In a post on Facebook, WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley spoke out about the Shield and their possible future breakup and booking plans.
When I was just a wee lad of 17 or 18, really starting to get a feel for things that worked and didn’t work well in professional wrestling, I loved those slow turns that you could kind of see coming – but whose ultimate tipping point you could never quite pinpoint.
When done well, they were things of beauty; the evil 1983 Sgt Slaughter dropping subtle hints about the true patriotism that lie beneath that cold, sadistic exterior or Paul Orndorff opting not to tag in Hulk Hogan in a tag match – winning the contest for the good guys, but planting a seed in minds like my own.
When the ultimate tipping points were reached, the fans were more than ready. When Slaughter stood in the aisle, refusing to cede ground to the hated Iron Shiek, every fan simultaneously “got” it – within minutes, and with the help of an impromptu “Pledge of Allegiance”, The Sarge was transformed from hated heel into an American hero. When the trigger was finally pulled on the Hogan Orndorff feud, it was if WWE had been given the right to print money – largely because the fans were ready for it.
I don’t know if there’s going to be a true split between the SHIELD. or if the weeks long rift is going to turn out to be a false alarm. I think there has to be an eventual parting of the ways, if only because it’s been obvious from the start that all three members – Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose had promising singles careers ahead of them. But if/when that split happens, the WWE Universe will be ready for it.
In a business where things seem to move at warp speed, where we sometimes are in such a hurry to turn out a product that we forget to take our time with it, storylines can often jump onto our screens on our screen like a quick, microwaved meal – they gets the job done, but without any real passion in the craftsmanship, and ultimately, completey unmemorable. But WWE has taken the time to put the right spices into this angle, and when it emerges from the oven, it’s going to fully seasoned, and baked with that old world cratsmanship – something we can all savor for a while.
