5 Dream Opponents For The Shield

The Shield ‘s return may not be absolutely perfect, but it is pretty damn good seeing them together again. Restarting the faction is accomplishing several goals at once while rejuvenating all its members and even giving a glimpse into a future where Roman Reigns gets cheered consistently. That last point alone would be huge enough, but so far the burgeoning reformation is on the verge of its first match as a unit and the possibilities are worth salivating over.

Facing Braun Strowman, Sheamus, Cesaro, and The Miz is a worthy fight, with The Shield usually expected to win these multi-man matches, the wrinkle of the handicap in numbers brings the equation back into doubt. When The Shield do eventually win, however (I’m predicting The Miz to flee the fight in the climactic moments), they’re going to need fresh opponents and goals to tackle to keep their momentum at its peak.

Here are the five groups of opponents that would be worthy of The Shield now that they’re back together.

 

The New Day: Kofi Kingston, Big E, & Xavier Woods

This is the big one from the current roster. The New Day is the only 3-man team with comparable achievements since The Shield originally split up, and they are so different in presentation and attitude from The Shield that they could be the Ying to the other’s Yang. It would also be the chance to elevate all three of The New Day’s members into being seen as equals of the three former world champions.

Considering The New Day have just recently established an ‘Uce Truce’ over on Smackdown, effectively ending their immediate chase of the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, they are ripe for new challenges. Not only that, but their recent matches with The Usos have finally put The New Day on the map as not only a supremely entertaining trio but one capable of stealing the show in multi-man matches the way The Shield did in their initial run.

Stylistically, they also have similarities which make the potential matchup mouth-watering. Both teams have their high flyers in Rollins and Kofi, their powerhouses in Reigns and Big E, and their wildcards in Ambrose and Xavier. The Shield somehow always seem effortlessly cool, and The New Day thrive on being silly and goofy, both of which could play off of each other very well.

In the buildup, the prospect of seeing Dean’s wild-eyed verbal attacks against Xavier Woods intelligent retorts is a bonus to proceedings that will only elevate the entire experience. Then there would be the inevitable Roman Reigns, Big E stare-down, as well as seeing whether Kofi or Rollins can defy death with the most stunning leap off of a high place around the arena.

In short, this match is not only one of the most anticipated prospects for The Shield, it is also extremely likely in the very near future just by virtue of its timing.

 

The Undisputed Era: Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, & Bobby Fish

They’ve only just arrived in NXT but the potential for the caliber of match these guys could put on is astounding. ReDragon and Adam Cole (BayBay) could be an alternate reality version of The Shield, out for themselves and attacking like jackals in the leadup to the match to highlight their viciousness and capabilities for standing toe to toe with the already legendary faction. Adam Cole’s sleazy confidence, Bobby Fish’s realistic striking, along with Kyle O’Reilly’s insane physical charisma in the ring would match up so well against The Shield’s collective swagger and dangerousness that it could have crowds rabid for their entanglement.

Seeing ReDragon light up The Shield with punishing strikes and submissions while Adam Cole delivers superkicks left and right, pestering in every way he does would be entertaining for months on end. Ultimately it would all result in a crushing engagement that would have no real losers since both teams regardless of the official result would come out of it looking excellent.

It may not be likely unless The Undisputed Era has a cup-of-coffee tenure in NXT ala Kevin Owens, but nevertheless, the sheer fact that all these men are in the same company at the same time makes this somehow actually potential match captivating.

 

SAnitY: Eric Young, Killian Dain, & Alexander Wolfe

Another 3-man faction who could be nearing the end of their NXT run, Sanity could do a lot worse than to establish themselves on the main roster via an extended feud with The Shield.

Eric Young and Dean Ambrose getting into a verbal stoush could be a sleeper segment of the year contender as both men have proven they can be completely unhinged with the mic in hand and when throwing their bodies at opponents once the words get too bitter. Killian Dain standing toe to toe with Roman is a visual that you know Vince McMahon would be salivating over, the burly viking-type representing a definitively worthy obstacle for the former 3-time WWE Champion to contend with. Alexander Wolfe stepped up his game massively during Sanity’s NXT Tag Team Championship win over The Authors Of Pain, resulting in him elevating his standing in the fan’s eyes to the point his manic persona and rabid offense would be an unpredictable element to further enhance the rivalry, a nice counterpoint to Seth Rollins’ silky smooth aerials and impeccable timing in and around the ring.

