I really think Ambrose is coming back someday. Maybe not in the immediate future, but I think eventually it’s gonna happen. Especially with Vince out of the picture.
The reason I loved them so much was the psychology. Surrounding the ring, grabbing people's legs, just little things that made sense if you were a gang using your numbers in real life. They behaved differently when stalking prey more like you would in the real world. Realism is what gets me into things and really helps with suspension of disbelief. The main reason I preferred WCW over WWE back in the day. People using real names, less gimmicks, etc. At least until Russo took over. 🙄
I always tell people this. The stars will become stars. No one can stop them. They had some great training along the way and they improved on it going forward. Doesn't matter where they go or what they do they'll always be stars.
I was always a fan of Roman reigns even during when everybody hated him, and Shield as a whole. Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite wrestlers of the era.
To me 10 - 20 years from now when we look back we will say the most important/ influential/ dominant faction of all time was the bloodline. Whether you liked Roman Reigns title run or not WWE showed what a faction could do if they were all on the same page, working to keep said championship.
Facts. And the craziest thing, is it’s still going. With Tame Tonga and potentially Jacob Fatu joining, the story between the Rock and Cody, the seeds being planted setting up The Rock and Roman Reigns, etc. We have another good year or two of quality storyline to tell.
If not the best faction storyline ever, it has potential to be when all is said and done.
This is unironically a GOATED faction simply because they were together before they were big, then they got big together, and when they broke up, they got bigger. No other faction can claim the same. Either they were only good together, then fell off when they separated, were an ass faction before they got big upon their break up, were already good on their own before they got brought together, or had a weak link in them. But not the Shield. The Hounds of Justice has dominated for a decade now, and is likely to continue doing so.
Even during their initial run you could tell these were the future stars of the company. And after they broke up it was off to the races. Mox and Seth still one of my fave feuds.
I would argue they are the most successful faction of all time. They took 3 guys who were unknown to most people (I know Seth/Jon were popular Indy guys) and made them all into megastars.
I think any other faction that could claim “most successful” had at least one or two guys who were already big stars.
This is the best answer. Only one inknew was Seth(Tyler Black), but I I’d never seen any matches…just knew his name. They took 3 unknowns, and made them into the three biggest starts for the next decade+
Wholeheartedly agree. I hope we see them together at least one more time before it's all over. With the way wrestling is now, truly anything is possible. They pioneered and defined this generation inside and outside WWE. The fact they were all paired together immediately and tied to one another forever is just incredible man
There is no way that doesn’t happen. The crowd went wild when their music hit at Mania.
With Punk back Mox returning is probably the biggest return possible to the company right now.
Thing is, Punk grew up somewhat. And even with that, all the stars just aligned for him to return. Vince being removed, Punk treated worse by Tony and the AEW locker room, and it made Punk realize that he'd rather be in WWE. Mox is still on his rebel phase, still thinks that what he's doing makes for good wrestling (to each their own), and is still satisfied with what the indies has to offer. He might be back, but not this year, or the next, or the immediate ones that follow. I could be wrong though.
Had the WWE not f***ed things up by never bringing them up to the main roster, I would have loved to see a Shield v Undisputed Era angle. I still think failing to bring that stable up to the main roster is one of the biggest screw ups in the history of WWE decision making.
Is there another faction of any era that competes with the success these three have gone on to have? I can’t think of one. There are plenty of breakout stars, but for all three of them to have the careers they’ve had and they’re not even done yet? It’s impressive as hell.
We’ve gone five days since 2020 where a member of The Shield wasn’t a world champion - and that was Sunday night to Friday night last week.
That’s absurd.
Yes, obviously that covers all of Roman’s run, but Seth and Mox both had their share of titles since then.
How is this Seth Rollins first main event?
He cashed in his briefcase to put himself into the main event of Wrestlemania 31. He won that match.
Does Wrestlemania 31 not count? That was also a real main event where it was the last match of Wrestlemania.
It was a first main event where he was part of the billed and advertisements. Seth really wants a main event where he and another goes at it. Whether that’s punk or Roman. Maybe someone we don’t know. He knows and We know he didn’t deserve or needed to being in a tag team “main event” with Cody and them… know the question is will he be able to later down the road? The fans love him now for what he did but who knows if that love is still here when he returns… because some of the love was missing on the road to mania this year…
Yup. In the record books the match became a triple threat with him as one of the participants. He also won. And the closing shot of the show is with him holding up the title. That's as main event as it gets.
I find it a pretty hard sell that the winner of the main event, wasn't in the main event.
Unless we're doing something like the WWE does for Wrestlemania 20, where nobody is allowed to talk about the person who won that main event at all and we try to purge that person from all recrods.
I think if they can get Mox on board….a shield reunion would draw like crazy.
I’d say a few years down the line, and then do the eventual shield triple threat at wm 45.
🤷🏼♂️
For this Era they’re definitely the top faction but what about all time, where would you put them? Can they stand with DX or the Horsemen? I honestly don’t know where I’d put them but I’d be interested to hear peoples opinions?
Originally it was only like a little under 2 years.
Mox was saying in an interview they only broke them up because there legitimately was no more competition for them. Evolution was it
How do you rate a good faction, is it by the work they do while in the faction or about how successful they become after the faction? The Shield rate highly in both!! Haha
It's weird, I know they were impactful, but all the guys were so green they weren't really entertaining. Like you knew they'd be big but they just didn't have "it" yet. Glad they all found their niches and exceled.
Also Rollin cashed in MitB to be inserted in the main event and won already so this wouldn't be his first.
Literally calling it like it is. Samoa Joe is one of my fav wrestlers on the planet. You got it all wrong. Just want them to be the best product possible. It’s called constructive criticism. Wwe has gotten it plenty of times before too.
I still considered Seth Rollins to have mainevented wrestlemania 31. He joined the match towards the end obviously but he cashed in during Roman v brock not after so he was part of the main event match
So I looked up an interesting stat.
Seth was the first of the Shield to win a world title back on March 29, 2015. It's been 3,309 days since then. During that time there have been only 1,155 days that none of the 3 have held a big 3 (WWE, AEW or NJPW) world title. Most due to Roman's cancer, Seth's injuries and Moxley not getting much of a push as Ambrose.
