Why has WWE not given us The Shield vs The Club?
It's the match that everybody wants to see. The Shield vs. The Club would effectively give the WWE license to start printing money, should they finally choose to give it to us. Absolutely all sections of the WWE Universe would instantly become utterly engrossed in a programme containing such talented Superstars, with so much potential to redirect the storyline on the fly.
Every Superstar that's affiliated with either stable, bar AJ Styles, currently resides on Monday Night Raw, which makes now a pretty perfect time to start building towards this epic battle. But when will we finally see this match come to fruition? Will AJ Styles be affiliated with The Club, at all, or will Balor completely take the reigns? And finally, what has prevented WWE from giving us this match already?
The answer to that last question is an extremely lengthy one, an answer that takes in a multitude of factors. But a huge factor in why we haven't seen The Shield vs. The Club yet, undeniably, can be attributed to one man: Roman Reigns.
Also read: 5 things WWE wants you to forget about the Shield
No matter what happens, it seems certain that WWE will continue to push Roman as a main event babyface until the end of recorded history. A natural side effect of Reigns' continued presence in title matches and main event storylines is the current inflexibility shown in his character. He's stuck playing the same role in every single match and every storyline, as opposed to most other Superstars who have to adapt their act depending on their opponent.
What all of this ultimately means is that the WWE are far too preoccupied with their main project of turning Roman Reigns into a modern day Hulk Hogan to consider the possibility of bringing him out of the main event and into a battle between stables.
For some reason, WWE seems to only consider singles competitors as true stars; legendary tag teams such as The Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian were definitely stars, but could never have been described as main eventers until they broke out as singles stars in their own right.
That's just the way things have historically worked in WWE, teams and stables simply are not seen as the top dogs, so to put Roman back with The Shield and into a storyline centred around stable supremacy would be making him look like less of a star, by this logic. Perplexing logic, admittedly, but it's logic that is clearly employed by the company.
Another reason that we haven't seen The Shield vs. The Club, already, has been the difficulty in actually reuniting The Shield. Since their 2014 split, Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose have taken totally different paths, making it highly unlikely in storyline terms that they could come back together as a unit.
Rollins, as we all know, betrayed Ambrose and Reigns to cause the downfall of The Shield, and there is still bad blood between the three that will make it very difficult to explain why they would suddenly realign after spending years doing their own thing and quite successfully, too.
On top of that, only recently have we seen all three men on the same brand. Ambrose was on Smackdown Live until the Superstar shake-up back in April, separated from Reigns and Rollins on Raw. In addition, there was a lengthy period during which Rollins was a heel, making it all but impossible for him to reunite with his babyface buddies. But, as it stands, all three men are on the same brand and on the same side of the face/heel spectrum. So, theoretically, we are currently perfectly positioned to witness the return of The Shield.
As complicated as it would undoubtedly be, to reunite The Shield, matters surrounding The Club are no less complex. Balor, Gallows and Anderson may well all be on Raw too, but in storyline terms, they have never actually been associated with each other on WWE TV.
Aside from a backstage segment at Summerslam last year, where Balor came face to face with an AJ Styles led version of The Club. Declining the opportunity to share a "too sweet" with Styles, Gallows and Anderson before walking off, the altercation was met with a massive pop from the WWE Universe. They want to see The Club together, and they want Balor involved.
Given that AJ is currently over on Smackdown Live, where he is one of the top stars, it seems set than any variation of The Club to appear in the near future would only involve Balor, Gallows and Anderson. This may disappoint those who want to see the dream match of Balor vs. Styles for control of The Club, but that’s something for another day and another article.
Still, however, there is the problem that Gallows and Anderson are currently heels, while Balor is one of the hottest babyfaces in the entire company. Turning him seems unlikely, at least for now, so Gallows and Anderson turning face would appear to be the most logical scenario. But even then, that would make both The Shield and The Club babyface groups, something which WWE might want to avoid if they are going to battle each other.
It could not be denied that there would be an insane amount of work to be done if WWE got serious about actually presenting The Shield vs. The Club. So many complications, both in storyline and in the office, would undoubtedly arise from such a programme.
However, without any exaggeration, it’s probably the most exciting match that WWE could book at this point. All the headaches that the angle may bring the powers that be would be alleviated by the huge reactions that would be consistently achieved if WWE decided to start doing what the fans want to see, and not what makes the most sense in their eyes.
Because, as we’ve all seen, what makes sense to WWE often doesn’t make sense to everybody watching. Such as the decision to totally ignore the fact that AJ Styles is still owed a one-on-one WWE Title rematch, and elevate Jinder Mahal at his expense. Or making Brock Lesnar the Universal Champion at WrestleMania, knowing full well that he would be taking most of the Summer off, thus removing both the title and the character from WWE TV for lengthy periods of time.
Whatever aversion WWE has to bringing The Shield back together, and also to The Club being together, simply has to end soon. Booking The Shield vs. The Club would not only give us some fantastic matches and a thrilling storyline, but it would also confirm to us that WWE is in touch with what the people actually want.
The Shield is one of the most dominant and popular stables in WWE history, while The Club have built their own worldwide reputation through years of success and excitement around the world. To deny us the chance to see this match, would be a slap in the face to every true wrestling fan out there. Come on, Vince, make it happen.
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