The Shield Is Still Alive

The Shield was victorious against Cena and friends at the Elimination Chamber PPV. They also won a match on Raw. Good and good. They still have a ton of momentum heading into Wrestlemania. That is creating a great obstacle for someone to overcome at the big event.

That leaves the question, who should be the guys to finally hand this group a loss? Ryback is definitely in. As I was saying when I first said that The Shield should win last Sunday, Ryback finally getting his revenge against this group at Wrestlemania could be a big moment for him. But who joins him? I have a feeling they won't have some kind of gauntlet match or 3-on-1 handicap match. Ryback will have partners, just like the last few times he has faced the stable. Cena is out. He is getting a title shot. Sheamus looks like there is a possibility he will feud with Barrett. How about Jericho? He seemed to just randomly join the cause on Raw. It also seems like his feud with Ziggler is being cut. Why not make him a member of the team to face The Shield at Wrestlemania? Kane and Daniel Bryan, who faced the group in their first match a few months ago, are busy now. There are a few other upper-midcard possibilities to face The Shield, but how about going right to The Undertaker himself? If the WWE is selling this idea that The Shield can work so well together to even knock off a team that John Cena was a part of, how can a team consisting of a bunch of guys lower than Cena possibly win? It might have been better if Taker could wrestle a top star in a singles match, but his health is always an issue. Besides, if The Shield continues to get developed well, they could be sold as a legitimate threat to Taker's streak. This could really all lead to a great story heading into Wrestlemania.

What about the actual gimmick and the storyline? The gimmick has definitely been weakened. I'm glad that they are not pushing that injustice angle, so maybe the weakened gimmick isn't too bad. Just build up their credibility to lead to a good Wrestlemania feud. But what about storyline development? Building up someone to be knocked down by others isn't rich storyline development. I still think they could have and should have aligned the group with Heyman and Punk officially. It would have added another dimension to things. As of right now, things seem simple. They are building the group up to eventually put some stars over. The gimmick isn't as interesting as it might have been anymore and good storyline development may be lacking in the weeks to come.