Report: Possible Plans Regarding The Shield & CM Punk

[Jack-Hammer]

According to a report from F4WOnline.com, it doesn't seem as though The Shield is going to be splitting up entirely. The article mentions that current plans call for Roman Reigns to turn babyface and break off from the group, citing that it's most likely to take place in February. Once Reigns breaks away from the group, again according to the report, Reigns will be replaced with a new third member of the group. One of the names being discussed to replace Reigns is Mason Ryan.

The site also has another report pertaining to possible plans regarding CM Punk. According to this other report, Punk vs. Triple H is said to be a lock for WrestleMania XXX. The report also states that current plans call for doing another "Summer of Punk" type of program somewhat similar to what was done back in 2011, leading to a showdown between Punk and Batista for SummerSlam.

As far as The Shield goes, Mason Ryan replacing Roman Reigns as the muscle of the group could work, depending on how much he's improved in NXT. Personally, I'm all for keeping The Shield together as long as they're booked as a strong force. If they're ultimately going to portray them as a group that continues to come unraveled at the seams, new member or not, and wind up jobbing left & right, then I'd rather see the group split up altogether. They've been too strong and too good for too long to be morphed into a jobber faction.

As far as Punk getting a big push this summer, I'm not at all surprised. Allegedly, Punk's been getting frustrated out on the road, at least that's what's being said based on some Tweets. Most opinions, again according to these reports, seem to indicate that Punk's getting burned out. Unless he'd already signed some sort of extension with his current deal, it's due to expire this summer. So, I imagine that WWE will be giving Punk the red carpet treatment all in all, especially if he's yet to sign an extension or a new deal altogether.

 

[Blade]

Please not Mason Ryan. He's utterly void of talent and hasn't improved at all since 2010 when he was in the New Nexus. He has a great look, but he's got little charisma and he's sloppy as hell in the ring.

Then again, there aren't many other alternatives. The Ascension will likely be called up with their current gimmick. Sami Zayn is too similar to Seth Rollins. Alexander Rusev doesn't speak English. And there isn't really anyone else who's ready for the main roster, let alone anyone who's good enough for the Shield. Except for maybe Leo Kruger. Which would be awesome, but won't happen.

While I'm against the Shield continuing without the original three members, there's a few powerhouses already on the WWE main roster that would fit in if WWE insists on them continuing. How sweet would it be if Big E. Langston turned heel and joined the Shield? I know, he only turned face a few months ago, but it would do more to make him a star than a run with a title that's far from credible. Or what about Titus O'Neil? Just saying, there's big guys with tons more talent and potential than Mason Ryan.

As for a Summer of Punk 2014 to appease Punk, I'm cool with that. Both 2009 and 2011 were really entertaining until Triple H got involved with the latter. Sure, Punk is a bit of a diva, but all the greats were. With the exception of John Cena, who seems to be a robot programmed solely for professionalism.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Please not Mason Ryan. He's utterly void of talent and hasn't improved at all since 2010 when he was in the New Nexus..

On the surface, I can agree. On the other hand, if they need to stick Ryan in somewhere, this might be a good place. He'd be one of a group, instead of trying to stand on his own, where his lack of personality hurts him. For another, he's replacing the right guy; Reigns was the quiet one.....Ryan is a quiet one. Reigns has a great look.....so does Ryan.

The Shield was always strongest with an "ambush and attack" method of operation; that seems to be ideal for Mason Ryan; it calls for plowing straight ahead....subtlety not required.

The only negative I can come up with is that if people perceive Mason Ryan as directly "following" Roman Reigns....which is inevitable.....Ryan might very well come up short in the public's estimation. Of course, Ryan has been down that road before, no?

Still, we know the Shield.....and Dean Ambrose would still be the spokesman, so maybe they could toss Mason Ryan in the mix and not lose much in continuity.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Please not Mason Ryan. He's utterly void of talent and hasn't improved at all since 2010 when he was in the New Nexus. He has a great look, but he's got little charisma and he's sloppy as hell in the ring.

He's not the best, but he's better than Ryback and Big E Langston combined, and look at the pushes they've gotten. I'd love for Ryan to come back and help The Shield destroy Big E.

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

I am so ready for all of these ideas.

I don't think the Shield is stale at all. I think they could go on doing what they're doing for most of 2014 and it would still be a lot of fun. They put on great matches; never had a bad one yet between the three of them. I'm looking forward to Punk-Reigns for next week's Old School Raw. I think it's going to be a great step forward for the guy we know least about. That said, while I wouldn't mind more from The Shield, I also think it's time to see what they can do without the support and safety of a group. Reigns especially.

