New Day or The Shield?

[OYDK]

Random thought that popped into my head while watching Smackdown and I was curious to get others' thoughts on it. Quite simply, I want to know who people think will be remembered as this era's preeminent 3-man faction when all is said and done, The Shield or The New Day?

Both groups are extremely different from each other. For one, The Shield was much more of a "main event faction" for lack of a better term while The New Day has dominated the tag team scene since their original heel turn a while back. Both have very different styles (obviously), and connect with the crowd in extremely different ways. New Day may very well be remembered as one of the greatest tag teams of all time while The Shield will probably be remembered as one of the most impactful factions ever, period.

So, what do you think?

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

You can't really compare them. New Day doesn't work as a stable but as a tag team under the Freebird rule. The Shield worked as a stable, with Ambrose being US champ and Rollins and Reigns being Tag champs. They also competed in 3-on-3 matches while New Day only have tag team matches with the exception of their bout against the Wyatt Family and their bout against the League of Nations.

So going just by who will be remembered the most and by shock value, it's obvisously the Shield. They are one of the top groups of wrestling history, like Evolution, the 4 Horsemen, DX and the NWO.

With the New Day it's even questionable if they are the best tag team of all time, given their competition is E&C, the Hardys, the Duddleys, the Freebirds, LOD and Demolition just to name a few. They're definately the best of the current era though and most likelt the best of the past 15 years. However as a trio they rank very low.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

New Day is a joke that got too far. Not saying they arent good, they are great, but they are and will always be comedy tag team. But ultimately they are joke consisted of 3 midcard talents at best(Big E had main event potential but they ruined it, Kofi was always midcard and Xavier would be jobber and probably be "future endeavors" by now) who somehow managed to develop into comedy gold.

Whereas The Shield were 3 guys who were groomed as top guys from start. They wanted to debut Ambrose as someone who would challenge Mick Foley for a match, Rollins is HHHs "chosen one" and Roman is Vince.

Ultimately when they all retire in 15-20 years you will never say that comedy tag team was more epic then a team of guys who have 6 World Championships by now and would probably have 15+ when they retire. That is why my vote goes to The Shield.

 

[rmp0012002]

I would like The New Day if they had a more badass look because they have heel tag team wrestling down but I've never been for the comedy act in wrestling.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's sort of like comparing apples and oranges as the groups are about as different as it gets. Ultimately, I think it just depends upon how you look at both groups and what they're about to decide on what's what. For me, there's no real way that I can look at either of them and say that, overall, they're better than the other group as both have their strengths and weaknesses.

If you go from a more traditional perspective, then I think New Day comes out on top as they're more of a traditional team than the Shield. New Day has always been about being THE dominant tag team in their company/territory just like old school teams like Demolition, the Road Warriors, the Rock n Roll Express and some others. New Day hasn't branched out to try to bring in some singles titles into the group, they haven't tried to "take over" WWE in that manner.

The Shield were more of an nWo inspired group in that you had three guys who wanted pretty much everything. They wanted the run of the place, they wanted singles titles, they wanted tag titles, they wanted to make statements by beating everyone up.

With New Day, it's all about being the top tag team by staying within the more traditional boundaries of tag teams. As a result, they need the titles to be that or they need to be consistent contenders for the titles. When it came to the Shield, fans wanted them to be champions but I think what they thought was more important was that the Shield just dominate everyone; as long as they were taking out Cena, Orton, Bryan, Kane, Taker, Big Show and anyone else who crossed them, I think many fans felt like they didn't really even need titles to be looked at as dominant.

New Day is also much more "sports entertainment" oriented in that they're light hearted, don't take themselves too seriously and are family friendly. The Shield wasn't light hearted, they took themselves seriously and made sure their opponents took them that way as well. Both are/were entertaining, just in different ways.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

Right now, its the Shield. The group completely dominated and helped kick start the careers of three of the brightest stars of this era.

I am a strong supporter of New Day becoming serious main eventers (and even having a wwe/world championship reign or two) but until then, they will always be second to the Shield. The potential is there with New Day, but i doubt it will ever be tested.

