Where will The Shield rank among the all time great Factions?

[jmt225]

So it’s been a little over a year since The Shield made their debut in WWE. And if you listen to internet fans, not many people expect them to be a unit past I’d say a little while after Wrestlemania.

Whether that’s the case or not, it’s been a hell of a run for these guys. Sure, it didn’t cause anything super influential like the nWo, DX, and Four Horsemen did, but as far as quality programming is concerned, The Shield has been top notch. From their matches, to their promos, to their backstage brawls, to their entrance… almost everything they have done has been very good programming, sometimes downright great and sometimes straight up show stealing.

Think about this for a second…. how many great matches did DX have as a unit? What about the nWo? Horsemen? I mean, not many. Outside of Wargames and the horrible DX reunion that took place back in 2006, those factions rarely worked matches together. And quite frankly, not many of those matches stand out like The Shield's matches do.

The Shield has been a faction all about unity and having matches together. And man, have they’ve given us some absolute classics. From the TLC match from last year, to standard 6 man tag matches… they’ve delivered legit multiple MOTY candidates for both 2012 and 2013. So think about that for a second before you reply.

Of course, seeing where each individual’s singles career goes will end up having a lot to do with The Shield’s legacy. If all three become major players in WWE for many years to come like I personally expect them all to do, then years down the line this won’t even be an argument: The Shield will absolutely be considered one of the greatest factions ever. However, if only one makes it, or God forbid none of them do, then they’ll probably go down as a small footnote in the history of WWE, which would be completely unfair but also totally understandable.

But for right now, without the convenience of hindsight years from now, do you consider The Shield one of the greatest factions of all time?

 

[L@RISANO]

As you said, I think that the overall Legacy of the Shield will ultimately depend on if at least 2 of the 3 can have defining singles careers.
Their character and how they have been portrayed is top notch. Their entrance their chemistry as a unit all have a case for being fond memories in years to come, but...
As I said, what these 3 wrestlers manage to do in singles will define how high the Shield are ranked.

A case in point: would anything much about the Brood be remembered if Edge and Christian weren't successful?!

 

[Matty~!]

I think in terms of in ring quality there's probably only the Four Horsemen that would rank above The Shield at the moment. The issue in comparing them to other eras is because how poor the direction is over all at the present time, they don't have the classic angles like the Four Horsemen, nWo, Hart Foundation, DX etc.

 

[klunderbunker]

Not yet no.

There's a chance for them to become one of the best ever, but they haven't been around long enough yet. The Horsemen, DX and the NWO were around for years and years while Shield only debuted about a year ago. They need more time and more of a main event impact to be one of the best ever. They're very good though.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

At this point pretty low if you look at their success. They've had some cool matches and even won over some big names but winning six man matches isn't exactly the zenith of the world of pro wrestling. Reigns and Rollins had that tag team champs run which wasn't that long or career defining. Ambrose has the US Belt of Degradation.

The Shield also don't seem to have a real and consistent purpose. They attacked random faces for a while. Then they turned out to be Heyman's hired guns. Now they seem to be HHH's lackeys. Compared to the NWO, Evolution, Freebirds, DX, the Nation, and Horsemen I'd say they have a lot of work to do. The Shield is the group that lots of people keep expecting to break up, that's not a good sign.

They're probably on par with Raven's Flock and the original MEM at this point. Maybe the Heenan Family and Hart Foundation too.

All that being said I see the potential for them to move past these groups and maybe past the Freebirds and NOD. They just need to go back to being their own group and get some more singles success.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I dunno if they'll be together any longer with all these little bits of friction between Ambrose and the others, and the spotlight starting to shine on Reign these past few weeks. That being said, they are one of the best handled stables so far.

They were kinda headless with their random attacks before working as security for The Authority and now to an extent, they have found a purpose. At the same time, their random attacks became their calling card and made them cool. If Reigns wins the big title and still is a part of the Shield and they keep the kerfuffle, they have a chance of being up there.

 

[Mustang Sally]

But for right now, without the convenience of hindsight years from now, do you consider The Shield one of the greatest factions of all time?

I would say yes, but it's more a function of what Creative has done with them than anything the three individuals who play the Shield have accomplished. In my opinion, there isn't anything about Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose that would warrant their being ranked among the greatest factions; it's the way they've been put into different situations and given the chances to succeed.

What other factions/tag teams/vigilante forces have been given the attractive ring entrance these guys have used since their inception? Who else has acted as bodyguards for the Authority figures of WWE? How many groups have seen the privilege of all their members holding championship belts at the same time?

Don't think I'm saying I don't like the Shield, because I like them very much. But if you put the above factors together, I'd say they rank among the top factions of all time because of the favored treatment they've been given by the powers that be.....and that other groups from the past might have fared just as well had they received it, too.

