Before I get into the topic at hand, I want to give my apologies for the lengthy period of time between this post and my last. When I first joined the Doing the Job crew, my intent was to write something weekly and later discuss it on the show (mainly because I write significantly better than I speak, and M2J and Denny can talk circles around me in the podcast realm). But you know how it goes: things such as work, a girlfriend, friends, random other hobbies, actually watching the product, and the pod diddly itself get in the way of writing anything good. And kind of like CM Punk, if I don’t think my performance is at its best, I’m just going to go home. But the fact is, as much as I love doing the podcast, I really miss the writing.

So with that being said, I think it’s time for me to quit the show and focus on writing full-time. Just kidding. I’d miss Matt’s marking over Hogan, Denny’s failure at not cursing, and conversations about Rita from Podgods too much. But it is time for me to get back into my comfort zone and start putting words back onto your screen, so that’s what I’m here for today. So sit back, relax, and throw on some of M2J’s favorite Mike Tenay smooth jazz while I ease us back into things. More specifically, let’s talk about Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns: the three men that make up The Shield.

Now, I’m certainly not claiming that they’ve gotten lost in the shuffle, but between the rise of Daniel Bryan, CM Punk quitting, the polarizing return of Batista, Randy Orton’s title reign, the Authority’s power trip, the Wyatt Family taking the next step, and the mere ever-presence of John Cena, it can be easy to underestimate and forget just how consistently incredible The Shield have been over the past year-plus. They have been as dependable as it gets in terms of quality in the ring and attention to detail out of it. Simply put, they just “get it”. Personally speaking, they’re my favorite part of the show, Bryan and Punk included, to the point where I am ready to rank them as my number two stable of all-time (I was too much of a mark for DX in ’98 and ’99 to give them that spot, as Denny will attest to).

Having said all that, a breakup of the group has been teased multiple times since the Fall of last year, only to fizzle out as The Shield continued to improve every week. Now, however, the end seems imminent. Unfortunately, it appears that this upcoming pay-per-view match against the Wyatt Family at Elimination Chamber or sometime soon after may very well be their last stand as a group before it all falls apart. I, like many others, expect The Shield to take the loss here due to some selfish miscommunication from Dean Ambrose to the detriment of Roman Reigns, while poor Seth Rollins is caught in the middle.

I feel like this will ultimately lead to a triple threat match between the three to prove who “the man” in the group really is. Because really, aside from that, what else is there for them to do at Wrestlemania XXX? I suppose the ulterior would be a one-on-one match with Reigns against Ambrose, but then where does that leave Rollins? And maybe The Shield do in fact come out on top at Chamber and have a rematch with the Wyatts at Mania so they can get the win back, but if you believe everything you hear (and for their Royal Rumble interference to mean anything), Bray is all but locked in to face John Cena on the big stage.

Regardless of how this all culminates for The Shield, I’m more concerned about where the three individuals go after they wash their hands of each other. At first glance, it seemed that everyone believed, myself included, that Dean Ambrose was the true star of the group, ending up as a main event heel in the company not too far down the road. And while his endpoint might be the same, Roman Reigns has clearly skyrocketed past him in terms of a planned push toward the top (see: Royal Rumble 2014). The only question isn’t how high Reigns will go, but how fast he’ll get there.

My concern, which I touched upon briefly during last week’s podcast, is that there won’t be enough angles and storylines to go around for all three to be involved, in terms of importance, on WWE programming each week. Obviously, all three are extremely talented and can conceivably main event as singles competitors right now, but we know that’s not going to happen, nor should it necessarily. This isn’t like it was in the old days where seemingly everyone on the roster had something important to them going on. Now, we get around three to five actual stories at a time, and then guys like Kofi Kingston, who do come out every week, but to have a match of barely any consequence at all. This is where I am afraid. They have to make angles for three guys, and only about five spots tops to get them in (which is not a great way of maximizing talent, but that’s an article for another day). We might be looking at an odd man out situation here, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see on that one. For now, let’s break each member down individually, before I give my take on how I would personally utilize The Shield.

Life after The Shield for Roman Reigns

As mentioned, there is no holding Roman Reigns back; his star is rising so high that it might shoot out of orbit. And unlike Denny, who sold the statement that double-R will main event a pay-per-view in 2014 in our little buy or sell gimmick, I think he’s heading toward the top much sooner. He is already too big of a star to hold either the Intercontinental or United States championships, so I feel like he wins a high profile feud with a big heel after his Shield business is over and then maybe, perhaps finds his way into the main event after he becomes super over with the fans. I mean, seriously, the fans are going to go bonkers for this guy when he’s a face. I’d say he is main eventing pay-per-views no later than Survivor Series, if not earlier if he makes it into like a triple threat or four-way match.

