Why Roman Reigns Thinks The Shield Broke Up Too Soon
04/06/2017 08:46 am EDT
Before retiring The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33, Roman Reigns sat down with former WWE United States Champion, Chris Jericho, on the Talk Is Jericho podcast. Roman got in depth about the formation and break-up of The Shield, confirming that it was CM Punk's idea to have a security team around him that led to the formation of the Hounds of Justice.
When Jericho asked Roman if he thought WWE's decision to break up The Shield in mid 2014 came at the right time, the former WWE Champion gave a surprising take.
"Naw, I thought it was too early. I thought we needed like a long [babyface run]. I thought we needed a longer babyface run and I thought we could. Hell, I thought I was going to get a hot tag for a minute. Do you know what I mean? And it was working. Do you know what I mean? It was helping all of us." Reigns continued, "for them to really care about our breakup, they need to love us and I thought that we were going to have the ability to make them love us. And we hoped we could change our characters a little bit. The way we broke up and how early it was and then just the way it went, we weren't able to do that."
Reigns has a valid point. When Seth Rollins attacked his brothers with a steel chair on June 2nd of 2014, The Shield were less than six months into their babyface run. In fact, just one night before, they had completely destroyed one of the most powerful factions in WWE history when they made quick work of Evolution at the Extreme Rules pay per view.
Prior to Rollins joining the Authority, there were signs of cracks in The Shield when Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns were arguing over who was the strongest member of the group. Most fans assumed the Lunatic Fringe would be the natural choice for a heel turn which made The Architect's betrayal all the more impactful.
During the interview, Reigns also discussed why he eventually dropped The Shield's classic entrance of coming through the crowd. While many assumed Reigns stopped due to the negative crowd reactions he began to get during his massive face push, the Big Dog revealed a simpler reason. The WWE fans were just too handsy.
"Oh, they'll grab you now. I've had my dick grabbed. Yeah, like, in Europe. A few other places, my butt. Somebody got up in there once and it made me jump. Do you know what I mean? And I'm on steps, so what if I fall, lady?" Reigns explained, "and it was cool, but sometimes it gets scary because some places… You'll be in some countries and the culture is different, they're very touchy and they'll grab you and they go crazy. And we've had that before and there's only so much security. Do you know what I mean? And it gets to a point and that's why we had to kind of ixnay on it for me."
You can listen to the entire Talk Is Jericho interview here.
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