This group could also establish themselves with their chaotic gimmick, attacking randomly and unpredictably until The Shield re-affirms their mantra of being a ‘Shield Against Injustice’ by seeking them out to end their prolific acts of violence. From a storyline perspective this potential Shield adversary is perhaps only behind The New Day for being logical antagonists, however their methods and actions could more diametrically oppose The Shields ideals and help to re-establish the group’s internal mission statement, rather than them simply standing up for themselves together as they are in their current feud against Miz and co.

Of the options presented here, this might end up with the least impressive match, but it might do the most good for both groups in establishing and re-establishing each of their core tenants.

 

The Elite: Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks

Dipping right over into pure fantasy at this point, but if ever the chance came to see The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega go toe to toe with WWE’s most prized group since D’Generation-X, we all know we’d be paying hand over fist for seats right up to the nosebleeds.

Kenny Omega’s last three years have been a stunning body of work, and The Young Bucks have been essentially rewriting the rulebook for how to be wildly successful in the world of professional wrestling without ever being beholden to a company. The Omega/Okada trilogy has cemented Kenny Omega as a walking ‘5-Star Match Factory’ and it appears there’s little limit to how good a match he can have with anyone, let alone three exceptional talents like the members of The Shield. The sheer speed and intensity of his offense along with his attention to detail in his selling allows him to engage an audience both through the camera and to the very back row of an arena. Omega is rightly being hailed as revolutionary since becoming a main event talent, and there’s little sign that he is about to stop wowing audiences anytime soon.

The Young Bucks are simply relishing an existence as the must-see tag team who have never officially set foot in a WWE ring. Squandered in TNA/IMPACT as Generation Me, they are now definitely on the WWE’s radar for their talents and also their appropriation of certain gestures and catchphrases that are now in legal jeopardy. Whether the recent legal scuffle has soured potential business relationships between the two parties, the prospect of the brash, super-kicking brothers teaming with Omega against The Shield would be a license to print money. This time, with no Cease and Desist order to get in the way.

If ever a deal was struck that brought in The Elite of The Bullet Club to challenge The Shield, it would truly be a colliding of worlds for wrestling fans.

 

AJ Styles & The Revival

This one may not be immediately appealing on paper due to this not being anywhere near an established faction (and why The Revival before The Good Brothers), but hear me out and let’s see if I can sway you.

Firstly, AJ Styles, since coming to WWE, has somehow been better than predicted, instantly overcoming any worries over him being misused or not flourishing in the WWE environment. His match quality has been sublime through all challenges from John Cena to James Ellsworth, combining not only ridiculously high-quality skills with Shawn Michaels levels of ring psychology. Even more relevantly, he has had WWE Championship matches against both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose and his chemistry with them is beyond reproach. Particularly his matches against Reigns seemed to cement the fact that AJ Styles was truly phenomenal no matter where he laced his boots around the world. Quality, chemistry and psychology, AJ Styles has it all and a proven track record against two-thirds of The Shield. Who doesn’t want to see him go three-for-three against possibly their best talent in Seth Rollins as well?

Then there is The Revival. Seemingly snakebit since graduating NXT, they have had a couple of false starts and are yet to establish themselves on Raw despite the anticipation with which they debuted. This can be turned to a positive, however, allowing WWE to not make the same mistakes that have been made with Gallows and Anderson by allowing The Revival to test their unblemished and exceptional tag teaming skills against the faction who truly did revive tag team matches in WWE, The Shield. You can go back and watch any Shield 6-man tag match from their debut year and see amazing sequences of tag team psychology, almost to the point it resembled precision driving with the heavy violence being carried out with immaculate timing.

You can say the same about The Revival’s NXT tag team run. Nowhere else will you see coordinated chaos that results in such fluid, engaging stories in the ring than what either of these teams produces. If you haven’t seen them, look up The Revival’s matches against #DIY or American Alpha to know just how ridiculously good they are at stealing the show. The mind boggles at the prospective sequences we may see from The Revival and The Shield together in the same match. Not only that, but The Revival have a finisher in The Shatter Machine that is legitimately brilliant enough to warrant it defeating The Shield at some point in their hopefully multiple PPV feud.

Throw the perpetually perfect AJ Styles into the mix on top of all that potential and however the WWE writers get us there, it will be untouchable when the Match Of The Year awards come around.