Once again though, I have a concern; what if he changes and somehow sucks as a babyface? People really dig Reigns now in his current iteration. This shouldn’t happen, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they put their foot on the brake in terms of his character’s aggressiveness as a good guy, just for the sake of him being more likeable. And he’s talked, by far, the least out of the three members of the group; what if we find out he can’t speak for himself very well? That will certainly limit some of the face charisma he will have on his own. Look, I don’t necessarily think any of these things will happen, I’d give it maybe a twenty percent chance, but I’m certainly not ruling it out either. I really like Reigns a lot and am actually very much looking forward to rooting for him as a face myself, but everyone loving his good guy work is not a complete slam dunk.

Life after The Shield for Dean Ambrose

As stated above, throughout the first half of The Shield’s run I was convinced that he was in line for a top heel role once the group eventually broke up. Now, however, I am a little worried that he toils away on the midcard for a while similar to Damien Sandow, who also once looked destined for a prominent role as recently as a few months ago, at least until they figure out what to do with him. At the moment, that US title is bogging him down, too, so right off the bat he will have to lose to a midcarder just in order to drop it. On the contrary, perhaps dropping that dead weight of a belt will allow creative to propel him into a more featured role with a higher quality face opponent.

Oddly enough, Ambrose is so unique that I can’t picture a realistic, WWE-style one-on-one feud with someone. (Realistic, meaning not some crazy Jon Moxley story an internet mark would armchair book that WWE would never do, like I’ve heard people say many times before.) Because of this, I feel it’s a little while before the company really features him, which I do believe they eventually will, while they try and figure out how to play their cards with his character. He will get there, but it might take a little longer than we had hoped.

Life after the Shield for Seth Rollins

I feel like Rollins’ career path is the most difficult to predict of the three, as he has both a high ceiling and low floor. Additionally, while both Ambrose and Reigns are set in their face/heel roles beyond The Shield, Rollins’ alignment can go either way. The talent is undeniably all there, and he has improved on the mic, although only in a heel role. If you read between the lines, he appears to be on the side of Reigns in any quips with Ambrose, which would lead one to believe he will turn face, the way he likely belongs, after the group is finished. Although it wouldn’t be stunning to see him take a “Reigns is becoming a too big for his britches” approach when the end comes for the Hounds of Justice, either.

Right here is where my theory that there aren’t enough storyline spots to go around comes into play. If he is a face, he’s already got multiple guys ahead of him (John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, and Batista if he doesn’t turn), which probably means wasting time holding a meaningless midcard title that will only be a tool to placate his character until something better comes along. Or a worst case scenario (gulp), where he is something of a rich man’s Justin Gabriel, playing the exciting face coming out of a heel stable and goes nowhere. Again, like my concerns for his stable mates, I don’t think this happens, but I’m pointing out the possibilities for those that may be a little too optimistic. And like the other two, I think he eventually does “get there,” although his climb to the top might be a little long and arduous.

What should be the future of The Shield?

If it appears that I have much more concerns than hope for the three moving forward as singles wrestlers within WWE, it isn’t because I think they can’t or won’t make it on their own. I think they can and they will, despite taking much different paths. But my solution to a breakup is entirely different than what has been discussed in this article and many others altogether.

My solution is to keep The Shield together.

I get it. If anyone is looking at this with total optimism for each guy and sees Reigns’ star power, Rollins’ athleticism, and Ambrose’s dynamic character, it is easy to claim that they are all ready, that they’ve “graduated,” in a sense, from the stable life. But why tear apart something that works so well for your product? The Shield is excellent, and the three bring a teamwork, both in terms of kayfabe and reality, that is very difficult to come by. In wrestling years, sure, they’ve been around for a while. But that just means that now is the time to switch it up a bit.

To go further, my solution is to turn them babyface. And what better opportunity than now with the crowd in their favor with a rivalry brewing with the heel Wyatts? And after that is done, they could go on for another six months to a year making the rounds taking out the heels to the crowd’s delight. To draw a comparison, think D-Generation X, and how they spent a similar amount of time playing the villain, hit a point where they did all they needed to do in that role, and switched over in what was an even bigger success than anyone could imagine. And hey, if they want to blow their load with Reigns right now, they should keep in mind that spending a bunch of time in stables didn’t hurt The Rock any during his formative years.