 

[LSN80]

But for right now, without the convenience of hindsight years from now, do you consider The Shield one of the greatest factions of all time?

No, they're not there yet.

For me, a Shield six-man tag is often the highlight of any Raw or Smackdown, and their match at Survivor Series was the best on the card. When they debuted a year ago, they interrupted the main event, but as a unit or as individuals, they've yet to make a dent in the Main Event scene.

When you think of some of the greatest factions we've seen over time, they've all had members who've been Main Event players. The NWO had Hogan, the Horseman had Flair, and everyone in Evolution had been or became main event stars. Without hindsight, we don't know if any will reach that level, so right now, they're mid-card wrestlers involved in main event storylines.

With that being the case, it's hard now to look at the Shield as among the greatest factions. I think one of them, at least, has to have a major career-defining moment while the Shield is still together. Every great faction has a moment or moments we can look at and say 'This is why they were great.' We can point to the Shield's six-man tags, I suppose, but those matches have still been, essentially, at a mid-card level. They'll main-event a Raw or Smackdown, and it's always enjoyable wrestling. However, none of them, as a group or individual, has main-evented a PPV, or challenged for a major title.

They've breathed new life into a stagnant WWE product, but looking at them objectively, they haven't done enough yet to qualify among the all-time greats.

How many groups have seen the privilege of all their members holding championship belts at the same time?

Evolution, for one, and they could boast that one of them(HHH) held the World Title while doing so. None of the Shield have even challenged for that major title, nor should they at this point. WWE has done a wonderful job with slowly building them as stars as a group, and are building towards a break-out individual as well. But it's for that reason that they're also not yet amongst the all-time greats.

 

[jmt225]

I don't agree with anyone bringing up length as an argument against The Shield.

When you think of DX, who do you really think about? You think of Shawn Michaels, HHH, and Chyna. That's the original DX and the stable that stands out. They were only together for a year. Who really associates X-Pac and the New Age Outlaws as DX? I mean, they had one memorable moment together when they invaded WCW but that's pretty much it. And the original DX's little dumb reunion doesn't count as added time if you ask me since it accomplished nothing except burying The Spirit Squad and playing pranks on Vince.

The nWo, the core members were Hogan, Hall and Nash. How long did the core group stick together before they did the split with the Wolfpac? Under 2 years.

What Four Horsemen tandem ever stayed together for over a year? The only thing that remained consistent with that faction was Ric Flair as the leader and Arn Anderson as the enforcer. But the third and forth guys were constantly switched around.

The Hart Foundation (the stable, not the tag team) only lasted a year.

So The Shield reaching a year mark is enough for me to put them in consideration since hardly any other big factions ever lasted that long with their original members. The Shield hasn't added anyone, and no one has left the faction since it began. To remain that for over a year gives them the longevity argument over other factions in my opinion since it's very rare for a faction to last that long with only their original members.

 

[justinept]

There is so much criterion that needs to be addressed to properly answer this question that no answer can be wrong - but no answer can come close to being accepted as correct either.

So many people talk about the legacy of each individual member, but is that a fair way to address this? Certainly, the legacy of Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose has yet to be written. But why should we care what they do in their post-Shield career? Does that really play a role in how great stable was - or is it merely a foot note to be discussed at a later date?

Consider this, if we ranked a stable on it's members' career before the stable's inception and after its dissolution, is there a limit for how long in the past or how far ahead in the future we can go? Does Ron Simmons' 1992 World Heavyweight Championship play a part in the Nation of Domination's ranking on the list of all-time great stables even though it happened in a different company four years before the Nation was formed? If so, then how much of Seth Rollins' ROH career can be factored into the discussion? Also, does Mark Henry's 2011 World Heavyweight Championship victory push up the Nation's ranking on the list even though he was a bit player in the stable 13 years prior?

And even still, what happens if one member goes on to create a stable of his own after the dissolution of The Shield? How much of his success or failure in that should play a role in The Shield's ranking? Consider The Rock. He was a member of The Nation AND The Corporation. How do we give The Nation credit when The Rock didn't truly become a star until he joined forces with Vince McMahon and formed The Corporation? How do we give Evolution credit for Triple H when he made his name in DX and became a main event wrestler in The Corporation - or for Ric Flair who made his name with the Four Horsemen. And does the failure of Legacy negatively impact Evolution since Randy Orton was a part of both?

I'm clearly thinking about this way too hard, but that's a part of the fun for me. Even if we take the most simple, obvious factor into account - the longevity of the stables - it still has its gray areas. Consider DX. It was originally formed in September 1997 and wasn't technically disbanded until 2007. But there were three unique incarnations of the stable - four if you include the variation that was a part of the McMahon-Helmsley faction in 2000. But even still, who is DX? Is it Michaels, Triple H, Chyna and Ric Rude? Is it Triple H, Chyna, X-Pac, and the New Age Outlaws? Is it just Michaels and Triple H? Or is it all of them combined that comprise how we rank DX as a stable even though Ric Rude and Billy Gunn were never in it together. And if that's the case, then when do we rank The Shield as a unit? Do we have to wait 20 years down the road to make sure one or two of the members don't reform it with someone else?