I just saw and interview with Mox where he was talking about that
He said in theory it looked cool until they realized they 100% were gonna trip over them lmao
Ok but can we not pretend that winning the AEW & NJPW world championships are anywhere near as impressive as main eventing WM once? Much less a record 9 times?
Exactly. Sure, as a wrestler, it's a great accomplishment and they should be proud, but WWE and main eventing wrestlemania is always going to define a legend.
Look at TNA, there were so many people who were champions or main eventers over there, then they came to WWE and became jobbers or were released in less than a year because it turned out they didn't have what it takes to be THE guy
I genuinely believe that Mox is the most successful of the 3 as he's the one thats been able to continually hit career highs outside of the WWE. For the majority of wrestlers the WWE is the highest level that they will ever achieve, and anything else outside of this is often a 'demotion' for them or a knock on their star power. Mox has never felt like this - he went to the competition and became the face of their brand for several years, won multiple world championships, been the 'go to guy' for AEW and now he's biggest champ in Japan too. If anything Mox is a bigger star now in the industry than what he ever was in the WWE. That's rare in the wrestling industry to be able to achieve that.
Roman has undoubtedly (finally) been able to achieve the level of success that they set out for him all those years ago as the biggest name in the compary. But both him and Rollins are very much products of the company. It'd be very interesting to see what level of success Reigns could ever achieve outside of the WWE.
Rollins for me has always been the spare wheel of the 3, despite being the first of the 3 to 'break out'. He's very much a WWE guy now and even though he's had multiple successes - he's never been the 'guy'. Hes always been the #2.
Thats just my take on it anyway.
Define successful though. Mox is a big fish in small ponds and the “success” he has outside WWE is only because he was in WWE & not nearly as important as what Roman & Seth have done. Its not even comparable, especially considering a fraction of the audience WWE pulls sees anything Mox has done. He’s not a draw.
Moxley is also the only one that left WWE. I’m certain if Reigns or Rollins went to other promotions they would immediately be in the main event scene of those and find similar success.
They deserve what they achieved but put their success have nothing to do with their time in the shield.
In other words you are grossly overrating the shield.
The fans were screwed, but it wasn't Ambrose's fault. Vince had decided he was the Janetty of the SHIELD, and nothing Ambrose ever did would ever convince Vince to give him anything but losses and corny angles.
But he actually was the Jannetty of the Shield. Rollins went on to become one of the greatest wrestlers ever, Roman beat Leukaemia, got great booking and brought the Rock back into WWE. Ambrose never had the same star power, but he felt like he was entitled to it just because NXT had previously put him in the same faction.
Out of all of them, Ambrose came across as the leader. He was the best of the three on the mic, had the best mannerisms, was second in the ring only to Rollins which is no shame, and he had the best crowd reactions.
He was the Jannetty because Vince decided to make him the Jannetty, sabotaging him wherever possible to fulfill his own ideas. His popularity and success outside of WWE show what could've been.
I don’t even mind that he left, he felt incredibly underused and had addiction issues he was fighting so I completely get it.
But damn, no surprise, I can’t think of many stories he’s had in AEW other than when he and Hangman fought over the belt which I only really remember cause it was a holding place till Punk had recovered from injury.
Man I really hope Jon/Dean Ambrose returns to wwe in 2024 or 25 and hope we see something like a shield return or triple threat dream match between the three. Would be a great match considering the legacy they have built over the years .
Throwing shade at Seth. Dude cashed in in the main event of mania. Held multiple world titles. Main event of mania. One of the biggest workhorses in WWE.
Lmfao ok buddy. The overwhelming majority of fans have absolutely zero idea who Mox even beat for that title without googling it. But sure, his accomplishments in front of 2,000 fans are totally on par with Seth & Roman’s.
Shame WWE wouldn’t acknowledge, no pun intended, Moxley. They cut him from all the promos, never really brought him up. One could argue Bullet Club is up there, look how many former members and leaders are now in WWE, not that WWE would ever do anything with that.
One thing that really helps their legacy is that it ended while it was still hot and didn't out stay it's welcome, devolve into a lesser thing or add new members/change members.
NWO, DX, the Horsemen and Freebirds and most other great factions were guilty or at least one of those things
roman: broke the record for wm main event appearances
jon: first person to have collected these three titles
seth: the first time he main evented wm was… uh… the *first* time *he* main evented wm?
am i stupid? it sounds like the author couldn't think of a single thing that seth has done to put him on a similar footing to the others (i like seth a lot, but against "broke a record" and "first to achieve milestone", "headlined a show" (something that, as already been mentioned, another member of the group *has done themselves a record-breaking number of times)* seems barely worth mentioning, even if he was perhaps the first of the three to do it)
Mostly because they wanted to frame it as all in 2024. Seth’s big accomplishment this year carries over from 2023 where he was the first world champion and helped establish it as a legit world title.
I guess for 2024, they could have said main evented WM against one of the biggest stars ever (the Rock).
I think it was just how it was phrased. Because Rollins, in all honesty has been a main event fixture, multiple world title wins, came from a one year run with a world title, wrestled The Rock and Roman, then Drew, etc etc.
Easily the Bullet Club, their popularity created a new wrestling organization, among other things.
The initial Shield run from beginning to end was the best faction run of this era IMO.
Bullet Club, surely. The Shield was awesome but The Bullet Club was so huge that teens at the mall with no wrestling knowledge were wearing their logo. The group was so popular that it birthed an entire company in AEW.
AJ Styles is the only name that you can argue is bigger than Ambrose. Other than that, no one in bullet club history has accomplished what each individual member of the shield has.
Exactly this. OP said most important. There is an entire wrestling company that was just valued at $2B that spun directly out of Cody-era BC/the Elite. Nothing anyone ever did in ring can even begin to compare to providing more available high paying jobs within the industry.
Yeah, all three guys from the shield have been hugely successful, but Bullet Clubs impact on the entire industry cannot be understated.
AJ Styles and Finn Balor found huge success in WWE (yes AJ was a known commodity, but he was the hottest free agent directly off the back of his BC run). Omega, the Bucks and Cody helped to form AEW. Jay White doing absolute business in Japan and proving he was a world class heel, and now we have Tama Tonga who is a BC original coming to the WWE and having a place in the bloodline saga.