I don't know about replacing him with Mason Ryan though. The Shield was all about fresh people we hadn't seen before. A lot of people will remember Ryan as a giant flop. That said, he hasn't been terrible in NXT, and you never know what a reinvented character is capable of. Bray Wyatt, anybody?

Now the question is, would it be better to break them up altogether, or to go the route of replacing Reigns? Does WWE really think he's the break-out star? It wouldn't surprise me. Time will tell. I'm not sure if Seth Rollins can stand on his own yet. If Shield breaks up completely, I wouldn't be shocked to see him go the way of Justin Gabriel or Heath Slater from Nexus. He's already accomplished more in a year than that whole faction did combined, but I still don't know if WWE is ready to push him as a singles star. Ambrose could break out. I just hope Shield 2.0 won't be like the New Nexus under CM Punk.

I'm also super ready for a second Super of Punk angle. He's one of the few things consistently bringing me back to WWE each week. They should do whatever it takes to keep him happy, and keep him employed. Is he John Cena? No. But he's still one of their top players. In the top four or five with Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. The Shield as a unit could be considered up there, but their drawing power is questionable at best. As far as my interest is concerned, they really can't afford to lose Punk. I don't want to live in a world where Randy Orton is in every main event, and CM Punk isn't even on the card. Daniel Bryan is a better wrestler, but he's a poor replacement all-around if you ask me. Nothing against him, it just takes more than in-ring skills to interest me. To each their own.

 

[lazeric]

I kinda like the idea of Mason Ryan being in The Shield but my first choice would have been Alexander Rusev. Rusev is the perfect replacement for Regins because of his intensity and crazy althetic ability for being a big man. The fact that he doesnt speak english would be perfect during The Shield's backstage promos and imagine there 3 man beatdowns ending with him running ppl over. A feud between him and Reigns would in my opinion be a better beast vs beast match than the rumored Brock vs Batista match.

As far a Punk vs HHH match I think it would be great or "best for business" but I worry that they may try to build it into the new Vince vs Stone Cold. Its already going to be made into The Rebel vs The Authority but they need to stay away from making Punk look like the next SCSA unless we're gonna get a Stone Cold sighting at WM30. The only way to cap off this feud if they go that way is to either have SCSA come in and screw Punk or he comes out to congraulate Punk then hits him with a stunner. This would be a great way to set up a potential match for the two at WM31.

 

[Kamala316]

Mason Ryan has already been a bust. OK, so he will get a pop when they do a house show in Wales, but other than that, he is about as exciting as playing leap frog with a unicorn. Why not bring up 1 of the NXT guys, see how it goes, and if it fails, the 2 remaining members take him out, citing that he wasn't strong enough or that he "didn't believe in the Shield."

 

[HBK89Bill]

Why can't we just turn The Shield into faces. I mean all three of them. Ambrose is going to be a big heel eventually and he could be the one to turn on The Shield. Rollins is too energetic to not have a good shot at being a damn good face. Reigns is the golden boy and we know it. This could be a really nice turn for him and turn him into a massive power in a battle against Ambrose or Rollins.

Why can't The Shield just act like cops and came in to do the right thing. Remember how unpredictable they were when they had reasoning behind their actions? Their message was the shield against injustice. It's really a simple turn. It keeps The Shield as a unit and keeps momentum with all of them instead of Reigns.

 

[Quinn30Colo]

The sad part is we will never get our Wyatt's vs Shield match that we were all hoping for

 

[Pedigree1]

if the reports are true,and i dont doubt they are CM punk could again be unhappy with the direction his character is in.. Of course,im guessing he is just burned out.. Other than injury,he has been going strong for what 7 years straight now? As far as the shield go,there still an awesome group IMO.. Plenty left in the tank for them,but its obvious that Roman will be the first to break away...

Everyone is saying that Mason Ryan will join them,and i agree.. All Mason needs to be is the muscle of the group he cant talk to save his life and has the charisma of a cardboard box,but still when your his size nothing else matters... Dean Ambrose is the leader and can talk and wrestle till the cows come home.. The Shield will be fine without Roman it will hurt a lot but they will be fine!! A very wild card could be Batista joining the Shield?? Maybe who knows

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

I'm not gonna touch the Punk thing (at least for the moment), I will talk about the Mason Ryan thing.

