The Shield Midcard Gold

[Troy]

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At Extreme Rules The Shield had a very successful night. Dean Ambrose started the night by picking up the United States Championship by defeating Kofi Kingston. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins then defeated Team Hell No to win the WWE Tag Team Titles. This night was a continuation of their dominance since debuting in WWE last year, it has been a great run for them so far but it meant that they started to head in a slightly different direction. Instead of the usual six man tags this now opens them up to singles and tag matches to add a little more variety.

As we all know WWE haven't paid that much attention to the midcard divisions in recent years so the question is whether or not this is a positive move for the group. They are a hot group that has been on fire since debuting so there is that risk that this could hurt them as a group and drop them down the card. Of course on the flip side there is a chance that by giving the titles to a stable that is actually so over it could revitalise these title divisions and give some more meaning to the midcard.

Do you think that this is a positive move for the group to be the midcard champions or do you think it will hurt them to be relegated to that division? Can they bring back some life to these title scenes, especially the US title scene? Who would you like to see them feud with?

 

[Andrew]

Hunico, DiBiase, Ryder have all done house shows.

Curt Axel being pushed so I'd take him out of the mid-card scene for now. But you could throw Orton, Sheamus, Christian (Upon return) and so on for it. There's a lot of wrestlers around but will WWE utilize them at all? Probably not.

 

[Twist of Fate]

I'm glad there's a thread like this because it brings up a point not just limited to The Shield, but also every single star that winds up holding those titles in today's WWE as well as those that hunt the title. Fact is, outside of house shows, those midcard titles generally suck. Over the past few years there's been long periods where those titles won't even be defended outside of suspensions and a need for title change, or a weak attempt to get someone over (with the win itself and NOT the reign which does NOTHING in the long run).

And what of the competition and their attitudes towards them? Ideally there should be younger and hungry talent looking at all times to gain a prestigious midcard title. But with the way WWE handles their midcarders, we instead have a bunch of indifferent stars and lazy story telling that only shows their mild interest out of the blue (and for as long as "needed"). Having a midcard title SHOULD be an important goal for a lot mid carders and they should be shown to be that much hungrier in regards to gaining them - not doing so makes the titles look pointless. Sure there's going to logically be non-title midcard storylines also and everyone surely wants to be world champion; but ultimately having the midcard title should still mean SOMETHING - you're the big fish in a small pond during that given time and the focus should be on you as a midcarder.

The other thing to consider is WHO is chasing the title? WWE has this tendency to push a very select few individuals and they make it blatantly clear who they support (in that they'll either get consistent use each week or have some relevancy unlike their fellow midcarders). Ideally they should be making multiple stars look good regardless of "specific preferences" of "officials". A midcard division that has lots of promising stars and with an atmosphere that anything could happen is far more exciting and does far more even for someone in Ambrose's position than the relatively crappy midcard scene of today where 90% of the talent doesn't even matter and making the reign itself a flop AND a waste. It's far more beneficial to give more stars a sense of legitimacy so that the champion can look that much better for beating legitimate opponents. Common sense IMO, but it's almost as if WWE wants to actually AVOID having any stars they don't specifically approve of getting over!

So getting back to the main point of the thread - The Shield having those titles really doesn't mean as much as it should and as is, and it doesn't make too much difference other than giving them something to do instead of just random beat downs and knocking back challengers looking to take them down. As is, it's really only a mildly positive in that they gained the titles. That's it. At the end of the day, they're more or less the same old Shield and the only way those titles will really make an actual difference is if there's actually competition and demand for those titles (and for The Shield to overcome that) in the first place. THAT does more in regards to building them up in the long term.

 

[TheTimidPimp]

I think they're really hurting themselves making the mid card titles so meaningless. These days if there's someone they want to push they tend to just send them straight into the main event and after the big titles. If they had some patience and put them in a few strong mid card feuds over the mid card titles it'd give them more of a chance to gradually get over rather than being suddenly forced down peoples throats, it'd give them more staying power in the long run and it'd make more logical sense from a storyline perspective as they would've earned the spot as a world/wwe title contender. Also the depth of the roster is stronger than it's been in fucking ages at the moment and there's a lot of future main eventers/champs about, so they need something to be getting on with that seems important until it's their time. I'm hoping that putting the belts on the Shield is a bit of an indication that they might be taking them more seriously again.

I don't think it'd be difficult to give the belts credibility again, it'd be as simple as having a few months of solid feuds over the belts and giving them some attention. I'd like to see The Family feud with The Shield when they come in. Sheamus and Orton aren't really up to anything at the moment so it'd be a good idea to stick them together and put them in the tag division for a bit as there's not really any other teams around that pose a real threat to The Shield. If they do want to make the tag belts important again I still think it'd be a good idea to bring The Outlaws back in for a run. I think Rhodes Scholars and PTP could possibly be up there too if they put some effort into making them look strong. I'm hoping they go through with the Team Hell No split they've been teasing and eventually have a Bryan Ambrose U.S Title feud with Kane floating around somewhere.

 

[We Are Legion]

The Shield are over as regardless of what particular titles they're holding. They're not going to put anyone over by feuding over the US and Tag Team titles, but that's also not the point and that's not the point of the US and Tag Team titles anymore. Those titles, along with the IC title, are there just to simply create the illusion that these people are successful at what they're doing, but it's not even necessary in the Shield's case. It's simply a mild formality. They're not going to restore any prestige to those titles whatsoever. They're completely irrelevant titles and they always will be as long as there are 2 world titles.

But despite how irrelevant the titles are, their group entrance obviously looks more impressive simply because they have gold around their waists and it legitimizes them slightly more than they were before. That's why it was appropriate for all 3 of them to win titles at the same time, because you don't want either of them to look more prominent than the other and you can't have them all win world titles at the same time.

But "midcard gold"? They didn't need these titles for that because they already were. Aesthetics aside, they would be in the exact same place without the titles. And if someone like Zack Ryder or Miz beat out of them for a title, it wouldn't further Ryder or Miz's career more, it would simply make fans wonder when The Shield would move on to bigger things. Those belts are simply placeholders until the time is right for them to challenge the throne, nothing more.

Don't get too excited for those belts simply because the Shield has them right now. When actual midcarders start winning those belts and make people excited for the US, IC, and Tag Team titles again, then we'll talk. But the Shield are in a position where they literally could win world titles right now (particularly Ambrose) and it wouldn't be hard to accept.

Aesthetics.

 

[Gimmick]

The titles themselves don't have anything to do with it. They've only been devalued so much because they've been put on people who aren't doing anything.

The Shield will be fine because creative have some sort of plan for them. I think the titles are nothing more than for show really. They probably won't defend their titles that much, and they probably won't have many feuds over them, it's just a showpiece to make them look stronger.

 

[Chris]

It lets creative not have to worry about booking a shitty title feud two weeks before the PPV along with booking The Shield in something. So there's that.