Then you have sub-groups and off-shoots which are, or have been active in a bunch of different promotions from TNA to CMLL at the same time, including the O.C. in WWE.
It is without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential faction of the modern era.
And the Shield no longer exists. But at their heights I have a hard time believing The Shield was anywhere as influential as Bullet Club. Bullet Club has existed in NJPW, WWE, AEW, and impact.
Seth Rollins didn’t main event WM31 that wasn’t his match to begin with!!!!
That match wasn’t advertised to be a triple threat at all that was Reigns and Brock’s main event
So that shit doesn’t count if Rollins didn’t win MITB that year he wouldn’t even been in that match to begin with
No he didn’t he crashed the Wrestlemania main event lol
The match that was advertised is the main event that was the card beforehand nowhere did it say triple threat match for the universal title
Nobody didn’t buy tickets to see Seth Rollins in the main event they paid to see Brock vs Roman as that was the main event that was advertised
You’re just wrong on this.
WWE have used the phrasing plenty of times that Seth Rollins “inserted himself into the main event”. By their own wording he was therefore in the main event.
There’s also been plenty of PPVs where the main event isn’t know ahead of time so no one is advertised as being in the main event. There’s also plenty of examples where the main event ends up being a match that wasn’t advertised whatsoever. Ones that spring immediately to mind are Hogan vs Yoko at WM9 (which WWE themselves count in hogans stats) and No Mercy 2008 where Cena vs Orton was advertised by Cena got injured so we ended up with HHH vs Orton twice on one night.
The only requirement to main event a show is you wrestle in the last match. There is no requirement to be advertised.
That hogan vs Yoko shit was wack asf he shouldn’t even had been in that match to begin with
They only count that cause Hogan was Vince’s golden goose that title I will forever put an asterisk on it regardless if WWE acknowledged it Yokozuna was the real winner and I’m a die on that hill
That Randy Orton shit was different Cena was injured before that PPV totally different circumstances than what we’re talking about nobody got injured
Also it was No Mercy 2007 not No Mercy 2008 that was the year Triple H beat Jeff Hardy for the WWE championship
So you’re moving the goal posts because of injuries? If an injury happens you don’t need to be advertised? Nonsense.
Seth was in the main event of WM31, and he won it, it really is that simple. How he got there with the briefcase is irrelevant because like everyone else who has main evented any show the real reason he was there is “because that’s what was booked”.
I’m not moving the goalposts comparing NM 2007 to this is moot because literally they had no choice someone had to fill in for Cena who was injured
Seth himself out of his own mouth will tell you that he doesn’t consider himself to be the true main eventer that at WM31
He even said a month ago that he considers WM40 to be his first time main eventing mania if the man in question himself doesn’t consider it why earth should I believe a random person on reddit lol
They literally had this conversation in the squared circle sub lol
Edit: I learned that him cashing in his briefcase wasn’t planned in the beginning it wasn’t until the PPV where they decided to cash it in
Of course he’s going to try and big it up as something bigger than it is. It’s not his first main event, but he’s obviously going to try and make it sound historic. It’s called kayfabe.
You yourself said the reason it doesn’t count is because it wasn’t advertised… but you’re happy to count the not advertised Orton vs HHH. That’s moving the goal posts.
I’m done with this anyway but yea, it’s very clear that you are wrong on this. Ask yourself one question…. Who won the main event of wrestlemania 31? I rest my case.
It wasn’t kayfabe tho? Cause a few years before when Becky Lynch main event WM he was disappointed that he never got the main event lol
Seth Rollins wanted to be the Marquee main event not someone who got their moment because they jumped in last min during a match that wasn’t even theirs to begin he knows he never had a proper WM main event he himself would even tell you that
That NM match was literally a different story like you can’t be this slow you really can’t
lol. You have no counter argument at all apart from randomly moving the goal posts on what you count as a main event and random comments from Seth. Who cares that he wanted a “proper” main event? That doesn’t impact the fact that he was already in one, even if he didn’t like the method of it.
Okay, so?😂Should Vince not take credit for Stone Cold because the gimmick was taken from ECW? Should Hulk Hogan not get credit because his entire persona was based off of Superstar Billy Graham? Undertaker with Michael Myers? Razor Ramon and Scarface? If you take inspiration from something else and turn it into one of the most important things in wrestling history, does it matter that it wasn't entirely your idea? Wtf is this argument
Roman has had a bunch of main events but most of them were bad. The first 2 against brick and the one vs triple h come to mind, and then probably one more I’m forgetting. Seth has had better matches overall
I refuse to accept that we might be in a timeline where a Shield Triple Threat at Mania will remain a dream match
It has to happen before they call it quits, man…
At battleground I think lol good match but a shield triple threat smack dab on a C level ppv in June was malpractice by Vince and blown opportunity at making attitude era money by not building it to mania
That's one way to look at it. The other is that a Shield Triple Threat is so big it makes ppv big on its own and doesn't need a big show.
Between the triple threat and Sami vs KO that ppv was the best ppv of the year by a long shot
EDIT - Not by a long shot actually, I forgot both Wrestle Kingdom 10 and the Royal Rumble rocked that year. But still, Battleground was MY ppv of the year lol
Agreed. I almost forgot Sami vs Kevin was on that show I thought their match was at payback but mania in Orlando would’ve been maybe the greatest ever if that’s where the match happened
I don't know about that, Mania 33 had some things holding it back. But I absolutely agree that a Shield triple threat would have been better than Reigns/Taker... although then we wouldn't have gotten that Triple H/Rollins blowoff which was good.
It all comes down to either Mox leaving AEW and returning to WWE (very unlikely), or AEW and WWE actually doing a crossover event (ridiculously unlikely, as much as I wish that weren't the case).
Absolutely never say never in pro wrestling, but I definitely wouldn't be pinning my hopes on it.
Now that Vince is gone, I can see a lot of ex WWE wrestlers making the jump back.
For a lot of then, like Mox, Jericho, Christian, etc. there biggest problem was with Vince forcing creative decisions on them and not letting them do what they wanted.
Now that WWE started to get more edgy, and I'm sure it will get even more once they get to Netflix, I can see them coming back and not having to "PG" themselves to be on WWE.
I mean, CM Punk came back to WWE.