 

[Richard Blonoff]

New Day has done more to elevate its members than The Shield did. Roman and Seth were going to be success without it and Dean was going to carve out a decent career. It just gave them a huge jumpstart. New Day took three stagnant guys and they struck gold in a bottle and went on to be huge merch sellers who are insanely over even two plus years after the fact. I'm also more entertained by New Day, so they get my vote.

 

[Kyphael]

I just realized something... The Shield is like one of only two stables in wrestling history where all its members were world champions.

Four Horsemen? Only Flair was world champion (and Benoit if you count that incarnation.)
nWo? Hall was never world champion.
DX? Only Triple H and Shawn Michaels were world champions. Chyna, X-Pac, and the Outlaws never were.
Hart Foundation? Only Bret.
Nation of Domination? D'Lo Brown and Godfather weren't world champions.
Wyatt Family? Only Bray. Braun probably will be one day but but Harper and Rowan, long shot.

The only other stable where every member is a former world champion of course is Evolution.

Main Event Mafia doesn't count, they were intended to be a stable OF world champions, that was the purpose of their inception. Every other stable had a more organic beginning.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Very interesting question, and a tough one to answer.

It depends on how you look at it. Which faction had the most success in terms of its members? The Shield. Easily. They are a contender for the most successful faction ever in that aspect. If you are going for the best TEAM instead of group with the most star value, then that's The New Day. They are the best team in over a decade. Both factions will go down in history amongst the best groups in the WWE when all is said and done. Arguments can be made in favor of either one over the other, for different reasons. The New Day did exceed expectations ten times over and broke the Tag Team Championship reign length record. That's saying a lot. I'm going with The Shield though. They entertained me in everything they did together as a group. When in a faction they were believable against teams consisting of the very best such as Orton, Batista, and Trips. In singles action they continue to be among my favorites, well ok maybe not Reigns lol but the other two certainly. For dominance and success I have to go with The Shield, however, I can see why those who voted for New Day did so too.

 

[sMark]

Let's compare Stone Cold to The Hurricane...top guy, main evented several WMs, had several World Title runs and memorable feuds and now a Legend.
Hurricane - have several midcard titles, was the funny guy who somehow pinned The Rock (career highlight) and now probably work indies.

The Shield wins it easily.

 

[OYDK]

Let's compare Stone Cold to The Hurricane...top guy, main evented several WMs, had several World Title runs and memorable feuds and now a Legend.
Hurricane - have several midcard titles, was the funny guy who somehow pinned The Rock (career highlight) and now probably work indies.

The Shield wins it easily.

So, a few things.

1. New Day has been, and is currently, one of the most popular acts in the wrestling business. There popularity can easily be described as rivaling The Shield's when The Shield was at their height. The Hurricane has never come anywhere close to Stone Cold in terms of popularity.

2. I don't have specific numbers, but I feel pretty comfortable saying that New Day has probably outsold, or at the very least competed with The Shield in terms of merchandise numbers. Comparing The Hurricane and Austin in this regard is, obviously, beyond laughable.

3. The New Day has attained a feat that many people believed would never happen, especially in this day and age. They became the longest reigning WWE Tag champs in history. That alone puts them in the discussion of greatest teams ever.

Sure The Shield's members have gone on to bigger and better things than New Day's members (at this point), but I really don't think the comparison is as ridiculous as you're making it seem. Both factions will likely go down in history as the two best of this era. The Shield was probably more impactful, but New Day has done some incredible things in their own right.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Nobody expected New Day to go anywhere, especially the first month or so of teaming up. Those gospel choiresque vignettes were horrendous. They fought to become a big deal while Shield was always set up to be the big deal. Comedy in wrestling usually falls flat, but somehow they've stayed entertaining for years now. Gotta go with the group that surprised me, and that's New Day.

 

[CyberPunk]

It really depends on how you want to look at these teams/factions. Are we talking about the group as a whole or their members? Because Shield is already gone and New Day is still here, and probably will be together for a long time. Both factions/teams have had the tag team gold, but Shield was never going to be a long lasting faction. Shield's sole purpose was to get the members over. New Day on the other hand took 3 people who had nothing to do and were going nowhere to create a group who'd solely be in the tag division. Shield gave us 3 main event stars and then broke up, while 3 floundering guys gave is New Day and the group became way more popular than they were ever meant to be. In that regards, New Day is much better because it actually elevated 3 low to mid card guys into the most popular group of the modern era.

