Opinion: The Shield Will Fall On Their Own Swords
Loyalty.
To the outer world, Justice defines the SHIELD. But from within, loyalty is the shared goal that binds them as brothers.
Loyalty is something Roman Reigns was born with, he takes it for granted.
Loyalty is something Seth Rollins doesn't fully comprehend, he can't preach about it.
Loyalty is something Dean Ambrose thrives on, it is him and it is he. Loyalty is Dean Ambrose.
Whether as the wild dog of old, the heartbroken blue-collar man of past or the silent assassin of now.
Ambrose has and is known by how loyal he is to his brothers. It is why when Rollins to a chair to his back and broke the SHIELD, he relentlessly pursued him for over three years.
The Lunatic Fringe couldn't forgive what Rollins did easily. It took him long to get over it. It meant having to break Rollins, steal from him the one thing he craved so much, the one thing that propelled him to pick up arms against The Shield that fateful day in 2014.
Ambrose had to take the WWE Championship from Rollins, that too, in the same way, Rollins won it and that too by the same device Rollins used and more importantly, with the same action Seth Rollins broke apart the SHIELD with.
It wasn't enough. Ambrose had to witness from afar Rollins complete breakdown, to see the Architect brought to his knees by the man behind it all; Triple H.
The Lunatic Fringe had to witness the Architect rebuild himself to the brother of old. Only then could Ambrose even consider forgiveness.
For Rollins loyalties are ever-shifting, they come at a price sure but he knows how to play the game. It is always the flaky, least loyal of individuals who have a hard time trusting anyone else.
For Reigns, loyalty seemed like a given. Born into the business, as royalty; to him loyalty meant brotherhood. Unfortunately, it also meant taking that for granted. He did so with Dean and he did so with Rollins.
In 2014, Rollins put a chair to the back of his two brothers, only one man viciously and violently continued his pursuit of revenge to the point of his ruination.
The other decided he needed to hit back at the greater power behind his brother. A noble quest, maybe one stirred by a heartfelt understanding of his weak brother but an unforgivable mistake. Even in the eyes of a silently laughing Dean Ambrose.
Roman Reigns decided he'd rather take from Triple H the one thing that he craved more than even loyalty, power.
The same thing The Big Dog thus began to crave, it allowed him to put away the past. Rise faster than his brothers, but fall harder in the eyes of legions of fans.
Reigns had his issues with Rollins but they never seemed enough of a burden to bear, that destiny might conspire to put them in each other's crosshairs.
Reigns became a peripheral in a story about his own brotherhood. It made his apathy a weapon against him and his eventually easy forgiveness of his brother changed the dynamic of the trio.
It's why this past Monday that Ambrose became fully formed the x-factor that has lurked around this Shield story. More than the champion Roman Reigns or the redeemed Seth Rollins. The Shield story has belonged to the outlier Dean Ambrose.
It is his rabidness that wowed, his frenzied motives that nearly broke them apart, his anger that turned them rebellious. It's his revenge that fueled a heartbreak and his vindication that revived them.
Ambrose is the lifeblood that pumps through the veins of the Shield.
That is why Ambrose cannot be responsible for the death of it, not in the way the Dogs of War would have you convinced.
Yes, Ambrosee stands under the looming shadows of Rollins and Reigns. Favored champions with everything to lose. But Ambrose can't just outright betray them for this gain.
Any character can change sides at the drop of a hat in WWE, but they do not change the core of who they are. Reigns has always been driven by legacy, Rollins by validation and Ambrose then can only be driven by loyalty as well as justice to do what is necessary.
For this to happen, the words of the Dogs of War mustn't reach the ears of Ambrose but his insecure partners. It is them who spoke in turn for him when wild accusations and temptations flew out.
It was the very same destroyer that became architect to turn the tables on them, Seth Rollins took the mind games spinning them onto Drew McIntyre instantaneously without hesitation.
This is the play WWE should go for and we must trust them to do so. They've never failed with this tragic story of Shield and Dean Ambrose.
Rollins and Reigns must question Ambrose's loyalty. They shall have to doubt their brother and the moment all reveal it is when Ambrose will turn. He will, after all, have a justifiable reason to do so.
The demons that haunt us don't come breathing fire from the depths of hell, they come from within. From our own insecurities, paranoia, and inability to feel the light. This is what Roman and Rollins shall feel.
Where one will typically play the provocateur (Rollins), the other will become the paranoid (Roman). The moment they collide, the combustion will explode the Shield and from the ashes will rise an Ambrose pure evil created by his own brothers.
He will seek what has been their common goal in the most violent ways. He will use loyalty to turn it back on his disloyal brothers. Ambrose won't betray the Shield, the Shield will shatter Dean Ambrose.
That is when the real Lunatic shall be birthed.
That is the day Dean Ambrose comes hunting for the one thing his brothers failed to believe in.
Justice.
That is the day loyalty dies. That is the day, the Shield dies.