And while the match hasn't officially been made yet, but the Shield's interactions as of late strongly, if not clearly suggest that they will be facing off against Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) in a big match for the latter's WWE Tag Team Championships. There's no reason to believe otherwise; the three young men are the most dominant collective in the company right now, and they've already dominated the champions once before.
So, to recap – the Shield wants the tag titles, and will most probably get them, and it's possible that Dean Ambrose may also be eyeing the U.S. title. Now, let's set this aside for a moment.
When the Shield first explained themselves after helping then-champion CM Punk retain the title at Survivor Series, they pigeonholed their actions as being fueled by some vague sense of justice – strikingly similar to Punk's “Voice of the Voiceless” anti-hero crusade a year prior. The Shield framed the first targets of their attack, Ryback and John Cena, as part of the top of the WWE's status quo that likes to perpetuate injustice.
But they have never really defined what that meant, leaving everyone to fill in the holes with a reasoning that was quite obvious: for everyone watching at home, it meant whatever CM Punk, the person who would eventually be revealed as their patron by association with Paul Heyman, meant behind the words of his so-called pipebombs – that the wrestlers the fans (the vocal section of the fanbase, to be specific) really wanted to see should be given more attention, and likewise, those they were sick of should be brought down a notch or two. Or more.
And the Shield – at least, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, at the beginning – fell under the first category. (Nobody had ever heard of Roman Reigns then.) Ambrose and Rollins were part of a growing little clique of famed indy wrestlers who were spending some time in FCW/NXT, and up until that point, the question with them always was, “When is the WWE gonna call them up to the main roster?" to the point that any new debut that wasn't any one of their indy darlings came out from behind the curtain to a nearly-tangible atmosphere of distrust, instead of excitement. (Unless they were skilled enough to hype themselves properly to the people's satisfaction.)
One of the many definitions of justice I've learned is that it is the act of balancing, or attempting to balance an inequality in the situations of at least two people. Months after their debut, it's clear that both the Shield and the vocal wrestling fans' – more often than not, the smarks – idea of justice is one and the same. It's also telling how the Shield are portrayed as the antagonists in whatever narrative they're involved in – this is what the WWE thinks of what those fans want; they should be resisted, they should be lashed out on and what Vince McMahon wants will persist. Not only that, it will sell, somehow, some way, and that's why the WWE thinks they're right.
But let me say now that there is definitely nothing inherently wrong with the Shield's crusade. The only thing wrong with it is that whoever was writing their characters either vehemently refused or did not know how to really flesh out that idea of justice onscreen, and I'm willing to bet that it's the latter. Honestly, it's a Herculean task to even give substantial weight and credibility to the idea of “we're sick of seeing you guys on top” as a driving force for a character without either undermining the strength of that character or resorting to plotlines forever trodden by optimistic rookies in WWE history.
Punk, again, is the only one who was able to hold up his end of the story, but Punk is a genius. The WWE never truly addressed it when given the opportunity, because they never knew how to. Not with Cena. Not with the Rock, who also set out to do the same thing with Cena. We are then fed a buzzword - “justice” - which is full of gravitas, but are expected to take that on its face alone. It's shallow, when you think about it. I won't deny, however, that the Shield has limitless potential and still has room to grow, if they would just feed them more.
So my real problem, then, with the Shield's current direction is that going after championships cheapen their original mandate, a raison d'etre that was so inherently powerful, fresh, and quite honestly, seemingly effective. Here was a band of guys who look like they can effect change better than CM Punk ever could, because he was just one man. Maybe after they finish with guys like John Cena, Ryback, Sheamus, and the Big Show, just to name a few, we would see some new blood on top for once. It's all idealistic, but the Shield thought in terms of the big picture – not only are they the Hounds of Justice, but they are also the Hounds of Idealism. The Shield, in this regard, was epic. That's why they were special:their movement really was on a grand scale.
Forcing them to pursue championships constrains this budding revolution into something smaller. The Shield would now become athletes fighting for a prize, just like everyone else, instead of avatars of change, avatars to be believed in – which, by the way, was what we were supposed to do in the first place, wasn't it? Believe in the Shield?
Ironically, if they do actually capture the titles, any titles, they set out to get, they would actually achieve the justice they set out to attain. People want to see the wrestlers they like on top, and that's exactly what will happen. But if that happens, then they would be no different from any other heel. They would have traded their magic – that of fighting for justice which is beyond the three of them, no matter how the Man antagonizes it – for a short-term compromise, because those against whom they waged war are still there. It just feels like a cop-out.
While it is a good thing individually, being validation for men simply working in a business, I just feel like telling a great story would be a better legacy to leave. I would rather that the Shield be the rebels that fought to pave the way, the revolutionaries that would spark a civil war between the hungry and the greedy. Even if they fail miserably, it would be something that would have lived up to its original ambition.
But I suppose that in order to do that, we would have to wade in literary waters that are probably better left undisturbed. Perhaps the real idea behind the Shield truly was more than anyone in the WWE can chew, at least right now. But dammit, there's still this nagging feeling of storyline space still unexplored, potential unfulfilled, that the envelope just wasn't pushed enough.
If anything, then, let this be a tribute to that undying part of the Shield that we were really supposed to put our faith in. I believe in the Shield. I just wish the WWE believed in them enough to take the real risks.