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EditorialWWE Doesn't Adapt, So The Shield Is Forced To Perish

WWE Doesn’t Adapt, So The Shield Is Forced To Perish

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On June 2, 2014, I woke up in my Watervliet, New York apartment after having done WWE Payback pay-per-view play-by-play the previous night. I anxiously awaited the evening’s RAW broadcast to begin to see where story lines were headed following the Payback show. In particular, I was interested — especially with Daniel Bryan on the shelf — to see where things were headed now that The Shield had just gone 2-0 against Evolution. Basically, it was the top program with Bryan and the title on ice, and I was curious with Evolution now in The Shield’s rear-view mirror, what direction would WWE take their hottest faction?

After RAW concluded that night, I had my answer. At first, I loved the answer and the many possible scenarios that could play out as a result of it.

It wasn’t seven days later that I realized, I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.

On June 9, 2014, another edition of WWE RAW is on the horizon. The previous week’s show saw Seth Rollins shockingly turn on his “brothers,” Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose, and aligning himself — seemingly — with Evolution, a faction that had just saw Batista walk away and begin his hiatus from professional wrestling.

Surely The Shield vs. Evolution program is going to continue, with Rollins filling Batista’s spot in Evolution and someone who we anxiously await to find out fills Rollins spot in The Shield.

No dice.

Can you imagine Arn Anderson — by many considered to be the backbone of the infamous Four Horsemen faction — turning on Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and Ole Anderson and a week later going off into a separate story line altogether, with the Four Horsemen faction being what basically amounts to an after-thought?

No? Me either.

Why would WWE do this? To me, the answer is simple: they absolutely suck these days at long-term booking.

At the WWE Payback pay-per-view, it was either Bryan defending against Kane in a “Buried Alive” match, or there was no title match. When forced to scramble at the last second — due to their own booking mistakes — WWE decided to put the title on the line in an angle instead of a match.

That bought them about a month, because Money In The Bank is right around the corner!

Now, we find ourselves in the same situation. They depend on Bryan coming back and if he can’t, they don’t really have a strong “Plan B” in place. There is no “just in case” backup plan. As a result, the title is on the line in a ladder match, and because we need guys to fill up two ladder matches instead of one, we need to break up The Shield.

You know what? I’ll do you one better. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake, that two Money In The Bank ladder matches — one for the title and one for the briefcase — was the plan all along. At what point did the “creative team” decide that The Shield should be split up and have a heavy roll in the ladder matches. Due to timing issues, that leaves the company — creatively speaking — unable to focus on the fact that the most dominant, over-faction in the company in the past several years is breaking up, and there is no real follow-up angle.

Sure, it looks like Rollins and Ambrose will be feuding — but as part of a match that contains five other Superstars — with the focus not being revenge for Ambrose, or justification for Rollins, but instead a shot at the title.

What about Roman Reigns?

He spent one week trying to get his hands on “that dastardly Seth Rollins” for turning his back on his brothers. One week later, “ahhh who cares? Vickie [Guerrero], get me a title shot!”

To borrow a line from The Miz — seriously?

Seriously?

After so much time together, when the eventual “turn” happens, the other guys aren’t out for blood? One guy is, but the other guy has bigger and more important issues on his mind, like sneaking his way into the title picture? Great, he wants to be champion. That’s awesome. He should aspire to be exactly that.

But the timing is all wrong. Under normal circumstances, if Daniel Bryan was perfectly healthy for example, do you think this same story line would be playing out right now?

Of course not.

No, if Bryan were healthy, he would be defending his title in what would likely be the second straight “gimmick match” against Kane. Meanwhile, The Shield thing would have happened, Reigns and Ambrose would be out for blood, and Rollins would be on the other side of the fence.

Case-in-point? If WWE would spend a bit more effort on long-term booking, and having backup plans, none of this stuff would be an issue. Bryan could suffer a broken neck, or chickenpox, or get pneumonia, and it wouldn’t make a difference. Why? Because the company would be ready for it. They wouldn’t have to sacrifice things and do a hot-shot breakup of a faction that is coming off a very hot, lengthy run as a dominant top-tier act. They could let that story play out while the exercise their ability to run with a backup plan in the case that their champ gets injured.

What’s funny, and somewhat ironic about all of this is the motto of Triple H and Evolution during their latest run in WWE: adapt or perish. What basically happened was, WWE — behind-the-scenes — didn’t adapt their writing process and as a result, the year-plus buildup of The Shield faction was forced to perish simply because they had no alternatives.

How do you guys feel WWE has handled the breakup of The Shield? Leave your feedback in the “Comments” section below. You can also add me on Facebook at Facebook.com/MattBooneWZR, and/or follow me on Twitter @MBoone420.

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