The Shield Will Be Destroyed from Within

Ever since The Shield debuted at Survivor Series 2012, wrestling fans have been wondering which WWE superstar (or superstars) will finally topple the almighty trio of NXT studs.

So far, a number of the company’s biggest stars have tried and failed to do so. Kane, Daniel Bryan, Ryback, John Cena, Sheamus and Chris Jericho have all attempted to defeat The Shield, and not one of them has done so successfully. 

And rest assured there’s a reason for that: The Shield won’t be destroyed by Cena, Sheamus or any other WWE superstar. It will be destroyed from within.

The easiest booking route the creative team could possibly take is to do with The Shield what it did with The Nexus. A group of the WWE’s top babyfaces teams up and defeats The Shield, which ultimately results in the stable’s demise.

But as we learned with The Nexus, there was no real benefit to that booking. All it did was make the babyfaces look strong, like they always do, while the heels looked weak and were never really able to recover.

That can’t happen with The Shield—not after how well the trio has been booked so far.

The Shield has been as dominant as any stable we can remember, and that’s done wonders for the credibility of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and the trio as a whole. Rather than coming across as just another heel faction, it’s being portrayed as an absolutely unstoppable one.

No one outside The Shield has been able to stop the faction, and that’s precisely why someone from within it will. 

It’s really a very simple story—one that we’ve seen in books, movies, TV shows and pro wrestling plenty of times. A group or person becomes so successful that the only one who can truly ruin it is the group or person itself.

That’s where The Shield has to be headed.

Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins have annihilated a big chunk of the WWE roster, and in three major matches so far, they’ve gone undefeated, working incredibly well together as a unit to topple a group of seemingly unstoppable babyfaces. 

The creative team has done a tremendous job building up The Shield so far, and, as a result, it’s given the fans the feeling that no one will be able to defeat the trio because it functions as a cohesive unit rather than three individuals who were randomly paired together.

That’s where the WWE is trying to throw us off. Because The Shield has had essentially no hiccups or bumps on the road so far, we are not really expecting them to have any sort of internal problems.

But the instant something finally goes wrong for The Shield, whenever that may be, is the instant that tension will start to arise within the group. So far, everything has worked out so well for The Shield that it doesn’t really know what it’s like to face adversity. When it finally does, it won’t be able to handle it.

The first time The Shield loses or hits a snag in its plans, the group is going to feel something it’s never felt before, and you can bet that they’re not going to like it. They’re going to get angry and frustrated, and they’re going to want to put the blame on someone.

That blame will fall squarely on the shoulders of one of The Shield’s own members. In all likelihood, it will be Rollins who does something that negatively affects the group, and it will result in him becoming the scapegoat.

The Shield will, in true Evolution style, cause its own demise.

Shock, anger and despair over a monumental loss or screw-up will result in The Shield taking out its anger on one of its own, and the trio will implode without Cena, Ryback or any other WWE superstar having to do anything that directly results in the group blowing up. 

When you have three young studs who know nothing but winning and dominance, heads are bound to get big. Those heads will clash, and Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns will know how to deal with it.

That’ll be what kills the seemingly immortal group known as The Shield and takes them back to reality for the first time in their WWE careers.

After all, it’s easy to stick by someone’s side when everything’s going right. It’s when everything’s going wrong that one’s allegiance is truly tested.

Drake Oz is a WWE Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter!