Why break apart the group?

[LegendKiller_RKO]

I've been wondering why people are so quick to want factions/tag teams to break up and move onto singles competition now or days. Why can't a faction (like the Shield) stay together, compete together, and have runs in the tag team/singles division? Why does everyone believe groups need to break up in order to succeed in singles competition? For example, Roman Reigns could still make a push for the World Championship while still remaining a member of The Shield. Same thing with Bray Wyatt. (I know no one is talking about a Wyatt family break-up anytime soon but it's just an example.) Am I mistaken? Anyways. How does everyone else feel about this?

 

[jholcomb22]

I guess it depends on your definition of quick. The Shield have been together for 18 months. That's not bad at all. I think there are different situations with each tag team or group. A lot of people want Bray Wyatt to break away because he is so much superior to his family. Similar to Cesaro.

I think the other issue is that we see WWE break apart so many tag teams to give the individuals single pushes that do not deserve it, and in turn we want them to break apart other ones for the stars that we think do deserve it. What ends up happening is a tag team division that is wrecked and a midcard division filled with so much talent that nobody can succeed.

I would love to see 6-8 tag teams be just tag teams for 5-8 years. Everyone sees what Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray, JBL, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels did or have done as single stars, but they wer in tag teams for years before ever going single. It's definitely not a bad way to hone your craft or become a backstage veteran. And it doesn't mean you can't experience singles success later on.

 

[Ryan1025]

Everyone should want to be the best. All three members of shield want to be the champion. Jealousy and other emotions are just natural when your friend is getting the title shot you think you deserve. Of course they could have some kind of code or something I guess, like "i won't try to take the title from you, but im taking it from the next guy the second you slip up"
The Wyatt family is a little different, as titles don't seem to matter to them.

 

[No Count Pup]

I think factions gain credibility when they have a world champion in their ranks. It worked for DX and Evolution. It would work for the Shield. Dean Ambrose could stay US Champion for another year while Roman Reigns sets his sights on the World Title. Rollins could seek the Intercontinental Championship or feud with a great hand like Cesaro.

There is no need to break up the Shield. Not yet. Let one of them be world champion for a few months. A civil war over the strap could brew after that.


On a side note, I wish Evolution would add Cody Rhodes to the group. It would breathe new life into both parties.

 

[jrush1978]

I think the reason we always want to see tag teams break up is because of how lowly tag team wrestling has been booked forever now. I recently re watched an episode of Nitro from early 1996. Harlem Heat were the tag champs and facing Sting & Lex Luger. Hall & Nash had obviously yet to debut, The Giant had still only been around for a months. Luger & Sting (along with Flair, Hogan & Savage) were 2 of the top 5 names WCW had at this point. Both were booked as legit world title contenders. But yet they sold in a promo how they wanted the tag belts. The announcers during the match sold how 2 of the top singles wrestlers in the company might not be able to handle the tag champs bc of Harlem Heats experience as a team.

Fast forward to 2014 and Batista & Orton act like the tag titles are an inconvenience on Raw. As long as tag team wrestling is seen as that low fans are always going to want to see stars or wrestlers they think can be or they want to be stars to be out of a tag team and into singles competition.

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

That's the thing though: WWE does rush the tag team break ups, whereas if they allowed the tag team scene to develop, people would care a lot more if and when the teams did break up, and it would therefore be more impactful. I realise we aren't in the '80s anymore, that the viewing public are thought of as having short attention spans now, and there are a lot more ppvs, but I think WWE could learn from the slow build to the Rockers breaking up in 1991/92, for example - a team that had been consistently boosting ppvs for 3 years (there's a reason they were more often than not the opening act of shows, they got the crowd pumped) and then in late 1991 friction teased, culminating in the Barbet Shop segment just before the 1992 Royal Rumble.

Contrast that to today: the accidental tag team of Brodus and Tensai split after a matter of months, no one really cares, and both are now in different roles in NXT; the Real Americans lastest even shorter (though, uniquely, the split there was probably down to the crowd reaction to Cesaro); the Prime Time Players - the one team who IMO should NEVER have split up, were pulled apart after two years, but barely any tv time in that period. Ergo, no one really cares about either member. It's like Cryme Time revisited, though both members have lasted longer than Shad Gaspard...

WWE need to let their teams grow, and use them more, if they want to split them eventually. The Shield, one of the most popular acts in wrestling, have been booked almost perfectly, even with the brief tease of dissention around the Royal Rumble. But they would massively benefit from another year or so together. Let's hope WWE does the right thing.