Just no. Don't remove Reigns to a singles career and replace him with Ryan. This is plain stupid for so many reason. The dominant is one that look at what happened to the Nexus. The original 7 people were dominant. A bit of an oversized group but it worked damn well the first months (before Cena buried them in 3-4 months completely). The New Nexus led by Punk, as well as the Corre were just jokes. Nobody took them seriously, mostly because nobody took the original Nexus seriously anymore.

Don't do the same to the Shield. Shield has been years ahead of the Nexus in terms of talent, impact, moments, entertainment, everything pretty much. The stable is working perfectly, even after 1 year of existence. I don't have a problem of them being together still for a long time, as long as they are given title shots and be involved in main angles, but, at this point, or should I say after Wrestlemania, they should head out on singles careers.

Reigns seems to be the most trusted guy in the Shield by the Vince and HHH, and he has a good merit to be so. The other two guys are excellent too, and they can carry themselves into singles careers. IF YOU ARE GONNA REMOVE ONE MEMBER OF THE SHIELD, THEN JUST MAKE THE GROUP DISSOLVE FOR CHRIST SAKE! Let them have a 1-2 months program of them solving their issues after breaking up, leading up to a match at like Payback or Money in the Bank or something, with the winner getting a shot at a championship! From there, they can just continue their singles career!
Don't break up Reigns to bring anyone else in! I don't care if it is Mason Ryan, heck I don't even want Punk, Cena Bryan or whoever else you can name in there. It will never be as good as the original one. People will see though. People will understand that the Shield is not the dominant group anymore, otherwise Reigns wouldn't leave. It would just be a parody to the original one. Just look at the post-Nexus groups and the jokes they were...

PLEASE, DON'T RUIN THE SHIELD. Keep them strong until Wrestlemania, where they lose to the Wyatts, and let them dissolve afterwards, leading to a triple thread match between them! Don't ruin what you have made so good over the past year!


Since, we are at it, let's discuss the Cm Punk bit:
Punk's contract apparently is due to end during the Summer, and it seems like Punk is just not interested in WWE and wrestling anymore. He seems so bored, out of place, not with the same fire inside him and not without a good reason. He was stolen the WWE Championship back in January, he did nothing during April - June, he lost to Lesnar, his program with Heyman got stale and he has been involved in the mid card for far too long.

It seems like HHH vs Punk is happening at WM, and the result is kinda obvious; Punk will emerge victorious, to avenge that horribly booked match back in 2011... With Punk's contract expiring and him seeing a bit uninterested in resigning, if he isn't given something special after Wrestlemania, I can't see a reason for him to stay in the WWE, as much as most fans would like him to. He is what? 36 years old? It's the point where most wrestling careers tend to degrade, it's the age that is past the prime. Punk has done it all in just 2 years (July 2011 - April 2013). If he isn't given a reason to stay, then he will take his accolades and walk out before picking up an injury or anything unnecessarily bad.
This brings me to the question: What is an interesting storyline that he can be given?
He already is the longest reigning WWE Champ in the past 25+ years (ever, in my book). Anything assosciated with the title will probably not be as interesting to him, and with good reason. How can he top that off? He is gonna match the title reigns that Cena/Flair have? No way, he can't stay around for 15 more years. Is he appealed by this new "WWE World Heavyweight Championship" thing? Don't think so, because in my eyes, it is still the WWE Championship (the important one) merged with a mid-card title.
This means that he will have to feud with a big name. After his pipebomb, he has feuded with Cena, Bryan, Jericho, Lesnar, Rock, HHH and the Undertaker. 3 months before his pipebomb, he also had a big program with Orton. Who else is left? The biggest name currently and possibly remaining, apart from the unlikely Stone Cold, is Batista. But the Batista-Punk feud is a lot similar to the Punk-Lesnar feud. David vs Goliath at its finest, we have seen it before and I don't think it will have the same appeal anymore. Is there anyone else? I can't think of anyone.

So, how do you keep Punk occupied? In my opinion, you can't. He is not John Cena. He is not the face of the WWE. Cena now has the target of surpassing Flair's record, and if that requires him to stay for 10 more years, he will do that. He makes a ton of money for himself and the WWE. He can't just leave like that. Punk is nothing like above. He cemented his place in history by having the lengthy title reign, so as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing else BIG that he can accomplish anymore. I can't see him being interested in anything anymore, and, as stated above, if that means he will remain healthy and wealthy, then yes, he will just kiss us goodbye.

