was one man wrecking ball and the only one that could manage to really string together a combination of offense on The Shield. His heart in trying to battle The Shield essentially on his own and being the only one that was able to take a member of the Shield out (Rollins) made him look like a huge star in my eyes. With Cena, Rock, Undertaker and HHH all taking up spots at Wrestlemania, it is a shame because Ryback was really hosed that year.
They set the tone right away with a melee to start. Ryback gains the advantage on Ambrose, but eventually the numbers game overwhelms him (not before he busts out the 'ol burst out of the gang beatdown spot that looks awesome). The Shield is able to press their advantage on Kane & Bryan taking out each using the ladder. The Shield really excelled at using weapons to consolidate. Kane is able to get a pinfall attempt on Reigns so Ambrose immediately starts chopping him down with a chair and then DDT onto a chair. Ryback is able to gain the upper hand on Ambrose & Rollins long enough to try for Double Shellshock, but Reigns saves. I know it is a Cole cliche, but the pack of dogs mentality is such a great way to describe what is going on. Reigns to the Spanish Announce Table "Get up, fools, this my table now", I always knew he was going to be cash money. Triple powerbomb onto the Spanish Announce Table takes Ryback out of picture.
Bryan comes flying through the ropes onto all of The Shield. Team Hell No gamely try to battle The Shield, but without Ryback they fall prey to the numbers advantage. I love how as Ambrose & Rollins are dismantling the smaller Bryan they have Reigns patrolling to make sure that Kane and Ryback dont get up. However, when neither Ambrose nor Rollins can pin Bryan after a double superplex, Reigns rushes into pin Bryan allowing Kane to make the save. It is the details that make a classic. Kane is able to get a mini-comeback that climaxes with chokeslamming Ambrose through a chair. Of course just as Kane is starting to cook, Rollins chop blocks his knee and Reigns spears him through the barricade. Then they friggin' bury Kane in rubble. That is so bitchin! Back in the ring. little Daniel Bryan is able to apply the Yes-Lock on Ambrose, but here comes the Shield and gets it on each one of them, but he too falls prey to the numbers game. It looks like The Shield has the match won after Rollins curb stomps Bryan's head into a chair, but Ryback pulls Ambrose out. The Beast has risen! RYBACK SMASH~! Everyone goes flying. Scream for me, Brooklyn! "FEED ME MORE!" Ryback meat hook clothesline, SHELL SHOCK~! The Shield dive on Ryback. On the outside, Ryback just shoves Reigns into some chairs. It was the little spots like that. In wrestling, you expect an Irish Whip into chairs, but when a guy just kinda shoves a guy when he is not totally ready into chairs it just stands out as really cool. Ambrose then literally bounces a chair off of Ryback. It looked sick.
Ambrose and Reigns leave Rollins to dive off a very high ladder onto a prone Ryback on a chair, but Ryback will not be denied and Rollins tries to scale the ladder higher to escape, but ends off being thrown onto a bunch of tables. The back of his head clips a table, fuck that must have hurt. Back in the ring, Ambrose sets up Reigns to powerbomb Bryan through a table for the win while Ryback tries to crawl to ring to make the save, but it is too late. Ambrose and Reigns collect their fallen comrade, but can hold their heads high because they accomplished what they set out to do they changed the world. Everything was so well-timed. There was never a minute of downtime. There was no beatdown that ever dragged. Each babyface got their comeback climaxing with Ryback big one at the end and each babyface got taken out. The Shield came off as the most destructive force in WWE history because instead of relying on the power of one, they relied on the power of three. I have seen people only go as high as ****1/2, but someone needs to tell me where the flaws were in this, but given how this match pretty much changed the WWE landscape in one match I am going the full monty *****.
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| The only way to follow a 5 star match is with a 5 star babe. |
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The Shield vs Ryback, John Cena, Sheamus - WWE Elimination Chamber 2013
The TLC debut match would lose a lot of its luster if in subsequent matches The Shield reverted to just another team in the WWE. Thus this match had the heightened importance of affirming and securing The Shield's uniqueness in WWE. Once again, the babyfaces do not know what has hit them. They are so used to the semi-respectful style of the WWE. Yeah, their opponents may cheat, but there has never such a full court press. This is like VCU's vaunted Havoc Defense (if that coach went to a school that could procure him better players that team would be one of the most fun in college basketball). Going into this match, Cena, Ryback and Sheamus expect saves from their opponents, but they don't expect that at first sign of trouble at absolute barrage of offense from their opponents like Reigns clothesline (so glad he switched to Superman Punch) or Rollins' sick springboard knee to Cena's temple (where has that move been?).