On the other hand, if want to look at the individuals of the group, Shield wins it hands down. I mean it gave us 3 world champions. I doubt New Day members would ever be as popular as singles competitor as they are together.

 

[Starkist]

This is hard to say. I like the Shield more than i like the New Day so that alone makes me biased towards this very open question. In terms of success, it leads to the former Shield members. If you look at it from a tag team perspective, the New Day have the better track record. They are more of a tag-team vs a stable like the Shield once was. New Day are going to be made to be the best tag-team in WWE history. Shield will go down as one of the best most dominate stable in WWE history.

If it comes down to preference, I prefer the Shield over the New Day. Shield was more serious players and I am not to big on the New Day as the annoy me personally.

 

[MWRedskins]

Comparing them is so difficult.....One of them was brought in to help 3 midcard wrestlers finally get over and at first it was a failure because the fans trashed them and the gimmick....then the gimmick finally attracted the fans and now they are great. the 3 wrestlers are all great in ring talents, but just needed proper characters and the right push. they are great tag team wrestlers and are best served in that role

The Shield was brought in to help CM Punk keep his championship, but was more of an nWo type of group. a group that was just created to cause anarchy and chaos. they'd go out, beat up whoever they wanted to beat up and give their reasons for it after the beat down or not answer at all.

i personally prefer The Shield because of how they were just a trio that went out, kicked butt and left. it also helped hide Roman Reigns' issues on the mic by giving him little to say with the other two (Ambrose and Rollins) doing the mic work. breaking them up (at the time) felt too early and soon, but in the end it was great for Rollins (who is such a star in WWE). if the New Day ever disbands or breaks up (which i wouldnt do, i'd just have one member leave while the other two still team up), hopefully one of them will break out like Rollins did.....but comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges, they are so different...but that's not a bad thing as they both got over in their own ways

 

[BestSportsEntertainer]

The Shield, but it's not fair to compare them.

New Day has been successful. No one expected the gimmick towork, but they're now probably the best tag team of this era.

However the Shield was simply better. They had excellent matches with the Wyatts, Evolution, and Ryback/Kane/Bryan. New Day has had some really good matches, but they don't compare.

Maybe a better argument is which group did more for its members? You definitely could argue the Shield, but I would argue New Day. Big E and Xavier were generic as possible, and now they're two of the most charismatic wrestlers on the roster. Kofi had a lot more success, but he wasn't doing much either. Don't get me wrong - the Shield definitely elevated Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins. Where would they be without the group? Yeah they would have success but probably not as much.

So yes New Day is great, but the Shield was that much better.

 

[nWo2]

More talented trio? New Day

Biggest push for a group of individuals in WWE history? The Shield

New Day represents the same make up as the Shield but New Day has a certified veteran in Koifi Kingston and no weakness (Big E overall performance > Roman Reigns; see finishers or mic work). The only advantage The Shield has is average height.

If this group were allowed to be taken seriously ala Usos gimmick change then we'd have a conversation. Sadly most readers would NEED something that drastic to see the true potential of most superstars, Vince included.

 

[mkw1962]

The Shield for sure will go down in history as one of the best factions in the WWE. The New Day is just a three man tag team like The Freebirds, they will end up as a very good tag team. The Shield has three top stars who have won World Titles on there own and fan favorites. The New Day are mid card wrestlers even if they are fan favorites they are a comedy act.

P.S. When it is said and done:
Roman- many World Titles along with Tag Team and U.S. Titles included. Maybe even an Intercontinental Title in there as well.
Seth- many World Titles and a handful of Tag Team Titles. Maybe a U.S. Title.
Dean- U.S. Titles, Tag Team gold and Intercontinental Title as well, don't forget his World Title maybe 2.

Big E- Tag Team gold and a U.S. Title with one Intercontinental Title.
Kofi- The most titles of New Day, Tag team and Intercontinental Gold.
Xavier- Tag Team Titles and a Manager of the year award.