WWE: Will the Former El Generico Be the 4th Shield Member?

Could WWE’s latest import from the luchadores ranks be the next member of The Shield?

On Thursday, the wrestler formerly known as El Generico posted a Twitter message that he supported the mission The Shield have followed since their arrival in WWE late last year. The message followed a tweet from current Shield member Seth Rollins quoting some lyrics from the Pink Floyd song, "Another Brick in the Wall":

That drew a response from Sami Zayn, who recently was signed by WWE and converted from his masked character, El Generico:

While not specifically stating he was Shield-bound, Zayn’s post fueled speculation that the three-man Hounds of Justice stable would be adding to its group.

WWE.com recently had a post teasing the idea:

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Historically, many successful factions—including D-Generation X, The nWo, The Corporation and more recently The Straight Edge Society—started with a core group of members before inevitably expanding outward. And if it’s true that addition will be the natural course of events, then anything is possible.

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It would make sense that Zayn could possibly be the fourth member. After all, he currently is in NXT, where The Shield cut their teeth before bursting onto the WWE scene.

It also could give Zayn the boost he is looking for and complete his transition from his lucha libre character. 

On the other hand, The Shield seem to be going along just fine in their current form. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns have drawn favorable comparisons to one of the greatest three-man stables in wrestling history, the Fabulous Freebirds. Any two of them are locks to be the next WWE tag team champions—maybe even all of them if WWE dusts off the Freebird rule of stable championships.

Adding a fourth member could possibly water down the intensity that The Shield have built up over the past six months or so. Perhaps WWE should stick to the line of thinking that if something is not broken, it does not need fixing.

If WWE chooses to trot out a fourth Shield member, look for it to happen at Extreme Rules later this month—after The Shield capture the tag team belts from Team Hell No. And if it is indeed Sami Zayn, then you have to imagine that WWE hopes there is still more lightning to be caught in their bottle.

Let’s hope that decision, if it happens, does not come back to zap them.

Follow Bill Atkinson on Twitter at @BAtkinson1963.