Hey, you know, he can always come back like 3 years later and get the Rocky/Austin-comeback reaction as a legend. He has the "best in the world" gimmick now. Everytime he comes back, he will be remember as the best in the world. He will be a legend if he retires at summer. He can have a family afterwards, can live healthy and pursue other things in life.

Such a long rant, but I felt like sharing my long-drawn thoughts!

 

[Marshyishere]

I find it quite funny now that people are calling CM Punk as a bit stale now....is he the new Cena? More than likely it is due to him being a face again.

I also think we all seem to look at CM Punk and think that he has been at the top forever....when in fact it is really only the last 3 years at the most. Punk still has plenty of life in him. Unfortunately there is a shortage of heels at the moment, which has him relegated to pushing the shield and the wyatts, but with the return of Batista, Sheamus & Lesnar there is more than enough for him to do.

Not to mention, Punk at his best is when he is dealing with authority. Which if the whispers are to be believed, is the path we are heading down....can't wait for another pipe bomb.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I'm still all for Mason Ryan teaming with Ezekiel Jackson as a tag team who's gimmick is that they're really sloppy but they do cool power moves. It'll be just like the 80's again.

If not, yeah, add him to The Sheild. Though I don't see why you wouldn't just end the group.

As for Punk vs. HHH, that doesn't appeal to me in the slightest at WrestleMania.

 

[M]

Both those plans anger and sadden me deeply.

I'm not watching another feud with HHH in it, so that Punk v HHH feud can go die for all I care.

The Mason Ryan idea of putting him in the shield irks me in a slightly different way, it's not like I don't want to see him on the main shows - he could probably fit in somewhere on the card where he could show off all his skills in the art of being generic as hell - but him in the shield is a big no no. This is going to sound weird, but the WWE care about him way too much. If he were to join the shield I'd be afraid of him suddenly being the main focus of the shield, to the point of him eclipsing the other members' spotlights and damaging their worth, which would be a shame because Rollins and Ambrose have pretty great futures ahead of them and it would suck for their futures to be halted by a year or so because Mason Ryan had to be included.

 

[martymcfly]

There's a big part of me that actually hopes that the WWE is trying to make us think that it will be Reigns who leaves (or gets kicked out) of the group but then makes it be one of the other two instead. The main reason for this is that it seems that there are just too many solo powerhouses (both face and heel) running around right now and I'm not sure adding yet another one into the mix is a smart way to go.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Mason Ryan was brought in as Batsita V2.0 its no coincidence that he resembles Batista and was brought in after Batista left. But with Batista back bringing Ryan back, who showed very little talent to begin with, might not be a good idea. Can you imagine a Ryan and Batista staredown?

Of course Batista was initially brought to Evolution as the muscle of the group and no one expected him to be as big as he did so we could be wrong about Ryan.

That said I'd rather have Ryback and Curtis Axel join the group. Both have a good enough look to fit nicely in The Shield. Since Ryback isn't doing anything and the folks backstage gave up on Axel, I think The Shield will be a good group for them to do something. They do have some potential.

I can see Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Goldust and Cody Rhodes in a tag team title match. Rollins and Ambrose make a run in that cost Rhodes and Goludst the title, making Ryback and Axel champions and joining the Shield.

 

[L@RISANO]

Curtis Axel would suit the Shield,tbh. I could picture him being a part of the group,though his portrayal would have to be different so he can be Reigns' replacement.
Mason Ryan whilst being a good replacement as the muscle guy, is too far behind Ambrose and Rollins in reputation to be taken as seriously. He would have to make an immediate impact if he wants to be a success in the group whilst keeping the group as a strong faction portrayed by their booking.

The main reason I threw out the possibility of them staying together in another thread I created is that I have a feeling that by staying together both Rollins and Ambrose will also stay relevant in the WWE because the Shield would still be a proven faction. Putting them in Singles would mean that they have to adjust themselves again and become more complete superstars by developing certain skills they would not have to if still in the group.
Also, I am huge fan of Roman Reigns since I saw him. He has the look of someone who stands out to any casual,lMO. However, the reason I believe he should not be catapulted into the Main Event is because of how WWE drops the ball with certain superstars. With good booking and slow development of his character( Maybe spend 2014 developing his skills and then push him into Main Event on the Road to WM31) I believe he will be a success. However, look at Ziggler,Ryback and even Barrett now...That could be Reigns come WM31, hopefully it won't happen that way.