 

[MCMG]

Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose are all so talented. If The Shield split then we get three separate feuds rather than just one. Moreover, they would be creating three legitimate top guys which is great for the long run.

I don't really want The Shield to end. I'm enjoying watching them so much right now and there is still up to 6 months left in the stable. However, it seemed inevitable they would split and there was definitely foreshadowing to support that.

Evolution HAD to disband for Orton and then Batista to become stars. Being in a stable was restrictive. HHH left DX. The Rock and the Nation of Domination. These things make it easier to book stars (I'll say Reigns) in matches against top names such as Cena and Brock.

 

[chicagokmc]

Two problems - one is the Shield has 3 members. 6 man matches sort of just happen, there is no championship for them in WWE like there used to be in some of the federations years ago. They had to create (or recreate) a 3 man group in Evolution just for the Shield to have someone to fight 3 on 3.

And tag team wrestling, despite the lip service WWE tries to give us, isn't that important any more. The Shield had the tag titles and no one cared, in fact it took them out of the mid card picture because all of the WWE tag teams are mid carders. if these 3 are the alpha males they are portrayed to be it is hard to see them together for 2 of them to watch the third try to be heavyweight champion.

 

[L@RISANO]

Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose are all so talented. If The Shield split then we get three separate feuds rather than just one. Moreover, they would be creating three legitimate top guys which is great for the long run.

I don't really want The Shield to end. I'm enjoying watching them so much right now and there is still up to 6 months left in the stable. However, it seemed inevitable they would split and there was definitely foreshadowing to support that.

Evolution HAD to disband for Orton and then Batista to become stars. Being in a stable was restrictive. HHH left DX. The Rock and the Nation of Domination. These things make it easier to book stars (I'll say Reigns) in matches against top names such as Cena and Brock.

Agreed.

This face turn swerve was done brilliantly and allowed the fans to see the Shield in a different light and their popularity has risen big time.

However, after Evolution, there is perhaps a possibility of another feud with the Wyatt family, and then what? As a team, there really isn't much to conquer thereafter for a team such as the Shield who are booked as well as the Best Superstars on the Roster.

Someone asked what HHH would do when Batista left...easy...he could try to disband the Shield and restart their dissension, if Evolution were to fail in their quest to make the Shield 'perish'. I can see Ambrose and Rollins double crossinf Reigns somehow, OR , HHH trying to recuit Reigns after seeing what he can do...whether he succeeds or not is...

 

[kadroan]

Agreed.

This face turn swerve was done brilliantly and allowed the fans to see the Shield in a different light and their popularity has risen big time.

However, after Evolution, there is perhaps a possibility of another feud with the Wyatt family, and then what? As a team, there really isn't much to conquer thereafter for a team such as the Shield who are booked as well as the Best Superstars on the Roster.

Someone asked what HHH would do when Batista left...easy...he could try to disband the Shield and restart their dissension, if Evolution were to fail in their quest to make the Shield 'perish'. I can see Ambrose and Rollins double crossinf Reigns somehow, OR , HHH trying to recuit Reigns after seeing what he can do...whether he succeeds or not is...

True. There's really nothing left for them to do

The main event scene is crowded. I wouldn't mind them splitting and competing for the US Championship, they could elevate that title scene along with talents like Del Rio and Sheamus.

 

[Un-Bo-Lievable Jeff]

Very difficuly to have so many factions to fight against. The WWE has 3 at the moment in Wyatts, Evolution and the Sheild and Harper and Rowan are not really involved in their storyline at the moment.

It's good to build people up, but there is always a storyline of someone turning on the team so the writers will always use it. Have a faction ever broken up without someone turning on the rest??

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

The likes of Orton and Batista had to break away from Evolution because it was a faction heavily focused on Triple H (but in a way in which to give the rub to the youngsters); likewise the perception of DX was that the focus was on Shawn Michaels in v1 and Triple H in v2 - no one would have put HBK and Trips as equals in 1997, and barely anyone would equate Trips and X-Pac in 1999-2000 (the Outlaws were always seen as a team); the Shield have been booked as equals from day 1, that is the difference. Only recently have WWE begun to focus on Roman Reigns more, but even then the other two get a lot of the limelight. There's no rush to break them up, I'll say again I hope they have at least another year, they are all young enough.