Basically speaking, a lengthy good guy run for The Shield could be epic and do absolute wonders for the babyface careers of Rollins and Reigns, while making Ambrose that much more despicable when he ultimately turns his back on his friends.

Regardless of whatever they decide to do with them, I believe that we should take a moment to reflect on what an amazing run these guys have put on for us since November 2012. Because, yes, I do believe in The Shield.

That’s right, Denny and I were doing the job before we were Doing the Job.

It’s called “fact-checking.”

Champion Brock Lesnar Vs. Challenger Daniel Bryan

Hulk Hogan & John Cena Vs. Roddy Piper & Randy Orton

Undertaker Vs. Sting

Batista Vs. Bray Wyatt (or Sheamus)

Cody Rhodes Vs. Goldust

Usos (challenger) Vs. Harper & Rowan (champions)

Big E. Langston Vs. Wade Barrett to unify the Intercontinental and U.S. championships

The Shield Vs. … well, someone… but it doesn’t matter because that leads to the Shield breaking up.

CM Punk Vs. Triple H

I received this fantasy booking from Denny via text message. Aside from a Lesnar/Bryan, Cody/Goldust and Punk/Triple H match, I disagree with the rest of the card. I’d be ok with Sting/Taker, but it wouldn’t be my first choice.

Which would you want to see…?

After Battleground, WWE’s newest pay-per-view, went off the air last night, outrage appeared to be the general consensus of emotion across the unwashed mass community of wrestling fans due to the finish, or lack thereof, to the show’s main event. For those who are still unaware, or have already blocked it from their memory, the last match pitted Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton against each other for the vacant WWE Championship. We figured we would get some kind of screwy finish (not that I was the only one thinking this, but I wrote so in my predictions piece last week), but regardless, we were to assume that there would be a winner. We didn’t count on them having the Big Show interfere, knock everyone out, and basically close the night with no ending to the match. What the hell? No, seriously, what the hell?!

First, let me get the rant portion of this column out of the way. For something as major as the finish to a pay-per-view, this obviously had to be a Vince McMahon decision to end it this way. Listen, I love Vince, and respect him for everything he’s done. But that man has to have some set of stones if he thinks in any way possible that this is an acceptable way to end a show that people are paying a lot of money for. I wouldn’t want it, but I’d at least understand if they used the ending to a Raw, which is a free show, like this. But to end a pay-per-view? UNACCEPTABLE…all caps.

Now that that’s done, let me pose a question. Was this WWE’s most meaningless PPV ever in terms of character development and story progression? I generally hate to speak in hyperbole, and I’m sure there was plenty in the mid-late 2000’s, but I can’t think of one off the top of my head. Let’s run this night down for a moment.

One of the main reasons why this event was pointless was because half…seriously, half, of the show was thrown together as last minute filler. The pre-show featured Dolph Ziggler facing Damien Sandow for no apparent reason, announced one week prior. Curtis Axel against R-Truth was added after Raw just for the sake of giving Axel someone to beat, like it matters. We got Kofi Kingston versus Bray Wyatt, again out of left field, announced as late as Smackdown. And then as if there wasn’t enough matches with no story, feud, or build to it, the Real Americans vs. Santino Marella and the Great Khali was announced like the day before the event. This show had so much filler that the Great f’ing Khali had a match. Again, there was no rhyme or reason for any of these matches happening whatsoever and none of them progressed any stories or enhanced character development for any of the talent involved. Just a complete waste of time.

Then we have two matches where, although they were actually announced ahead of time, had no real build-up to make us care either. I have no issue with AJ Lee versus Brie Bella happening at all, but the result was as simple as the champ going over with nothing to help Brie along the way. It’s not that this should never happen, but compounded with the rest of the card, it would have been nice for something to come out of this match.

Let’s talk about Rob Van Dam against Alberto Del Rio. I do appreciate them making this a hardcore match so ADR wouldn’t put me to sleep, but again, the champ goes over and we move along. Was their line of thinking that having Del Rio defeat Van Dam in a hardcore contest would somehow make us believe in him more as World Heavyweight Champion? Because I think that ship has long sailed. RVD is no better after this match (which I suppose is fine since he is leaving again for the time being), but more importantly, I don’t feel like Del Rio is any stronger for it.

As for the matches that actually were built in the weeks leading up to Battleground, there was only one glimmer of light, which was Cody Rhodes and Goldust facing off against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of the Shield. Great feel, great match, great story told, great finish, and great progression. This was the equivalent of getting spanked like 7-1, but having one highlight reel, moonshot home run.

As big of a CM Punk fan as I am, I was a surprised by him going over in this match. Not for him getting the win, but the fashion in which he did so. As in, he pinned Ryback, the heels walked away, and we’ll see you tomorrow night. What? This outcome would have made complete sense if Punk would have absolutely decimated Ryback in the process or afterward, essentially leaving no one left standing between him and Paul Heyman, with this month being the final chapter of this feud until he “gets his hands on him”. Not that I’m crazy about this whole storyline, but I’ll give Punk and Heyman the benefit of the doubt that there is more moving forward. As far as the PPV is concerned, however, the guys showed up, Punk won, everyone left, and these characters are in no different standing than they were heading into the night. I’m perplexed.

Finally, we come to the main event. So Triple H stripped Daniel Bryan the Raw after Night of Champions last month because he was “caught” in cahoots with referee Scott Armstrong for cheating in the match. The title was held in a state of abeyance and Armstrong was 86ed. A rematch was set for Battleground to crown a new champion. Everyone (okay, not everyone…some of us streamed) plunked down a lot of money to see this…and as I said earlier, they had the Big Show come out and take a dump all over it and each and every one of us. He reluctantly knocked out Bryan, Armstrong ran down out of nowhere, unfired, to count the three, and got knocked out for his efforts, Orton got in Show’s face and then he got KO’ed. The night ends with everyone downed and no new champ. I suppose those of us who flew to London to watch, as M2J would say, got what we paid for.

We can go on and on about how frustrating this is from an “I just watched this entire show for that??” standpoint. But from a storyline standpoint that they just forced me to invest a month into? This is where Battleground reaches its apex in pointlessness. So since the night after the last pay-per-view, there has been no WWE champion. We build up to a show that will crown a new champ. And now heading into Raw tonight, there is still no champion. I don’t know what they have in store in a few hours from now. If they are smart and don’t want to continue to eat a crap sandwich from fans, they’ll give us a new champ on free television. But at the time being, the past month of WWE programming, which was very heavily geared toward this match, was a complete and utter waste of time. I suppose it can be said that the Big Show angle progressed, kind of, sort of. But Bryan and Orton are in the same exact boat they were in leading up to Battleground. Why even have that show?

Seriously, aside from the Rhodes’, is any one superstar or diva, storyline or angle, in any different shape after Battleground than before? I certainly don’t think so. The whole point of these things from a storyline standpoint is to answer all of our current questions with more questions for the future. The only question I have coming out of Battleground is why the hell I wasted three hours watching that.

This Sunday, WWE brings to us a new pay-per-view titled “Battleground”, featuring Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton squaring off in the main event for the WWE Championship. M2J, Denny Lugz, and I gave our predictions and provided some quick analysis about these matches on this week’s episode of Doing the Job. Allow me to further break down the card.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Damien Sandow (Pre-Show)
Alright, so this match came out of absolutely nowhere. To my knowledge, these two have had no recent interaction with each other and this is clearly a move by creative to pit two guys that they would like to get on the show but just have nothing for at the moment. Which is a shame, since Ziggler is only a few months removed from being World Heavyweight Champion and has been in and out of this whole angle with the Corpolution, and also because, oh by the way, Damien Sandow is the current holder of the Money in the Bank contract.

Both of these guys can really use a victory, especially Sandow, who has seemingly lost to everyone under the sun since winning that briefcase. But with that briefcase comes a ticket into the title picture that they’re eventually going to use; who knows what’s on the horizon for Ziggler. I think he needs this win more.

Picks:
Sean: Dolph Ziggler
M2J: Dolph Ziggler
Denny: Dolph Ziggler

Curtis Axel (c) vs. R-Truth (Intercontinental Title Match)
Speaking of matches that were just thrown onto the card. So basically R-Truth got that win on Raw when CM Punk’s music played and he gets a title shot. Okay. They’ve done nothing whatsoever with Axel as champion and plummeted the IC title’s stock once again, but as long as he’s aligned with Paul Heyman, mini-Perfect isn’t losing the belt in a match like this.

Picks:
Sean: Curtis Axel
(Editor’s Note: This match was made a day after we recorded our show with M2J and Denny’s predictions.)

Bray Wyatt vs. Kofi Kingston

And in another match that was added at the last moment, this one as late as Smackdown two days before the show, we get this. It’s so pointless that I’m not even giving analysis.

Picks:
Sean: Bray Wyatt
(Editor’s Note: Again, this match was added well after the podcast, so no predictions from our two hosts.)

