Obviously, The Wyatt Family has reformed as a trio with Braun Strowman, meaning if Night of Champions is to feature a 3-on-3 scenario, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose will require a third man to join their ranks.
While nothing has been officially said about this being a legitimate rebirth of The Shield instead of just a one-off match, it’s fun to speculate, so keep both scenarios in mind when trying to think of the topic at hand: who should be that third guy?
You need someone who compliments Reigns and Ambrose without taking anything away from them. If Ambrose is the crazy guy and Reigns is the powerhouse, someone who is quicker would be nice. If you want to play up the power game of Strowman as being too much for Reigns, then The Shield would need someone even bigger to compensate.
Lots of wrestlers can already be ruled out due to their involvement in other feuds, such as Dolph Ziggler, Rusev, Sting and so forth. Others just would not be a fit whatsoever. Could you really imagine such a dramatic shift in character for Fandango?
That leaves us with just a handful of options to ponder about.
Erick Rowan
If he’s healed up, wouldn’t he be pissed that he was passed over in favor for Strowman? Maybe in the time that he’s been away, he’s been able to change his look up a bit, too. If you cut off his beard and put him in a different outfit, he could transform into an entirely different type of person and not seem out of place standing next to Reigns and Ambrose.
Rowan’s not the most prolific wrestler by any means, but don’t forget how big he is. When he was the third man in The Wyatt Family, he was the heavy, so he could potentially match up to Strowman rather well. It would be nice to see some continuity with him being involved instead of just forgotten completely, but this all hinges on Rowan’s availability. If he’s still too injured to compete, this entire scenario goes out the window, but we’re not privy to that information yet.
Mark Henry
Strowman is huge, so why not get The World’s Strongest Man to try to fight fire with fire? Henry’s been stagnant for 2015, barely keeping up infrequent appearances and not having a solid direction. I’m not even sure if he’s a babyface or a heel right now, are you? This could inject some life back into him and give him an opportunity to prove what he’s said before—that he has a lot left in the tank.
This works more for a one-off than a true reformation of The Shield, but stranger things have happened with Henry in the past than if he were to start teaming with this stable. We’re talking about a guy who has had the range of an Olympic babyface to a member of The Nation of Domination to Sexual Chocolate and then the Hall of Pain. It’s not crazy to think that WWE could use him in this role, although I’d have to bet he’s not who they will go with.
The Rock
If this is a one-off thing, there’s no bigger star that would make more sense to throw into the mix than The Rock. He’s got the familial connection to Roman Reigns, so that can be your “in” for why he’s joining the team.
That’s not going to happen, though. Obviously, he’d never be a full-on member of The Shield because he wouldn’t wrestle that schedule, but even still, Night of Champions has Sting on the card. WWE won’t want to overload the event with two names that take away from each other, so The Rock won’t be participating. It’s a shame, because of how cool it would be to see The Rock come back and wrestle someone who isn’t John Cena, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Baron Corbin
There are so many things that make sense when it comes to picking Baron Corbin, but unfortunately for him, so many things that are detractors.
First off, a big problem is that he’s a heel right now. That could be corrected with one night of coming out to save Reigns and Ambrose, but that means NXT would be missing one of their top heels. I don’t see WWE not only bringing him up to the main roster, but also turning him babyface in the process. Second, why would The Lone Wolf join a stable?
Bigger than those reasons, though, is his level of experience. Granted, he’s more seasoned than Strowman, so that would give him an edge, but he’s not exactly a veteran who has been toiling away in NXT for years and is 100% ready for a main roster push. That could come eventually, but right now isn’t the time for Corbin.
Solomon Crowe
Please no.
Kane
For quite some time, Kane has been a member of The Authority and either existing just to help Seth Rollins stay on top or bickering with him backstage. However, before his absence, it was being teased that Kane was no longer the monster he used to be. With talk from John Cena about how The Authority likes to use people and spit them out, Kane might make his return and renounce his allegiance to them, turning back to the masked Big Red Machine of the past.
It would come out of the blue to an extent, but with Bray Wyatt referring to Braun Strowman as “The New Face of Destruction”, Kane could take offense and feel obligated to reclaim his throne. He’s got the size, he’s got the skill, and he’s got the mystique to be a formidable third party for team Shield at Night of Champions and then move on to other feuds for Hell in a Cell and so forth.
Who the hell knows?
Did you really see Braun Strowman coming out of nowhere? Maybe WWE has a random person in line for The Shield that fits this bill, too. They can’t hotshot someone like Josh from Tough Enough in the spot, nor is it likely that they would grab someone from the indies and immediately promote him to the main roster. If the option is truly something that we wouldn’t be able to predict, then by default we’re not going to know who it is until it happens.
Nobody
While not the ideal option, it’s certainly a possibility that there’s nobody to fill the role and this just becomes a handicap match. In a way, that’s cheating the fans out of a more balanced structure of a match and also cheating someone from the roster from a big pay day, as I’m sure a guy like Jack Swagger would appreciate being tossed into the mix instead of sitting at home.
Who do you think will end up filling this role and what would you like to see WWE do with them going forward? Should The Shield reform as a true unit or should this be something just for Night of Champions?
Tell us your predictions, booking ideas and general thoughts in the comments below!
