WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 Results: Shield and Wyatts Live Past Expectations

WWE used elementary tactics in booking the showdown between The Shield and the Wyatts, and in doing so, produced the best match of the night at Elimination Chamber.

Both The Shield and The Wyatt Family were kept together as stables and made to look strong over a long-term timeline, all while being kept apart until the time was right.

The Shield debuted in November of 2012, with the group maintaining main event real estate across all platforms of WWE programming for the duration of their tenure.

The Shield padded their record with attacks on John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker and a WrestleMania XXIX victory over Sheamus, Randy Orton and Big Show.

Similarly, the debut of The Wyatt family was promoted for several weeks before they finally showed up, back on the July 8 edition of Raw, to attack Kane. 

With both groups kept apart, the dream match element of Wyatts-Shield only grew. Even when their feud was set off during the main event of the post-Royal Rumble Raw, the stables did not engage in any physicality until the last possible second.

Fans came unglued at the mere possibility of battle, cheering at the mere sight of The Shield and Wyatts standing in a ring together. 

The shrewd booking contributed to chants of "this is awesome" before the match even began. WWE had successfully booked a dream match, and WrestleMania isn't for another month and some change.

The Wyatts-Shield match is the gift that keeps on giving with all it accomplished heading into the stretch run of WrestleMania season.

With a victory over the once-dominant Shield, Bray Wyatt looks as strong as possible headed into a likely match against Cena at WrestleMania. The key to this feud will be for Cena to take Wyatt's outlandish brand of interviews seriously.  

The final sequences saw Roman Reigns alone in the ring, valiantly fighting off all three Wyatt Family members before succumbing to Bray's Sister Abigail finisher.

This will help set the table for The Shield's inner turmoil, with Reigns accusing his fellow Shield members for leaving him high and dry.

The Shield and Wyatts built to such a perfect crescendo, one epic match is all that was needed to whet the pallets of oft-fickle wrestling fans while seamlessly transitioning to the road to WrestleMania. 

And an epic match it was.

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