As a huge Sheamus fan, I am a little disappointed he was treated as an afterthought in this match, but given the time constraints and his partners I cant begrudge the layout. I loved the opening with triple delayed verticals on the Shield, reminiscent of the double/triple figure-4 in Horsemen tags. Sheamus was able to give us a small sample of his badass offense, before Reigns cutoff him off on the outside. I love the revolving door of dropkicks on Sheamus. Sheamus creates space with a non-finishing Brogue Kick and tags in Cena. Cena runs through offense on Reigns to a very mixed reaction and as he goes for the STFU, but Rollins smokes him with a flying knee to the temple. As much as I love Sheamus as an offensive dynamo, Cena proves his mettle in this segment why he is the top star because he is just that damn good at selling. There are some lulls, but spots like Ambrose wicked DDT starts up "Feed Me More" chants. The crowd was rabid for Ryback. How the fuck was he not in The Shield match at Wrestlemania? How stupid! Hot tag to Ryback and RYBACK SMASH~! Bodies go flying as Ryback proves he is one man solution to the Shield problem. Sheamus tries to get involved but suffers Kane's fate and gets speared through the barricade, which has Reigns selling and Ambrose was out too. This leaves Rollins with the Monster. Even though, Shield had controlled the vast majority of the match, it looked like the faces could pull it off. Here comes the Shield to save Rollins and they beat down Ryback. They call for the Triple Powerbomb, but they didn't see Cena! Cena goes for FU and Ryback shellshock Reigns spears Ryback and Rollins falls on top for the victory. What a finish! Due to WWE's penchant for babyface victories, you really bought into Cena & Ryback pulling this one out, but once again the Shield use divide and conquer more effectively than any team in WWE history. There are some lulls in the action in this one compared to TLC, but still one of the best matches in the WWE in 2013. ****1/4
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The Shield vs Undertaker & Team Hell No - RAW 4/22/13
Undertaker decides to stick around after Wrestlemania for the first time in a long time and give a little rub to the hottest, new act they have, The Shield. Even though, The Shield's push would stall over the summer before picking up again with the Rhodes feud, this match went a long in proving that WWE was invested in this group and that kind of cache generates heat with the fans. The London O2 crowd was predictably pumped to see Taker wrestle and the Shield has declared that the Deadman's time has passed and they run this yard now. They tease a 3-on-1 beatdown on Taker because they had attacked Hell No in the back. Here comes Daniel Bryan and Kane running down the ramp. Kane's stride down the ramp is like an exact replica of how he runs down the ramp in Here Comes The Pain video game. It is freaky. It just does not look normal.
The match is by no means a classic, but it is fun. If they reorganized some segments, I believe the match would have came off better, but who I am to tell them what to do. The opening was a standard shine everyone looked good against Ambrose and the fans got to see Old School. The heels take over on Kane when Reigns hits a Superman Punch with no fanfare, but man does he move fluidly. I love the revolving door of dropkicks spot and I don't think I have seen it recently. When Bryan comes in is when match gets really interesting. He was such an incredible hot tag during this period just flying around and Rollins, who has taken over as the best bumper in WWE makes him look that much better. Rollins really was on fire during this hot tag with bump off the forearm, bump to the outside and taking the dive. Bryan misses the running dropkick in the corner to set up his FIP. I have noticed as of late the gap between Bryan's offensive skills and selling has really become apparent. In this match, I thought Bryan gave a blase performance as a FIP while the Shield did a pretty good job trash talking the Undertaker (Rollins is always looking to get the crowd involved). It climaxes with a sweet double team as Ambrose holds Bryan in Bow & Arrow and Rollins comes off with a kneedrop. Reigns misses the superman punch and here comes the Deadman. Taker really has one of the better comebacks just so much action and Ambrose takes all of it really well. Taker has the double goozle. SPEAR BY REIGNS~! It does not get quite the reaction it would now, but I thought it was a hot spot. Taker hits Rollins with a clothesline and tags in Kane!!?!??!?!?! Kane runs through his standard offense, yawn. Rollins hits a wicked enziguiri on Kane to avoid the chokeslam so Ambrose takes it instead, but Kane in his weakened state tags in Bryan. Reigns distracts Bryan on top leading to a melee. Bryan misses the diving headbutt and Ambrose covers for the victory.
