WWE DVD Review: Destruction of The Shield

Certificate: 15
Running Time: 7hrs 25mins (445mins)
Discs: 3

Disc 1 – Documentary

Who is the Shield?Game Changer
Seth Rollins’ Journey Begins
Dean Ambrose’s Journey Begins
Roman Reigns’ Journey Begins
Brothers in Arms
The Ambrose-Rollins FCW Rivalry
The Face of NXT
Clashing Egos
The Quick Study
Failure to Launch
Assembling the Shield
Immediate Impact
Bringing the Sword
The First WrestleMania
Extreme Success
Lone Survivor
Royal Record
State of Evolution
Shield Disassembled
Buying In
Lunatic Fringe Unleashed
One Versus All
Rollins Training for Summerslam
Ambrose Training for Summerslam
Good Friends, Better Enemies
Reigns Training for Summerslam
A Most Intriguing Matchup
Arrival in Los Angeles
Summerslam
The Future is Now

Disc 1 – Extras

Dean Ambrose on Seth Rollins FCW Rivalry
15-Minute Time Limit for the FCW 15 Championship: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins – FCW • August 14, 2011
Seth Rollins on Dean Ambrose FCW Rivalry
30-Minute Time Limit for the FCW 15 Championship: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins –
FCW • September 18, 2011
Roman Reigns on FCW Triple Threat Match
Triple Threat Match: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins v Leakee – FCW • February 5, 2012

Disc 2

Dean Ambrose on William Regal FCW Rivalry
Dean Ambrose v William Regal – FCW • July 1, 2012
Seth Rollins on NXT Championship
Gold Rush Tournament Finals for the NXT Championship: Seth Rollins v Jinder Mahal – NXT • August 29, 2012
Roman Reigns on NXT Debut
Roman Reigns v CJ Parker – NXT • October 31, 2012
Seth Rollins on Shield In-Ring Debut
6-Man Tag Team TLC Match: The Shield v Ryback & Team Hell No – TLC • December 16, 2012
Dean Ambrose on United States Championship
United States Championship Match: Dean Ambrose v Kofi Kingston – Extreme Rules • May 19, 2013
Roman Reigns on WWE Tag Team Championship
Tornado Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship: Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins v Team Hell No – Extreme Rules • May 19, 2013
Roman Reigns on Facing the Usos
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns v The Usos –
Money In the Bank • July 14, 2013
Roman Reigns on Survivor Series 2013
Classic Survivor Series Elimination Match: The Shield & The Real Americans v The Usos, Rhodes Brothers & Rey Mysterio – Survivor Series • November 24, 2013

Disc 3

Dean Ambrose on Wyatt Family Rivalry
6-Man Tag Team Match: The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) v The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan) – Elimination Chamber • February 23, 2014
Seth Rollins on Evolution Rivalry
No Holds Barred 6-Man Elimination Tag Team Match: The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) v Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton & Batista) – Payback • June 1, 2014
Seth Rollins on Money in the Bank 2014
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose v Dolph Ziggler v Kofi Kingston v Rob Van Dam v Jack Swagger – Money in the Bank • June 29, 2014
Dean Ambrose on SummerSlam
Lumberjack Match: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins – SummerSlam • August 17, 2014
Roman Reigns on SummerSlam
Roman Reigns v Randy Orton – SummerSlam • August 17, 2014
Seth Rollins on Falls Count Anywhere Match with Dean Ambrose
Falls Count Anywhere Match: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins – RAW • August 18, 2014
Roman Reigns on Seth Rollins Rivalry
Roman Reigns v Seth Rollins – RAW • September 15, 2014
Deleted Scenes
The Dean Ambrose – William Regal Rivalry
Leakee

If you buy the Blu-Ray version, you get the following additional content -:

Blu-ray Exclusive

Roman Reigns on FCW Triple Threat Match
20-Minute Time Limit for the FCW 15 Championship: Dean Ambrose v Seth Rollins – FCW • August 28, 2011
Dean Ambrose on Facing The Undertaker
The Undertaker v Dean Ambrose – SmackDown • April 26, 2013
Seth Rollins on Facing Orton and Bryan
WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins v Randy Orton & Daniel Bryan – Payback • June 16, 2013
Roman Reigns on Royal Rumble
30-Man Royal Rumble Match – Royal Rumble • January 26, 2014

SIERRA – HOTEL – INDIA – ECHO – LIMA – DELTA

From November 2012 until June 2014, that call sign meant only one thing; somebody was about to get their arse kicked, be it a beat-down or in a sanctioned match… and the fans couldn’t get enough of it.

This set chronicles not only the stellar run they had as a trio, but a brief look at the respective journeys of the members to get to the big stage and the fallout of the chairshot heard around the world that sent the Hounds of Justice on their separate paths.

The main feature is a 68min documentary in the style that WWE does so well; talking heads giving their thoughts between bouts of action or the guys themselves talking about aspects of their career over wrestling footage or scenes of them putting in serious workouts (sure to please some sections of the fanbase on a purely aesthetic level if nothing else).

Gabe Sapolsky is one of those talking heads and he, along with Rollins and Daniel Bryan discuss Ring of Honor, while Dean Ambrose chips in with Gabe when discussing his time in Dragon Gate USA / Evolve and then cuts it solo for a small section on CZW (with footage from a CZW show to boot).

