[xrodmuc316]

Originally Posted by Tom Guycott I guess my answer is that it wasn't really a flop, but it wasn't as great as WWE could have handled it, either. Back to a point I've made repeatedly over the years, WWE is content on bypassing all the Rick Rudes and Roddy Pipers to attempt to laser focus on creating the next Hulk Hogan. And instead of even using the Four Horsemen method of the other two protecting Roman as he gets built to be world champ, they are super eager to break up stables and tag teams for no good goddamn reason and make absolutely everyone a singles star unless it's temporarily en vogue to have teams again for a few months... because it's always only temporary. The Shield could have been a perpetual wrestling memory maker and money machine, and instead, they were merely honed to be a means to an end for Roman, even before he was ready in any capacity; be it too green, unhealthy, or not quite over enough on his own to carry the entire company. Hell, even with "The Last Ride of The Shield", it was all just a cheap ploy to get people to cheer Roman. This kind of nonsense is and has been a larger issue within that company.

It's a good argument. I look back to the 2014 Rumble. Roman was incredibly over. Instead of pulling the trigger and launching him there, when they should have, they balked, let Batista win because Vince can't just go with the guy getting over naturally, and by the time next year came around, it was after the Shield break up, after Roman was injured for a few months but somehow was "Superstar" of the year, and was at that point so obvious that he was Vince's choice right down to the horrible promos Vince wrote for him.