The transitions in and out of this were pretty lame and the selling from the face left a lot to be desired. The layout was weird you want to build to Taker's comeback without putting him over so I get that restriction, but what is with the needless run of Kane offense just kinda killed the finish. Also, the match was too normal and just did not show the differentiating factor that the Shield could bring to the table. There were flashes of the chaos they could create, but not enough havoc overall. Taker looked sweet and The Shield was very good, but not as different as they could. Rollins was a bumping god in this match. ***
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| Triple Powerbombing people into announce tables will never get old |
WWE World Tag Team Champs The Shield (Rollins & Reigns) vs. Team Hell No (Bryan & Kane) - RAW 5/27/13
This is not the title change, but the RAW rematch that follows Ambrose's victory over Kingston and Bryan & Kane save Kingston from a beatdown. During this time was my absolute favorite storyline of the year: Daniel Bryan's inferiority complex and much to the detriment of his relationships with Kane & Orton going out of his way to prove it. It mixed his natural smaller stature, his already developed anger issues with an interesting character flaw. There is an excellent moment before this match where Bret Hart basically reiterates the same thing as Kane had been saying to Bryan and Bryan is just lapping it up. An exasperated Kane is like "What!??!?! I just said that." and Bryan is all like "Yeah, but youre just Kane." It is such an excellent portrayal of someone who is dealing with tunnel vision. Of course, they sadly dropped this interesting character build-up for Bryan the plucky underdog babyface, which I dont begrudge them, but when he was fucking around with the Wyatts I would have liked to see more of a callback to this work because this was an interesting quality that was established.
At the outset, Bryan is a house of fire and he is beating up Rollins so bad in the corner. Kane, of all people, has to simmer him down so they don't get disqualified. In a nice juxtaposition, Kane wrestles calmly as opposed to overzealous, chip on his shoulder Bryan. Rollins hit his enziguiri to escape and tag Reigns, who is right on him. I like Rollins' punches a lot and Kane gets a good hope spot with a delayed vertical (he should add that to his arsenal). The hot tag to Bryan is glorious. After this run, Bryan was one of the best hot tags of all time. In my opinion, it was his hot tag that got him over like a muthafucka in addition to the Yes chant. Running dropkick to Reigns off the apron, huge German to Rollin, big running dropkick to Rollins, super back suplex, but that takes too much out of Bryan. Credit to the commentary team putting over that Bryan's chip on his shoulder may be costing him the match. The search for perfection is the enemy of good, after all.
The FIP begins with Reigns' palm strike stymieing Bryan. When The Shield came out, I was a huge Reigns mark and I just knew he was going place, but upon watching this back with a closer eye (when I watch Raw I am usually talking to my brother and/or dad and just enjoying it), Rollins is wicked good. I love how he takes time to always get the crowd into it. He wrestles like it is an actually contest. When he is doing the YES! chant while preparing to surfboard Bryan was wicked and one of the funniest moments of the year was he berated Bryan for being the weak link and Kane says from the apron, "Dont listen to him, Daniel". Bryan is still no Ricky Morton, but Rollins and Reigns did a great job smothering him. Bryan breaks free and here comes Kane. As good as Kane has been at character work, he is a lukewarm tag at best. Bryan rejoins the fracas pretty much immediately with a missile dropkick to Reigns and a diving elbow to the outside. He is going for the running knee off the apron, but Kane tells him to quit it and go back to the corner. Reigns catches Bryan and plants him on the outside, while Rollins his a springboard knee to Kane's temple to win. This is the type of match that used to be the WWF's bread and butter in the 80s establish an angle in the back and show how it affects the match outcome. Too many matches either have a disconnect or don't advance the story. This match did in an compelling way: Bryan's fiery attitude can backfire, how long is Kane's fuse with the irrational Daniel Bryan, Rollins is a huge dick and a Reigns is a beast. That's wrestling understanding who you are and how you fit into the context of a match. With Cena/Punk taking place on Raw in 2013, no match would top that as the best free TV match of the year, but in other years this would be a contender. ***3/4
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Daniel Bryan w/Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins w/Roman Reigns - RAW 6/10/13
Much like the Cesaro/Bryan RAW match, I initially thought this match was overrated. Unlike the Cesaro/Bryan match, upon rewatch, I loved it. They went balls to the wall and did not let up. Bryan started off red-hot with a barrage of offense including a surfboard attempt (important later) and Rollins juts bumping all over the place for him especially dug the baseball slide to barricade bump. Rollins uses his head drop on the middle turnbuckle as a transition, which suits him well given his head-related offense and is a good sudden transition. Rollins, who King astutely points out (shocking, I know), likes to rub the salt into his opponent's wounds by trying to use their own moves against them. Rollins gets the surfboard (no Yes! mockery for shame), but Bryan powers out of it like only he can. Bryan proves he is better by getting on his surfboard and modifying it ala Liger or Dragon to have a Dragon sleeper. Even the Richmond crowd was good in this as during the trading of hands they would say Yes! for Bryan and No! for Rollins ala the Yay/Boo chant. Bryan catches a Rollins enziguiri into a half-crab in another cool spot. Remember, Rollins likes to mimic his opponent so after a connected enziguiri he starts doing the kicks to a kneeling opponent's chest ala Bryan (at this point I want to get "ala" into every subsequent sentence). They each tease Germans on each other. This leads to one of my all-time favorite moves the corner powerbomb from Rollins, but it still not enough to put down the fiesty Bryan. Crazy ROH workrate sequence ends in Chaos Theory and a huge Bryan kick to the head that should have been the finish. Rollins shifts his weight on a super back suplex, but cant get two. Orton pulls Reigns' legs out from under him and Bryan gets the small package for two. After the match, Bryan kicks Rollins in the head, who eats the RKO from the newly forged Team RK-No, wonder what happened to that team.
