Last Monday on Raw, Mark Henry challenged current U.S. Champion Dean Ambrose, one third of the impactful faction The Shield, for a United States Championship. Dean eventually lost but since it was due to disqualification he was still the champion and it would stay that way at least until the next pay-per-view, The Elimination Chamber. Mark Henry didn't leave the ring that night as a winner since he was attacked by Seth Rollins, and finally speared by the muscle of The Shield, Roman Reigns.
This was reminded to the viewers in a short video summary of the match with a not-so-important result. It was more to show people that Roman Reigns was really on his way to stardom, and with his memorable finisher, hunter-like look and wrestling-family background he got all it took to become a champion. Nobody doubted that, everybody already knew what plans the management had prepared for him. Today he was booked to have a match against Mark Henry and it was more than certain that he would walk out of the ring as a winner.
In reality, Mark Henry match only served as a relevant reason for Roman and Dean to have a little "exchange of opinions" in an interview, and to continue to prepare fans for the inevitable split of The Shield, a group that would tomorrow be one year and three months old. The end of them was coming; it was only question of days or weeks. Nevertheless, before that would happen, there were still few matches that needed them to be a team, especially highly-anticipated match with The Wyatt Family this Sunday at the Elimination Chamber.
It became a tradition for Renee Young to interview The Shield during either Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown. There was enough chemistry in those segments, people really enjoyed it, and they could never know what would happen, especially when the mouth of the faction, Dean Ambrose, spoke up. There were some expectable moments though, Roman and Dean getting above each other and making the tension rise, Seth being a peace-maker between those two, and finally hearing "Believe in the Shield" and seeing their fists in unison at the very end.
When Renee's pretty face appeared on the screen, she said the one phrase she always used, in some variations, "Ladies and gentleman, please welcome my guests joining me now, The Shield." It was not necessary to introduce them since everybody already knew she would interview the group of three dangerous men, all dressed in black.
When they approached her, she first briefly looked up at Dean, who was coming from her left side, knowing it was time for her to shut her confusion with her feelings towards him down. She looked away, and then she focused on Roman, who would be the first to answer her questions.
"Roman, tonight you're going one-on-one with the world strongest man, Mark Henry," she opened the segment. "This is a man –" she continued, when she was rudely interrupted by Dean, standing behind her, who was until now more focused on his own fingernails than Renee's words.
"Mark Henry?" he repeated in amazement.
Renee turned to face Dean and placed microphone next to him.
"I'm surprised he even showed up tonight after the beating I gave him last week." Dean had an aura of confidence spreading around him as he spoke, and regularly switched between looking at Roman and Renee.
Roman and Seth started smiling sarcastically and Roman countered, "Dean, what are you talking about, man? You lost," he reminded him the fact that Dean was evidently forgetting.
Dean dedicated Roman an intimidating look, as he tried to defend his truth. "Look, Mark Henry's no walk in a park. I softened him up a little bit for ya." Dean employed his hands as he frequently used to. On the other hand, his partners always seemed to prefer just one or two positions for their hands, Roman on his belt and Seth often switched between resting one on his chest and letting them both hang freely. Nothing too adventurous. "But you'll find that out tonight," Dean continued. "But I guess you think you can do better." His arms were spread as if they were wings and he was an eagle ready to take off.
"I know I can," Roman corrected him, keeping his serious look on. Unlike Dean who presented a little explosion of disbelief.
Meanwhile, Seth was quiet, as usually, but he was having fun of his own. He watched Dean and Roman's fight and it seemed like he totally forgot that this was just a part of their job. He got so hung up on those two, and enjoyed every word they said, every movement they made, as if he was a spectator at the National Theater. For a moment, it seemed like he had a crush on them, and in that case, Renee was handling hers better than him. Or, actually no, not really. Both Renee and Seth were caught up on them and kind of acted like twins with their almost-synchronized admiration and head movements.
Before it could get ugly, Renee interrupted them. "Don't you think that the three of you all need to get on the same page before your huge six-man tag match –"
Once again, she was interrupted, but this time it was by Seth, who finally woke up from his "fascination sleep" and took part in the interview.
"Renee, Renee," he addressed her repeatedly, "I appreciate what you're trying to do here, I really do." He breathed in to continue, "But you gotta understand, we are always on the same page," he tried to convince her, as Roman nodded to support the statement. "And as for the Wyatts at Elimination Chamber, The Shield was born and bred for war." He made a pause so that people could absorb what he just said. "That will never change, sweetheart."
It was finally his time to refer to Renee by using a word of endearment, and he hoped it would work out and be received well. But once again, Renee sort of ignored his try. In some way, it was even worse than with Roman. Maybe it was really because she got interested in the conversation between Roman and Dean and poor Seth just chose bad time for his "sweetheart." Besides, she expected him to use the phrase soon so it was no surprise when he did. And thirdly, and most importantly, he was Seth, he was the kind of guy she liked albeit never thought of him as something more than a friend. One could consider him friendzoned, but he wasn't interested in Renee either, he had a girlfriend, so it worked for them. "Sweetheart" was just something he used for the audience and for his fans. He was sure that his female fanbase would be more than glad to hear him say a word like that.
"Bray Wyatt?" Dean spoke up again. "His little family? They're an illusion." One could see that he was in his crazy mode again, and shifted his balance point from side to side. "Their mindgames don't work on us because The Shield," he shouted, "is real."
Renee kept staring into Dean's eyes for more time than it was necessary, and when she was to move the microphone in front of Roman, she found herself still gazing there. Well, so what. . . . Seth did the exact same thing with Roman.
"We don't experience fear," Roman continued. He was an absolute opposite of Dean. He kept still and calm. His voice was steady, eyes focused. "And we don't back down," he finished the sentence. Then he looked into the camera to say their catchphrase. "Believe that. And believe in The Shield." He kept an eye contact with whoever was watching the segment to make them believe, but they already did. Since the day The Shield debuted and started functioning as a most devastating wrestling faction in modern day, through their multiple victories and manifestations of their raw power and violent behavior, everybody watching WWE had already had to realize that The Shield was real and to be believed in.
To end the segment, Renee moved aside to let all three members of The Shield, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose, stand side by side. Then they joined their fists in the gesture more powerful that all the words. It was to let people know that no matter what, they still are a team and they are ready to destroy anybody to prove The Shield is and always will be the best, the strongest, and the most impactful faction that exists.