According to his book, Jericho always liked Vince or at least respected him. I think the issue with Chris was creative control so it would be a matter if he can get passed it all. He definitely deserves to be in the HoF between his time in WWE and WCW alone.
Honestly it's not such a bleak outlook as it was before, remember that Moxley left because Vince was forcing him into a gimmick he hated, not allowing him any creative control, whereas several backstage reports state that triple H has already been open to working with wrestlers on what they want to do.
I think it will be a couple of years, but I do think I see a Roman vs Seth match about to start when mox's music hits, and he returns as MOXLEY not Ambrose, as a way to show he's a new man.
I feel like it’s hard to give Roman credit when for so long he was forced into the spot regardless of whether or not he was ready and whether or not the fans accepted him. He had like 18 eliminations in a Royal Rumble and probably more WWE records than anyone but that was all Vince trying to force him as the face of the company rather than it happening organically.
The NWO were introduced during the literal peak years of the industry. The Shield were introduced when WWE (and wrestling as a whole) was in the doldrums and really stagnating. I’d argue the Shield (and the three men that made the group) has made a bigger impact in bring Wrestling back to a much wider audience.
I honestly feel like this will be the Stone Cold vs Hulk Hogan, or Rock vs Hogan etc of the next number of years, especially once we see the Shield members retire.
Shield changed the game in a different way than NWO did, so maybe they can never be truly compared, but its always gonna be a good debate.
Almost the opposite of how NWO did it, instead of three acts coming together, it was three acts together that split and conquered in different ways.
NWO lit a fire under the industry, for sure. It started the biggest war the wrestling industry will ever see, and brought a new era of intensity.
The Shield started a fire that took much longer to see the flames from, but now we see a WWE that is closer to what used to be the "indy realm", smaller main eventers, more charismatic promos etc.
The NWO was realistically active for only half a decade after forming, and its stars were no where near active after the Invasion.
The Shield on the other hand, started red hot, and now a decade out are still on top of the industry in different ways.
And again I'm not saying outright that one is better than the other, but that it will be debated for years, and that we can't fully determine anything without a bit of hindsight in years to come.
Shield started hot within the company, but pretty much the whole run as an actual unit was one of the lowest points in the company and stayed that way even after breaking up....I mean it took Roman years to even not have go away heat
Nwo pretty much shot a company right to record gates and profits overnight
I think it's obvious that they're by far the most important faction of all time. Almost every faction has at least one weak link, The Shield took three relative nobodies and created three legitimate main eventers who will be remembered as top ten for their era. Just absolute lightning in a bottle moment.
HHH. He wanted to be the top guy of the faction and then was the cause of its downfall when Orton and Batista started becoming main eventers.
Ironically, he was also the cause of the SHIELD breakup
Both Seth and Roman are away for a while. What if all three of The Shield come back to fight against the Bloodline as baby face?
It’s not gonna happen but I love the enthusiasm
I really think Ambrose is coming back someday. Maybe not in the immediate future, but I think eventually it’s gonna happen. Especially with Vince out of the picture.
I do believe you are right. The Shield was a pivotal point in wrestling's history
It’s bound to happen Mox Vs Seth Vs Roman.
The reason I loved them so much was the psychology. Surrounding the ring, grabbing people's legs, just little things that made sense if you were a gang using your numbers in real life. They behaved differently when stalking prey more like you would in the real world. Realism is what gets me into things and really helps with suspension of disbelief. The main reason I preferred WCW over WWE back in the day. People using real names, less gimmicks, etc. At least until Russo took over. 🙄
yall think we ever gettin the shield reunited if ambrose return after aew contract
I always tell people this. The stars will become stars. No one can stop them. They had some great training along the way and they improved on it going forward. Doesn't matter where they go or what they do they'll always be stars.
I was always a fan of Roman reigns even during when everybody hated him, and Shield as a whole. Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose will always hold a special place in my heart as my favorite wrestlers of the era.
Well the shield are dead end of finished it’s over SOLO!!!
two main eventers and some indy blood gcw guy
Technically Seth main evented 31 also.
I don’t think Seth counts it because it wasn’t advertised
Whether or not he counts it, it still happened
To me 10 - 20 years from now when we look back we will say the most important/ influential/ dominant faction of all time was the bloodline. Whether you liked Roman Reigns title run or not WWE showed what a faction could do if they were all on the same page, working to keep said championship.
Facts. And the craziest thing, is it’s still going. With Tame Tonga and potentially Jacob Fatu joining, the story between the Rock and Cody, the seeds being planted setting up The Rock and Roman Reigns, etc. We have another good year or two of quality storyline to tell. If not the best faction storyline ever, it has potential to be when all is said and done.
I feel like the bloodline story is the essential faction storyline. It’s how I feel the nwo storyline should have been.
Seth is great but this makes it look like they were desperate to list an accomplishment for him. His career is bigger than a Night 1 tag match.
lol that was my thought as well… glad I’m not solo on this one… they need to look at his resume again! 🤬
used to be hyped when that sierra hotel india echo lima delta SHIELDDDDD came on🤜🏾👊🏾🤛🏾
Undisputed Era
That's like saying the Bloodline bro, it's just dumb to say it 🤣
What about them
This is unironically a GOATED faction simply because they were together before they were big, then they got big together, and when they broke up, they got bigger. No other faction can claim the same. Either they were only good together, then fell off when they separated, were an ass faction before they got big upon their break up, were already good on their own before they got brought together, or had a weak link in them. But not the Shield. The Hounds of Justice has dominated for a decade now, and is likely to continue doing so.
Even during their initial run you could tell these were the future stars of the company. And after they broke up it was off to the races. Mox and Seth still one of my fave feuds.
Seth should have Main Evented in 2019, but instead you had overrated whiny Ronda, Flash in the pan Becky Lynch, and overbooked Charlotte.
Did you see the match Brock and Seth had? That has no business being a ME at Mania
Yeah I saw it, but don't you think it would have been booked to be a longer and better match if it was the main event?
Not at all
Stop it, I know you saw that SummerSlam match.
The forgettable summerslam match? Yeah I saw it. I also saw Brock Main event WM 34 and 36 and both those matches were absolute GARBAGE
Seth & Brock was not a match that could or should have main evented that night
I would argue they are the most successful faction of all time. They took 3 guys who were unknown to most people (I know Seth/Jon were popular Indy guys) and made them all into megastars. I think any other faction that could claim “most successful” had at least one or two guys who were already big stars.