Even though, they depart from Bryan's "inferiority complex" (which commentary gets over pretty well in this) this is a very entertaining match in a vacuum. There is not a whole much in the way of storytelling or even selling just hitting big moves, but escalating them well to the finish. Fans of plot advancement over MOVEZ~! do not wring your hands yet because the finish does put over the fact that brand new team of Orton/Bryan are gelling and a real test for The Shield. It was important to demonstrate those two were on the same page. ***3/4
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| Two roles they were born to play: Bryan, Offensive Dynamo and Rollins, Bumping Pinball |
Daniel Bryan vs Roman Reigns w/ The Shield & Randy Orton - RAW 9/16/13
First off, this bothered me then and it still bothers me now was the incessant whining of the babyface commentators this or the Big Show match was a punishment match. If Bryan was the A+ player these people thought he was he would have to defend the title against challengers bigger than him. Handicap match, one arm tied behind his back, blindfold matches those are punishment matches. This is just a tough challenge for the undersized, but firey Bryan.
That all being said this is a great match and I think the best Bryan singles performance of this project on Free TV (I have the Orton street fight ahead of this overall in 2013). They establish Bryan's quickness and tenacity as the keys to success. He hones in on Reigns' leg and never really gives up on it and Reigns to his credit sells for the majority of the match. All you had to do was throw in a Shining Wizard and I would have thought this was a Mutoh match from 2001. Bryan was great with his barrage of Dragon Leg screws and kicks. I especially loved the inverted Indian deathlock (think Liger) and then him coming down to reign elbows on Reigns. It showed his focus on strategy, but also his intensity. Reigns takes over at this point with a huge Axe Bomber, which is a perfect heel transition because you are hitting from behind and it is violently wicked. When Bryan hits a knee lift, it is right back to the leg and when Reigns tries to stymie Bryan with a knee lift it is immediately a chop block to a leg lace. That is the type of struggle missing from a lot of matches. Great stuff. Bryan gets another of offense with a drop toehold into the middle turnbuckle and a missile dropkick, but Reigns catches him on his diving elbow driving him into the apron and throwing him into barricade in a very nice bump. Bryan crashes and burns on diving headbutt, but kicks out at 2. Bryan's hope spots feel more like he is struggling through pain rather than turning it off. It is his best FIP so far, but again still much better on offense. "You go where I tell you. This is A+. You are just B+" - Roman Reigns, Da Man! Here comes Bryan flying off with a clotheslines and YES! kicks before Reigns quashes that with a true Samoan Drop. REIGNS HOWLS~! Bryan evades and a roll-up, no. Big kick to head, nada.
Bryan WIPES ROLLINS OUT WITH A HUGE DROPKICK. The back of Rollins' head cracked against the announce table. Nasty. Dropkick to Reigns and dropkick to Ambrose. Big clothesline by Reigns only to fall prey to the YESLOCK. Orton in and triggers DQ. They beat down Bryan until the locker room makes the save, which is a big deal at this point in the story arc because the locker room had since feared for their jobs from The Authority and this was the first time they rallied around Bryan. The more I watch Bryan the more I see a throwback to old WWF style of booking babyfaces very strong in the ring. There is very little time where Bryan is selling for extended periods of time. He is always peppering in hope spots and he always feels like he is on offense. Whereas, Cena builds his matches around selling and now extended comebacks. I need to watch more Bryan, but off hand I prefer Cena. Reigns was awesome in this as a badass monster. It was a little too back & forth at times, but I liked the leg psychology and thought Reigns gave a strong performance. ***3/4
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I said in the Cesaro blog piece, we were absolutely spoiled last year in terms of great in-ring quality. These half a dozen matches showcase how big of a part the Shield played in that and I have not even gotten to their best matches against the Brothers Rhodes. That is for next time, until then Believe the Hype and Believe in The Shield.
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