As many of you saw last week on Monday Night RAW, after a beatdown of The Shield by 11 other superstars, Evolution officially reunited to put those hounds to justice.
Minus the obvious addition of Ric Flair, Randy Orton, Batista and HHH have reformed to have a match at Extreme Rules with The Shield. This match could be one of the most exciting on the card, but it could also be one of the worst, it really could go either way if it’s not planned to perfection.
Let’s evaluate how well Evolution has done since they broke up between 2004 and 2005. The three that are still active have gone on to win 31 world titles between them. Batista has six world titles to his name, while Orton and HHH both are in double figures, with 12 and 13 reigns respectively. Many would have kept them apart, after all, it will be 10 years and one day since they last all teamed with each other when they face The Shield at Extreme Rules.
Batista is obviously the weak link of Evolution. Even though he is arguably the most fearsome, old Dave is a shadow of his former self. He has transformed from a beast who would take out any and all comers to a tattoo addicted, skinny jean wearing cream puff who tapped out to the 5”8 Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania. And in much the same fashion as Brock Lesnar did, during his time away from the squared circle, Batista seemed to have forget a lot of his move set. All that’s left is a spinebuster, a spear and the Batista bomb. While Orton and HHH can both cut great promos, Batista is left stuttering and forgetting lines. Quite worrying seeing as he is appearing in one of the biggest summer blockbusters in Guardians of the Galaxy this year.
It’s amazing to reform something that was once so brilliant, and they do seem to have straight away fallen into their dastardly ways again, but with everything being reverted back to the past, should we not have more focus on the future? Having stars like Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Brock Lesnar does make for entertaining viewing, but with stars who are working on a very basic schedule getting as much TV time as they do does hurt some talent. And now with Evolution back as well, part of me does wonder whether we will just slip back in time. Maybe next year the WWE will host Old School RAW again, and it won’t ever leave.
With a PPV match as big as Evolution vs. The Shield, I feel like the emphasis needs to be made to put over stars who will represent the company for many years to come. The Shield need to come out of this looking great, even if they don’t win.
The confusing thing to me is that Batista is supposed to be off camera after Extreme Rules until late August, while promoting Guardians of the Galaxy. But if they are going to carry on this feud until Summerslam, or even Hell In A Cell, I would find it tough to believe that Orton and HHH could constantly keep The Shield down for that long. Reigns and HHH are supposed to have a match at one of those events, so we shall have to see how this whole storyline will transpire.
With news that Ric Flair will be on Monday Night RAW, might we see the full reformation of the once dominant stable? Will he make a comeback and replace Batista? Will he show them that they can grow old gracefully, with all their hair still intact?
Who knows, but one thing is for sure, Extreme Rules is being set up as a great PPV.
– By Dan Lloyd