AJ Lee (c) vs. Brie Bella (Divas Title Match)
Oddly enough, Nikki getting injured is the best thing that could have happened for Brie, now that she is getting all of this solo attention, which, despite her relationship with Daniel Bryan coming to the forefront, probably doesn’t happen otherwise. Still, if you think that is going to be enough to push her into becoming champion, I’d think twice. AJ has been great in her role lately, and more importantly, they just put Tamina with her as an enforcer, which all but assures a win for the champ.

Picks:
Sean: AJ Lee
M2J: AJ Lee
Denny: AJ Lee

Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Rob Van Dam (World Heavyweight Championship Match – Hardcore Rules)
Praise the lord that they decided to make this a hardcore match, otherwise not even RVD could prevent Del Rio’s formulaic heel wrestling from lulling me to sleep. I’m really hoping Van Dam can turn back the clock a bit with some innovative offense, and I’m looking forward to the prospect of seeing a Van Daminator.

If you’ve been listening to the show, you know much I can’t stand Del Rio, but I’d be stunned if he didn’t go over here. Also, Ricardo Rodriguez has been a non-factor for a little while now; perhaps he is a main part of the outcome? Finally, I proposed a Buy or Sell to Denny and M2J on the podcast if this could be RVD’s last one on one main event level title match at a pay-per-view. They both sold it, but I’m not so sure, so I’m not taking it for granted.

Picks:
Sean: Alberto Del Rio
M2J: Alberto Del Rio
Denny: Alberto Del Rio

Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes and Goldust (If the Rhodes’ win, they get their jobs back)
Also at stake is Dusty Rhodes’ job down in Florida. I’m looking forward to this match between four guys that can really go in the ring and a finish with multiple possibilities. At the very least, Cody will be back full time, if not already, plus The Shield’s tag team titles are not on the line, which may be another indicator of the outcome here. I’m certainly raising an eyebrow at the fact that this McMahon/Rhodes storyline doesn’t seem as cut and dry as them simply winning and getting their jobs back, but I think that’s what happens here. I’m excited to sit back and not think too hard about this one. This is also my dark horse pick for match of the night because, besides the match quality, I feel that the crowd will be super-hot behind the Rhodes’.

(Side note: In a PPV with last minute and throwaway matches added to the card last minute, how does Dean Ambrose not have a match at Battleground??)

Picks:
Sean: Cody Rhodes and Goldust
M2J: The Shield
Denny: Cody Rhodes and Goldust

CM Punk vs. Ryback
I feel like I saw all I needed to see out of these two last year, but hopefully they will prove me wrong now that Ryback has a little more experience under his belt. I suppose the argument for Punk winning is that he’s done the job in this Heyman storyline for three months now (if you include the Money in the Bank match where Paul E. turned on him), but this doesn’t seem likely to be the end of the feud. Additionally, Ryback can really use a high profile victory and after recently being injected in the angle and becoming a “Paul Heyman guy”, it this Sunday seems like a likely time for that to happen. Unfortunately for Punk, he really starts to lose credibility if he continues to promise us to end all this, while continually doing the job. As much as we love Punk and Heyman, I think we’re all ready for this to be over and something new to spark up with the Corpolution.

Picks:
Sean: Ryback
M2J: Ryback
Denny: Ryback

Daniel Bryan vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship Match)

Aside from the tag team match, this is probably the only other one that has a chance of being match of the night, and their showdown last month was not quite as good as we had hoped, so perhaps they’ll have something better in store this time around. Denny made the point on the show, but with D-Bry going over twice the last couple of pay-per-views and ultimately not coming away with the title, it’s unlikely it will happen again this month. Additionally, now that they’ve vamped up Orton’s heelishness since Night of Champions, he seems poised for a title run under the McMahon-Helmsley era 2.0.

After the ending of this past Raw, I’d suspect Brie Bella comes out at some point and her presence accidentally distracts Bryan, costing him the victory. At the least, expect some sort of screwy finish here helping Orton regain the title.

Picks:
Sean: Randy Orton
M2J: Randy Orton
Denny: Randy Orton

Conclusion
After a really nice run of very good pay-per-views from WWE, it seems as if we are in a three-show stretch of lackluster events starting with Night of Champions and capping with Hell in a Cell, with this Sunday’s Battleground sandwiched in between. Aside from Punk/Heyman, WWE focused so much attention recently on the main event storyline and the trio of angles under its umbrella that they really didn’t flesh out any other feuds, which resulted in this barrage of meaningless matches that make up a good portion of the night. With generally no outcomes we care about aside from the main three spots, matches with a low potential for quality wrestling, and overall a very predictable show (seriously, there was only one match where the three of us differed in opinion), I have to admit, I really don’t have high hopes for Battleground.