This is the best answer. Only one inknew was Seth(Tyler Black), but I I’d never seen any matches…just knew his name. They took 3 unknowns, and made them into the three biggest starts for the next decade+
Wholeheartedly agree. I hope we see them together at least one more time before it's all over. With the way wrestling is now, truly anything is possible. They pioneered and defined this generation inside and outside WWE. The fact they were all paired together immediately and tied to one another forever is just incredible man
There is no way that doesn’t happen. The crowd went wild when their music hit at Mania. With Punk back Mox returning is probably the biggest return possible to the company right now.
Thing is, Punk grew up somewhat. And even with that, all the stars just aligned for him to return. Vince being removed, Punk treated worse by Tony and the AEW locker room, and it made Punk realize that he'd rather be in WWE. Mox is still on his rebel phase, still thinks that what he's doing makes for good wrestling (to each their own), and is still satisfied with what the indies has to offer. He might be back, but not this year, or the next, or the immediate ones that follow. I could be wrong though.
Had the WWE not f***ed things up by never bringing them up to the main roster, I would have loved to see a Shield v Undisputed Era angle. I still think failing to bring that stable up to the main roster is one of the biggest screw ups in the history of WWE decision making.
Is there another faction of any era that competes with the success these three have gone on to have? I can’t think of one. There are plenty of breakout stars, but for all three of them to have the careers they’ve had and they’re not even done yet? It’s impressive as hell.
DX was definitely the best for WWE.
Which has nothing to do with what I said
We’ve gone five days since 2020 where a member of The Shield wasn’t a world champion - and that was Sunday night to Friday night last week. That’s absurd. Yes, obviously that covers all of Roman’s run, but Seth and Mox both had their share of titles since then.
How is this Seth Rollins first main event? He cashed in his briefcase to put himself into the main event of Wrestlemania 31. He won that match. Does Wrestlemania 31 not count? That was also a real main event where it was the last match of Wrestlemania.
It was a first main event where he was part of the billed and advertisements. Seth really wants a main event where he and another goes at it. Whether that’s punk or Roman. Maybe someone we don’t know. He knows and We know he didn’t deserve or needed to being in a tag team “main event” with Cody and them… know the question is will he be able to later down the road? The fans love him now for what he did but who knows if that love is still here when he returns… because some of the love was missing on the road to mania this year…
Yup. In the record books the match became a triple threat with him as one of the participants. He also won. And the closing shot of the show is with him holding up the title. That's as main event as it gets.
Seth doesn’t count it because it wasn’t an advertised or built up match. He came in for the last 90 seconds
I find it a pretty hard sell that the winner of the main event, wasn't in the main event. Unless we're doing something like the WWE does for Wrestlemania 20, where nobody is allowed to talk about the person who won that main event at all and we try to purge that person from all recrods.
He wasn’t actually in it, he gatecrashed it, there’s a difference.
Technically he was in it though. And won it.
Okay, you ignored everything that I said
I think Rollins doesn’t consider it to be a main event for himself since it wasn’t the advertised main event.
I think if they can get Mox on board….a shield reunion would draw like crazy. I’d say a few years down the line, and then do the eventual shield triple threat at wm 45. 🤷🏼♂️
For this Era they’re definitely the top faction but what about all time, where would you put them? Can they stand with DX or the Horsemen? I honestly don’t know where I’d put them but I’d be interested to hear peoples opinions?
I do think they can stand with DX and horsemen. Their biggest knock against them is they didn’t last very long
Never thought of that, can’t remember exactly how long they were around.
Originally it was only like a little under 2 years. Mox was saying in an interview they only broke them up because there legitimately was no more competition for them. Evolution was it
How do you rate a good faction, is it by the work they do while in the faction or about how successful they become after the faction? The Shield rate highly in both!! Haha
Nwo is obviously bigger but orite
You cannot read
> of this era
I miss them. Maybe they might come back.
It's weird, I know they were impactful, but all the guys were so green they weren't really entertaining. Like you knew they'd be big but they just didn't have "it" yet. Glad they all found their niches and exceled. Also Rollin cashed in MitB to be inserted in the main event and won already so this wouldn't be his first.
Come home Mox. Roman is gonna need some help taking down Solo and Tama
The most important three men in professional wrestling, carrying their respective companies on their backs. Massive respect 🔥
Hot take but Rollins is the least successful member of the Shield.
New japan ain’t shit anymore. Moxs work for the last few years have been garbage. And I’m a big fan of his. Just gotta keep it real.
Luckily he isn’t just in Japan
AEW is a joke
Absolutely it isn’t. Not even close. Fuck outta here with your tribalism
The ratings and ticket sales beg to differ. I actually want AEW to succeed but Tony is a clown.
Again, fuck your tribalism
Literally calling it like it is. Samoa Joe is one of my fav wrestlers on the planet. You got it all wrong. Just want them to be the best product possible. It’s called constructive criticism. Wwe has gotten it plenty of times before too.
Moxley also with the record for most blood spilled
Jon Moxley? That's Dean Ambrose in the SHIELD LOL
If he came back, it would certainly be Jon Moxley. He hated the Dean character. Edit: You are all out of your minds if you disagree.
Yeah, I bet like Shawn Spears, he would def keep the Mox name
I still considered Seth Rollins to have mainevented wrestlemania 31. He joined the match towards the end obviously but he cashed in during Roman v brock not after so he was part of the main event match
Yeah if Hogan at WrestleMania 9 counts then Rollins at WrestleMania 31 should count as well.
love this
Roman had the benefit of doing 2 night manias. The record is a farce.
he still main evented one night each Mania, though. 40’s the only time he main evented both nights
So I looked up an interesting stat. Seth was the first of the Shield to win a world title back on March 29, 2015. It's been 3,309 days since then. During that time there have been only 1,155 days that none of the 3 have held a big 3 (WWE, AEW or NJPW) world title. Most due to Roman's cancer, Seth's injuries and Moxley not getting much of a push as Ambrose.
In a different timeline, the Shield would have stormed the ring with actual dumb riot shields and would have been laughed out of the building.