It’s been said many times on the course of these reviews, but WWE’s willingness (at least in the documentary releases) to not only acknowledge, but feature, independent promotions and acknowledge that a lot of the guys on their roster paid their dues before getting to the company is such a refreshing feeling to experience.

Other talking heads include Triple H, Cesaro, William Regal, Terry Taylor, Bill DeMott, Johnny Ace, Joey Mercury and the Usos and none of them seem superfluous to the cause in any way.

The documentary is really great and does a wonderful job of putting over how much of an impact The Shield had in such a short window of time, but also that all three have been earmarked for great things from an early stage in their WWE careers.

Now that the trio are three separate entities, the big question is, can they make it to the very top of the mountain. All three feel that not only that they can do it, they all believe that they will do it. So you can believe that… AND BELIEVE IN (the former members of) THE SHIELD.

The Matches

The bonuses on disc 1 and all of discs 2 & 3 are devoted to matches and, if you have followed The Shield’s main-roster career, you know that you are in for a treat.

After the doc on the first disc, you get three matches from the FCW vaults; two Iron Man matches between Seth and Dean, plus a Triple Threat that adds Roman to the mix. A wonderful feature of this collection is that every single match has a brief introduction by one of the trio, explaining why the match is taking place and why they believe it deserves recognition.

For newcomers to the group (or just those who only know them from their debut at Survivor Series 2012), this is a great benefit when looking back at their work in FCW and, later, NXT.

There isn’t a single match on here that falls below “really good” on the barometer, but it is a bit of novelty to see all three of them in just trunks, kneepads and boots.

Disc 2 begins with us still in FCW as the absolutely wonderful rivalry between Dean Ambrose and William Regal gets a bit of focused attention. Ambrose introduces one of the matches and I heartily recommend watching this match intently and then seeking out the rest on YouTube.

Rollins and Reigns get one match each from NXT (the former from when he became the first NXT Champion and the latter when he made his NXT debut), before we move on to their first official match on the main roster at the TLC event from December 2012.

In one night, over the course of one match, The Shield set out their stall as THE next big thing in WWE with a stellar performance and a chemistry as a team that seemed almost supernatural at times. Dean winning the US Title and Seth / Roman taking the Tag Team Championships are solid outings, while the Elimination Match at Survivor Series 2013 (the group’s one-year anniversary) was all about sending a statement concerning Roman Reigns. He got booed at Royal Rumble 2015, but on this night, his record-equalling run of four eliminations on the way to a Spear-filled victory saw him as the coolest, most bad-ass, wrecking machine on the roster.

Having him follow that up with a record-breaking effort in the 2014 Royal Rumble Match (which is an exclusive extra on the Blu-Ray edition) let us know WWE saw big things for their latest Samoan superstar.

As the group, who were still heels at the time, were becoming more popular, a face-turn (much in the way Austin and The Rock were turned face by fan reaction) was on the cards. But not before they faced off with another trio of monsters who were making waves of their on in the shape of The Wyatt Family. Which takes us on to Disc 3.

Ever since Bray and his boys began running riot, the prospect of a six-man match between them and The Shield was on everyone’s mind. When it was signed for the Elimination Chamber PPV, most people felt that it should be kept for the following month’s WrestleMania, but were uber-excited about the match anyway. The big question was whether it could live up to the hype.

Before the bell even rang, as The Shield and The Wyatt Family stood on the ring apron, staring at each other from opposite sides of the ring, the chants of “THIS IS AWESOME” rang out. WWE had struck gold and six newcomers were getting to fight it out, make names for themselves and just steal the show… which is exactly what they did. For me, this was the undisputed match of 2014.

The rest of the third disc features the second PPV match against Evolution (the clean sweep in an elimination tag – a huge statement that these are the guys to lead the next charge), which was amazing, as well as the post-break-up Money in the Bank Ladder Match, an amazing Lumberjack Match from SummerSlam between Ambrose and Rollins that redefined what that type of match could be, Reigns v Orton from the same event that solidified his ascent to prospective greatness, Dean v Seth again in a Falls Count Anywhere match before the DVD version comes to a close with Rollins taking on his other former brother on RAW in September 2015.

As I said, not a bad match on the entire collection.

Overview

The Shield are easily the biggest recent success story in WWE. Whether through a happy accident that it caught on or through the dynamic of the three guys involved, the group just worked. They set themselves apart early with the backstage “found-footage” style promos, with the entrance from the crowd (which they didn’t originate, but they did it perfectly), the cohesive teamwork, the chemistry, the way they complimented each other… you could go on and on and on.

At just over an hour, the documentary seems way too short, but that’s kind of poetic because the run of the group itself seems to have been way too short. Sure, they did a lot in an 18mth span, but there was so much more they could have done as a unit.

My silver-lining on this is that I only have to wait until they undoubtedly reform at some point in the next year or two.

The doc is a wonderful look at the formation of the trio, their ascent into glory, the destruction of the trio and where their individual paths may lead. The matches are magnificent icing on a delicious cake and for that alone, with the novel “**guy** introduces said bout” approach, I cannot recommend this enough.

BELIEVE THAT!

Points: 10/10

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