"The Destruction Of The Shield" Blu-Ray Review
2013 saw an explosion for WWE as it pertains to roster depth and in-ring action. Daniel Bryan was continuing to defy the odds and make his way as a main event talent. CM Punk was fresh off of a year-plus run as WWE champion. Kane had seen a career resurgance during his "Team Hell No" tag team. The familiar faces of John Cena, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio and the like were complimented by emerging names such as Ryback and Damien Sandow, and part-time talents like The Undertaker, The Rock, Brock Lesnar and Triple H.
No act was more important to the company than the Shield.
The steep climb of in-ring quality for the WWE in 2013 can be attributed to the faction, which featured Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. The three brought exciting, meaningful six man tag matches to Raw and Smackdown main events all year long, while setting to table to carve individual paths the following year.
"The Destruction" of the Shield goes over the history of the stable, from their inception in late 2012, to their messy breakup in 2014. The feature itself is pretty much the same as the Network feature on the group, with a few scenes changed. Even though it's nothing new, the documentary is fantastic. A good portion of the feature also focuses on the three training for their Summerslam matches.
Ambrose, Reigns and Rollins' beginnings and individual journeys through WWE developmental is chronicled. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is Seth Rollins talking about the frustration involved in not being called up to the main roster for over two years.
Where the set really shines is in disc 2 and three, as well as the blu-ray exclusive features. The WWE was sent head over heels during the Shield's run. The matches on disc one and two have some gems from FCW and NXT, but the rest are freat matches from the rest of the Shield's run. Perhaps the only negative is seeing how terrible WWE's camera work was during this period, as they were fond of the shaky, seizure inducing camera work in an effort to seem unpredictable. As good as the TLC 2012 match was, things like that are very distracting.
A notable set of omissions were the Shield's great series of matches with the Rhodes brothers in October 2013, and a handful of Raw matches. Really, you could have picked a selection o matches from a hat and it still would have ended up being a good buy.
Despite how I've raved about 2013's in-ring work for WWE, The Shield was having some of their best matches right before their split, notably with Evolution and the Wyatts. The split of the trio isn't neglected either, as some of their best singles matches from June until September are included, long with a few commentaries about the break up and subsequent matches that wasn't seen before.
The blu-ray exclusives feature the 2014 Royal Rumble match that saw Reigns have a breakout performance, as well as Ambrose vs. Rollins from FCW. An Undertaker/Amrbose match and a tag title defense against Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan round out the extras, with commentaries on all of them.
In the end, something new would have been nice, but releasing Network documentaries is a good move. I'd imagine that this isn't the last DVD dedicated to the Shield we'll see, as the three have yet to solve any long standing problems they have. If you enjoyed the group's work, this is an excellent purchase for the matches alone. If you've not seen the feature on the Network previously, it's a must buy.
Rating: 8.5/10