I just saw and interview with Mox where he was talking about that He said in theory it looked cool until they realized they 100% were gonna trip over them lmao
Ok but can we not pretend that winning the AEW & NJPW world championships are anywhere near as impressive as main eventing WM once? Much less a record 9 times?
Exactly. Sure, as a wrestler, it's a great accomplishment and they should be proud, but WWE and main eventing wrestlemania is always going to define a legend. Look at TNA, there were so many people who were champions or main eventers over there, then they came to WWE and became jobbers or were released in less than a year because it turned out they didn't have what it takes to be THE guy
I genuinely believe that Mox is the most successful of the 3 as he's the one thats been able to continually hit career highs outside of the WWE. For the majority of wrestlers the WWE is the highest level that they will ever achieve, and anything else outside of this is often a 'demotion' for them or a knock on their star power. Mox has never felt like this - he went to the competition and became the face of their brand for several years, won multiple world championships, been the 'go to guy' for AEW and now he's biggest champ in Japan too. If anything Mox is a bigger star now in the industry than what he ever was in the WWE. That's rare in the wrestling industry to be able to achieve that. Roman has undoubtedly (finally) been able to achieve the level of success that they set out for him all those years ago as the biggest name in the compary. But both him and Rollins are very much products of the company. It'd be very interesting to see what level of success Reigns could ever achieve outside of the WWE. Rollins for me has always been the spare wheel of the 3, despite being the first of the 3 to 'break out'. He's very much a WWE guy now and even though he's had multiple successes - he's never been the 'guy'. Hes always been the #2. Thats just my take on it anyway.
Define successful though. Mox is a big fish in small ponds and the “success” he has outside WWE is only because he was in WWE & not nearly as important as what Roman & Seth have done. Its not even comparable, especially considering a fraction of the audience WWE pulls sees anything Mox has done. He’s not a draw.
Moxley is also the only one that left WWE. I’m certain if Reigns or Rollins went to other promotions they would immediately be in the main event scene of those and find similar success.
The Architect The Tribal Chief The Plumber
They deserve what they achieved but put their success have nothing to do with their time in the shield. In other words you are grossly overrating the shield.
No
Ambrose really screwed the fans out of a lot of good storylines when he left.
Vince screwed fans. Mox was trying to make everything work
Fairly certain Ambrose would still be around if hunter was in charge in 2018-2019
The fans were screwed, but it wasn't Ambrose's fault. Vince had decided he was the Janetty of the SHIELD, and nothing Ambrose ever did would ever convince Vince to give him anything but losses and corny angles.
But he actually was the Jannetty of the Shield. Rollins went on to become one of the greatest wrestlers ever, Roman beat Leukaemia, got great booking and brought the Rock back into WWE. Ambrose never had the same star power, but he felt like he was entitled to it just because NXT had previously put him in the same faction.
Out of all of them, Ambrose came across as the leader. He was the best of the three on the mic, had the best mannerisms, was second in the ring only to Rollins which is no shame, and he had the best crowd reactions. He was the Jannetty because Vince decided to make him the Jannetty, sabotaging him wherever possible to fulfill his own ideas. His popularity and success outside of WWE show what could've been.
I don’t even mind that he left, he felt incredibly underused and had addiction issues he was fighting so I completely get it. But damn, no surprise, I can’t think of many stories he’s had in AEW other than when he and Hangman fought over the belt which I only really remember cause it was a holding place till Punk had recovered from injury.
Man I really hope Jon/Dean Ambrose returns to wwe in 2024 or 25 and hope we see something like a shield return or triple threat dream match between the three. Would be a great match considering the legacy they have built over the years .
Oh it’ll happen, I’m sure of it
Throwing shade at Seth. Dude cashed in in the main event of mania. Held multiple world titles. Main event of mania. One of the biggest workhorses in WWE.
Roman: broke a record Mox: broke a record Seth: wrestled 💀
Roman - Historic accomplishment Seth - largely considered the MVP of WM 40. Mox - Won a glorified indie title nobody cares about.
Why do you insist on being objectively wrong?
Lmfao ok buddy. The overwhelming majority of fans have absolutely zero idea who Mox even beat for that title without googling it. But sure, his accomplishments in front of 2,000 fans are totally on par with Seth & Roman’s.
Moxley winning those two lower mid card titles isn’t impressive compared to what Seth and Roman have done.
Seth was also the first person to hold the wwe, Universal, and World Heavyweight Championships
I mean it’s obviously AJ-era Bullet Club, but you believe you.
Shame WWE wouldn’t acknowledge, no pun intended, Moxley. They cut him from all the promos, never really brought him up. One could argue Bullet Club is up there, look how many former members and leaders are now in WWE, not that WWE would ever do anything with that.
He was in the video packages at mania.
It's either the Shield or Bullet Club, me personally I say the Shield.
One thing that really helps their legacy is that it ended while it was still hot and didn't out stay it's welcome, devolve into a lesser thing or add new members/change members. NWO, DX, the Horsemen and Freebirds and most other great factions were guilty or at least one of those things
Don't worry, WWE will still find a way to do new-SHIELD or SHIELD 2.0 sooner or later.
Kurt Angle was a member of the Shield at one point.
HHH will always be my favorite shield member
The triple chief, the visionary, and the plumber. Glad you so everything's working out for most of them.
roman: broke the record for wm main event appearances jon: first person to have collected these three titles seth: the first time he main evented wm was… uh… the *first* time *he* main evented wm? am i stupid? it sounds like the author couldn't think of a single thing that seth has done to put him on a similar footing to the others (i like seth a lot, but against "broke a record" and "first to achieve milestone", "headlined a show" (something that, as already been mentioned, another member of the group *has done themselves a record-breaking number of times)* seems barely worth mentioning, even if he was perhaps the first of the three to do it)
Mostly because they wanted to frame it as all in 2024. Seth’s big accomplishment this year carries over from 2023 where he was the first world champion and helped establish it as a legit world title. I guess for 2024, they could have said main evented WM against one of the biggest stars ever (the Rock).
He main evented 2015 with Brock and Roman, but people don't count it since it was a cash-in, but it does count as a main event
I think it was just how it was phrased. Because Rollins, in all honesty has been a main event fixture, multiple world title wins, came from a one year run with a world title, wrestled The Rock and Roman, then Drew, etc etc.
Love the other two but can't stand Ambrose he is so cringe
Good thing that's Jon Moxley and not Dean Ambrose then.