For me, this whole question comes down to what a stable did during the run of a specific incarnation. I don't think what Ron Simmons did in 1992 should have any bearing on how I rank The Nation of Domination. I don't think that Edge and Christian winning World Championships in the mid to late 2000s should propel The Ministry in the rankings. And I don't think that The Four Horsemen should be judged on the success of Lex Luger, Sting and Chris Benoit since none of the three were actually in the group at the same time. Furthermore, I understand why some people would feel completely the opposite as I do and struggle to separate what a person did before or after their association with a stable from their career during the stable's run, and why people would rank the complete history of the stable when answering a question like this. But for my money, all I care about is what type of impact the stable had when it reached its apex. And so I think it's a perfect time to discuss The Shield since I believe that apex was reached.

That said, I'd probably rank The Shield right up there at the top in terms of North American stables. Their impact on the show has been tremendous - as they've consistently been aligned with top heels (CM Punk, Triple H, etc) and been placed in programs with main event players (Orton, Bryan, Kane, Show, Sheamus). Their alliance was unwavering, and their ability to work together for a common cause made it believable for two smaller guys like Rollins and Ambrose to be dominant. Furthermore - and this is what I appreciated most about The Shield - because no one member was higher on the card than any other, the cohesion of the group seemed a lot more tight-knit. Whereas The Four Horsemen protected Flair, the NWO protected Hogan and Evolution protected Triple H, The Shield felt fresh since each member protected the other. It was unique in that they managed to play a huge role in the main event scene without any member ever coveting the World Championship for himself.

 

[MCMG]

In terms of influence and star-power they are merely a solid stable. Nothing spectacular. DX and the NWO were incredible because of the way people loved them and cared about what they were dong. DX could never be ignored and the NWO completely turned wrestling on it's head. There is also the Four Horseman who were perhaps the best traditional stable of all time.

What I personally like about The Shield is that we have three incredibly talented young wrestlers who have put on some fantastic matches. Their first ever match was the TLC match against Ryback and Team Hell No. That was one of the best matches of 2012 and immediately we knew how strong they could be. They continued that all they way to now where they are constantly impressing on TV. The best pre-show match since the WWE re-introduced the idea involved Rollins and Reigns. We have had some pretty uninspiring PPV's as of late but these three men have very rarely let themselves down.

The interesting thing about The Shield is this is about three superstars who are all just starting their careers. They are all potential world-champions and that is what makes them different. In DX - Shawn was the established star. That was similar in the Horseman with Flair. Evolution had Triple H. While Ambrose, is the singles star; Reigns has clearly impressed the most and one could hardly say Rollins doesn't have immense potential.

When they all retire, we will view the stable differently. We might be talking about three world champions who have entertained us for decades. That is what excites me the most about The Shield. They haven't defined an era or provided some incredible moments in wrestling history but, even if they split in the near future, they have been entertaining and The Shield may well have been the start of three wonderful careers.

 

[Alastor]

No, not even close. Other than their big debut to save the overrated CM Punk's title, what has the Shield really given us fans to remember them by? I have a hard time recalling any significance of their presence since they were mostly booked in 3 on 3 tag matches. Most factions are vehicles to push the one superstar. Even the greatest factions with numerous great wrestlers have a clear alpha. What is unique about the Shield is there isn't an obvious superstar the faction is used to push. Either that means all three are legit future superstars and WWE don't want either to be overshadowed OR there is no confidence in either of them to be pushed to the next level. We will never know the truth without hindsight.

Here's a list of factions that are lesser than the standard NWO/DX/Evolution/Horsemen example that made a bigger splash.

Nexus
Legacy
Main Event Mafia
Every other faction acting as lackey for one Superstar. Team Angle/StraightEdge Society/JBL's cabinet/Edge's La familia.

 

[#tamale]

They are not as influential as the NWO or DX. They didn't have a huge debut like Nexus. They don't have the overall credibility of The Four Horsemen. Personally though, they are my favorite faction. I love everything about them. The music, promos, in ring work, etc. They are young, brash individuals who banded together to take what they want and dominate the WWE. A brotherhood who pull for each other, not trying to only achieve the goal of one. Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns built themselves from the ground up and continue to establish their dominance over WWE.

That's why there is no need for them to break up. Where they rank will be determined when they branch out as singles stars but still a part of The Shield. If they achieve major title wins/reigns and major victories over top stars but each in the role of a singles star, I will consider them one of the greatest factions in wrestling history.