 

[RicSpade]

I call it the Jannetty effect, think about this would Shawn be HBK if he hadn't kicked Jannetty? would Bret had been a multi time singles champion if he had stayed in a tag team with the Anvil? Would Jeff Hardy been WWE champion if he was teaming with Matt Hardy? Would Randy Orton been a break out star if he hadn't been dumped by Evolution all because he beat _ _ _ _ _ _ at Summerslam? Scott Steiner and Booker T would've never been champs had they stayed in their tag teams with their brothers.

Sometimes you need to split to be a breakout star, otherwise you have elements that hold you back. Shield are all breakout guys, but Reigns needs to break out on his own because he is the most over, Rollins needs to split eventually because I feel he is the most talented member of the Shield, Ambrose can talk on his own.

Guys get lost in tag teams or factions most of the time and you don't realize how talented they actually are, if any of you use to watch Drew McIntyre before he was in 3MB you'll remember what I am talking about. But all guys need to break off at some point. Steve Austin, Rock, Triple H, HBK, Randy Orton, Batista, Jeff Hardy, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Booker T., Mick Foley, Sting, Miz, this is the short list of guys who were pushed to main event status after leaving factions or tag teams plain and simple, so why not want factions to split. Hell if Luke Harper keeps doing what he's doing people will say he's next, but all things come to an end eventually.

 

[Chadmw]

I blame the fans short attention span. Whenever a new group or tag team arrive, within a couple of month all I read on message boards is "Oh they should break them up", or "Oh XXX is going to be the bigger star, they should let him go solo" etcc.

 

[Alastor]

I always thought it was because faction/tag teams requires the full compliment to promote them on the card. If someone is unavailable due to injuries/sickness/personal reasons, it puts a real damper on how I would view the card.

 

[ans1928]

The Tag Team division has suffered for a while in my opinion. Factions and Tag Teams, and even the Tag Team titles, seem to have no real precedent at all these days. It's not like it used to be when they had a really exciting Tag Team division and people actually gave a shit about the title situation. While I agree it is wise to let some superstars break away and get their push, unless it's certain that they are going to be a star, why pull anyone out of a Faction/Tag Team if it's an obvious success?

 

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

I guess it depends on your definition of quick. The Shield have been together for 18 months. That's not bad at all. I think there are different situations with each tag team or group. A lot of people want Bray Wyatt to break away because he is so much superior to his family. Similar to Cesaro.

I think the other issue is that we see WWE break apart so many tag teams to give the individuals single pushes that do not deserve it, and in turn we want them to break apart other ones for the stars that we think do deserve it. What ends up happening is a tag team division that is wrecked and a midcard division filled with so much talent that nobody can succeed.

I would love to see 6-8 tag teams be just tag teams for 5-8 years. Everyone sees what Edge, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Bubba Ray, JBL, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels did or have done as single stars, but they wer in tag teams for years before ever going single. It's definitely not a bad way to hone your craft or become a backstage veteran. And it doesn't mean you can't experience singles success later on.

To your point about the longevity though, most people who come into the world of pro wrestling wanna get to the highest point available. In the WWE, that is becoming the face of the company or becoming the WWEWHC, not stay in the tag division forever. HHH said it best; if you are not here to be the World Champion, you might as well go home.

This isn't the 90s. Times have changed, everything moves too quickly now. The pressure is bigger now. I will give you an example:
-With the whole Twitter thing and the interviews and stuff, the Superstars have many more things to do on their daily basis and the management seems to be way more control freaks than back in the day. As a result, the pressure is way bigger on the Superstars, who want to get that top spot. If you keep them or plan to keep them in the tag division for 3-4 years, they might probably get disinterested, especially with all the responsibilities that are given to them by the management. The money is there, but eventually, this whole thing will grow on them and might just walk out, like Cm Punk.

Edge and Christian didn't have that many things on their mind back then. They had all the time in the world to succeed as solo competitors without having to care a lot about interviews and if they did any, they could say whatever they wanted. Imagine let's say Ryback and Axel nowadays being presented with a 4-5 years run. I don't know the age of both, but I could say they won't be around by that time anyway, but let's say they will. I can safely say they will be burned out by then. They won't have any interest to compete. They will have the pressure by the management to say whatever it is to be said at interviews and so on. I think you get my point.

It's a miracle that the Shield has been kept together that long and I believe it is solely because the three guys are extremely talented and were given the ball and ran with it. I wouldn't mind seeing the break up, but they can achieve more things as a group. My suggestion? Keep them together, let them run for single's careers/targets while being friends and a group. After WM31, make them separate peacefully and all, and 3-4 years later, they can all re-unite as a team or for a WM main event as opponents.