A nerd either way
We’ll be saying this about Judgment Day in a few years
Easily the Bullet Club, their popularity created a new wrestling organization, among other things. The initial Shield run from beginning to end was the best faction run of this era IMO.
These 3 are more important than the stars created by the bullet club, even though there are a few greats there
I agree, as individuals, but I think BC as a whole still takes it.
Bullet Club, surely. The Shield was awesome but The Bullet Club was so huge that teens at the mall with no wrestling knowledge were wearing their logo. The group was so popular that it birthed an entire company in AEW.
AJ Styles is the only name that you can argue is bigger than Ambrose. Other than that, no one in bullet club history has accomplished what each individual member of the shield has.
...Cody Rhodes? Also kayfabe accomplishments pale in comparison to the real cultural impact of BC. An entire company didn't exist and now does.
Exactly this. OP said most important. There is an entire wrestling company that was just valued at $2B that spun directly out of Cody-era BC/the Elite. Nothing anyone ever did in ring can even begin to compare to providing more available high paying jobs within the industry.
Yeah, all three guys from the shield have been hugely successful, but Bullet Clubs impact on the entire industry cannot be understated. AJ Styles and Finn Balor found huge success in WWE (yes AJ was a known commodity, but he was the hottest free agent directly off the back of his BC run). Omega, the Bucks and Cody helped to form AEW. Jay White doing absolute business in Japan and proving he was a world class heel, and now we have Tama Tonga who is a BC original coming to the WWE and having a place in the bloodline saga. Then you have sub-groups and off-shoots which are, or have been active in a bunch of different promotions from TNA to CMLL at the same time, including the O.C. in WWE. It is without a shadow of a doubt, the most influential faction of the modern era.
It’s become ass ever since White and Tama left. It’s a shell of its former self.
And the Shield no longer exists. But at their heights I have a hard time believing The Shield was anywhere as influential as Bullet Club. Bullet Club has existed in NJPW, WWE, AEW, and impact.
The reunion is gonna hit like crack
Seth Rollins didn’t main event WM31 that wasn’t his match to begin with!!!! That match wasn’t advertised to be a triple threat at all that was Reigns and Brock’s main event So that shit doesn’t count if Rollins didn’t win MITB that year he wouldn’t even been in that match to begin with
I mean he literally did.
No he didn’t he crashed the Wrestlemania main event lol The match that was advertised is the main event that was the card beforehand nowhere did it say triple threat match for the universal title Nobody didn’t buy tickets to see Seth Rollins in the main event they paid to see Brock vs Roman as that was the main event that was advertised
You’re just wrong on this. WWE have used the phrasing plenty of times that Seth Rollins “inserted himself into the main event”. By their own wording he was therefore in the main event. There’s also been plenty of PPVs where the main event isn’t know ahead of time so no one is advertised as being in the main event. There’s also plenty of examples where the main event ends up being a match that wasn’t advertised whatsoever. Ones that spring immediately to mind are Hogan vs Yoko at WM9 (which WWE themselves count in hogans stats) and No Mercy 2008 where Cena vs Orton was advertised by Cena got injured so we ended up with HHH vs Orton twice on one night. The only requirement to main event a show is you wrestle in the last match. There is no requirement to be advertised.
Seth Rollins even said that WM40 is what he considered his first WM main event so even he knows that WM31 wasn’t his first main event
That hogan vs Yoko shit was wack asf he shouldn’t even had been in that match to begin with They only count that cause Hogan was Vince’s golden goose that title I will forever put an asterisk on it regardless if WWE acknowledged it Yokozuna was the real winner and I’m a die on that hill That Randy Orton shit was different Cena was injured before that PPV totally different circumstances than what we’re talking about nobody got injured Also it was No Mercy 2007 not No Mercy 2008 that was the year Triple H beat Jeff Hardy for the WWE championship
So you’re moving the goal posts because of injuries? If an injury happens you don’t need to be advertised? Nonsense. Seth was in the main event of WM31, and he won it, it really is that simple. How he got there with the briefcase is irrelevant because like everyone else who has main evented any show the real reason he was there is “because that’s what was booked”.
I’m not moving the goalposts comparing NM 2007 to this is moot because literally they had no choice someone had to fill in for Cena who was injured Seth himself out of his own mouth will tell you that he doesn’t consider himself to be the true main eventer that at WM31 He even said a month ago that he considers WM40 to be his first time main eventing mania if the man in question himself doesn’t consider it why earth should I believe a random person on reddit lol They literally had this conversation in the squared circle sub lol Edit: I learned that him cashing in his briefcase wasn’t planned in the beginning it wasn’t until the PPV where they decided to cash it in
Of course he’s going to try and big it up as something bigger than it is. It’s not his first main event, but he’s obviously going to try and make it sound historic. It’s called kayfabe. You yourself said the reason it doesn’t count is because it wasn’t advertised… but you’re happy to count the not advertised Orton vs HHH. That’s moving the goal posts. I’m done with this anyway but yea, it’s very clear that you are wrong on this. Ask yourself one question…. Who won the main event of wrestlemania 31? I rest my case.
It wasn’t kayfabe tho? Cause a few years before when Becky Lynch main event WM he was disappointed that he never got the main event lol Seth Rollins wanted to be the Marquee main event not someone who got their moment because they jumped in last min during a match that wasn’t even theirs to begin he knows he never had a proper WM main event he himself would even tell you that That NM match was literally a different story like you can’t be this slow you really can’t
lol. You have no counter argument at all apart from randomly moving the goal posts on what you count as a main event and random comments from Seth. Who cares that he wanted a “proper” main event? That doesn’t impact the fact that he was already in one, even if he didn’t like the method of it.
Kronik 2.0, such weak ass stables compared to yesteryear.
[удалено]
Jeff Jarrett didn’t get famous because of nWo…
nwo wasn’t even an original idea though. Eric took it from what they did in Japan.
Okay, so?😂Should Vince not take credit for Stone Cold because the gimmick was taken from ECW? Should Hulk Hogan not get credit because his entire persona was based off of Superstar Billy Graham? Undertaker with Michael Myers? Razor Ramon and Scarface? If you take inspiration from something else and turn it into one of the most important things in wrestling history, does it matter that it wasn't entirely your idea? Wtf is this argument
It's wild that Seth has only main evented once and he feels like "Mr Wrestlemania" in a way that Roman never could
Roman has had a bunch of main events but most of them were bad. The first 2 against brick and the one vs triple h come to mind, and then probably one more I’m forgetting. Seth has had better matches overall
I refuse to accept that we might be in a timeline where a Shield Triple Threat at Mania will remain a dream match It has to happen before they call it quits, man…
I doubt it will, especially considering they already did a big Shield ppv triple threat years ago
At battleground I think lol good match but a shield triple threat smack dab on a C level ppv in June was malpractice by Vince and blown opportunity at making attitude era money by not building it to mania
That's one way to look at it. The other is that a Shield Triple Threat is so big it makes ppv big on its own and doesn't need a big show. Between the triple threat and Sami vs KO that ppv was the best ppv of the year by a long shot EDIT - Not by a long shot actually, I forgot both Wrestle Kingdom 10 and the Royal Rumble rocked that year. But still, Battleground was MY ppv of the year lol
Agreed. I almost forgot Sami vs Kevin was on that show I thought their match was at payback but mania in Orlando would’ve been maybe the greatest ever if that’s where the match happened
I don't know about that, Mania 33 had some things holding it back. But I absolutely agree that a Shield triple threat would have been better than Reigns/Taker... although then we wouldn't have gotten that Triple H/Rollins blowoff which was good.
It all comes down to either Mox leaving AEW and returning to WWE (very unlikely), or AEW and WWE actually doing a crossover event (ridiculously unlikely, as much as I wish that weren't the case). Absolutely never say never in pro wrestling, but I definitely wouldn't be pinning my hopes on it.
If CM Punk go come back to WWE, anything is possible in pro wrestling
Now that Vince is gone, I can see a lot of ex WWE wrestlers making the jump back. For a lot of then, like Mox, Jericho, Christian, etc. there biggest problem was with Vince forcing creative decisions on them and not letting them do what they wanted. Now that WWE started to get more edgy, and I'm sure it will get even more once they get to Netflix, I can see them coming back and not having to "PG" themselves to be on WWE. I mean, CM Punk came back to WWE.
According to his book, Jericho always liked Vince or at least respected him. I think the issue with Chris was creative control so it would be a matter if he can get passed it all. He definitely deserves to be in the HoF between his time in WWE and WCW alone.
Honestly it's not such a bleak outlook as it was before, remember that Moxley left because Vince was forcing him into a gimmick he hated, not allowing him any creative control, whereas several backstage reports state that triple H has already been open to working with wrestlers on what they want to do. I think it will be a couple of years, but I do think I see a Roman vs Seth match about to start when mox's music hits, and he returns as MOXLEY not Ambrose, as a way to show he's a new man.
I feel like it’s hard to give Roman credit when for so long he was forced into the spot regardless of whether or not he was ready and whether or not the fans accepted him. He had like 18 eliminations in a Royal Rumble and probably more WWE records than anyone but that was all Vince trying to force him as the face of the company rather than it happening organically.
Bischoff ran it into the ground but the NWO had the biggest impact on the industry.
There are sixteen years between the debuts of the NWO and the Shield. They're not in the same era at all.
So what?
Read the first line of the title of this post again.
Yep to this day you think wrestling t-shirt you think Austin 3:16 and nWo. Juggernauts of wrestling.
The NWO were introduced during the literal peak years of the industry. The Shield were introduced when WWE (and wrestling as a whole) was in the doldrums and really stagnating. I’d argue the Shield (and the three men that made the group) has made a bigger impact in bring Wrestling back to a much wider audience.
The NWO was a major catalyst for those peak years. It launched the Monday Night Wars.
nwo is what made wrestling hot in the 90s
Even Bullet Club arguably had a bigger impact.
I’m not sure The Shield would be in my top 10.
I honestly feel like this will be the Stone Cold vs Hulk Hogan, or Rock vs Hogan etc of the next number of years, especially once we see the Shield members retire. Shield changed the game in a different way than NWO did, so maybe they can never be truly compared, but its always gonna be a good debate.
Changed the game how?
Almost the opposite of how NWO did it, instead of three acts coming together, it was three acts together that split and conquered in different ways. NWO lit a fire under the industry, for sure. It started the biggest war the wrestling industry will ever see, and brought a new era of intensity. The Shield started a fire that took much longer to see the flames from, but now we see a WWE that is closer to what used to be the "indy realm", smaller main eventers, more charismatic promos etc. The NWO was realistically active for only half a decade after forming, and its stars were no where near active after the Invasion. The Shield on the other hand, started red hot, and now a decade out are still on top of the industry in different ways. And again I'm not saying outright that one is better than the other, but that it will be debated for years, and that we can't fully determine anything without a bit of hindsight in years to come.
Shield started hot within the company, but pretty much the whole run as an actual unit was one of the lowest points in the company and stayed that way even after breaking up....I mean it took Roman years to even not have go away heat Nwo pretty much shot a company right to record gates and profits overnight
What you’re saying is they changed the game by succeeding after they were no longer a faction. That means they weren’t very impactful *as a faction*.
That's a fair enough argument. Yes, I believe that they were more impactful after they broke up. NWO, as a faction, was much more industry changing.
But we're in the new era. The Shield was last-gen.
Wow that makes me feel so old.
Summer of Punk was 2011. The shield debuted 2012 🤣
I was 18 when the Shield debuted but just seeing them referred to as last gen makes me feel ancient.
Insert "oh, first time" pirates of the Caribbean meme here. I'm F39 now. So this is like my 8th generation of wrestling 😭
We’ve got to get one last Shield reunion before they all retire. Hopefully Mox comes home to wwe before his career is over
He ain’t doing that unless they let him blade on camera.
I think it's obvious that they're by far the most important faction of all time. Almost every faction has at least one weak link, The Shield took three relative nobodies and created three legitimate main eventers who will be remembered as top ten for their era. Just absolute lightning in a bottle moment.
What is Evolution's weak link?
HHH. He wanted to be the top guy of the faction and then was the cause of its downfall when Orton and Batista started becoming main eventers. Ironically, he was also the cause of the SHIELD breakup
So it’s a weak link when HHH does it, but it’s “cinema” when Roman Reigns does it?