User Reviews

Believe in the Shield, more like believe in the future. Journey to Summerslam: Destruction of the Shield is a great pro-wrestling documentary special that aired on the WWE Network before the 2014 Summerslam event. The documentary covers the careers of the three ex-members of the Shield wrestling faction stable, Dean Ambrose (Jonathan Good), Roman Reigns (Joe Anoa'i) and Seth Rollins (Colby Lopez). It covers the bio of each member from their time getting to pro-wrestling business, the time spent in the development farm system in Florida Championship Wrestling, their main event debut at 2012 Survivor Series, their successes and then their break up, culminating at their Summerslam 2014 matches. Parts of the documentary does get somewhat confusing, as it doesn't know if it wants or doesn't want to break kayfabe. Breaking Kayefabe is like an actor breaking character on camera. The documentary somewhat break kayfabe like admitting that Roman Reigns is related to the Anoa'I wrestling family. The interviews get even more baffling when friends and family of the performers would be ask to recall memories. They would often call the performers under their stage name than their real names. They got lot of non-WWE owned footage and non-contracted people in for this production like promoter Gabe Sapolsky & Les Thatcher whom Rollins & Ambrose worked under for Ring of Honor and Dragon Gate USA, and Combat Zone Wrestling promotion respectively before joining WWE. It's nice seeing Indy wrestling footage outside of the WWE umbrella. You even got the football coach from Georgia Tech for Roman Reigns. Even, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WWE's rival promotion got mention a little bit. For a PG wrestling era film, there is a lot of violent and bloody Indy footage in this Dean Ambrose's backstory. It's great that they mention that, rather than cutting it out to fit in with WWE programming. There were a few harsh language being used, but nothing too major. If it was, it was beeped. I love Dean Ambrose quotes in this documentary. It was very surreal and fun to hear him speak about his trouble past. The whole speech about him, being a bad person is brilliant. He really had to overcome a lot. I like how the documentary talks about a lot of insider conflicts that Rollins has during FCW that a lot of internet dirt sheets never cover upon. Rollins come across as a jerk at times, but it show how much passion, he has for the business. Roman Reigns' story is that of a man born into wrestling nobility who instead followed his heart into football. The former All-ACC defensive lineman eventually gave up football, but not for wrestling. Reigns couldn't handle spending so much time away from his young daughter, so he moved home to help raise her. I don't know why he chose wrestling, since it's also take him, time away from his daughter, but what-ever. It's nice to see him, get better with each day of training. It managed to shed some light on the things all three men had to overcome in WWE if they were to be very successful. WWE alright have done a phenomenal job bringing up 3 guys from developmental and pushing them at the right pace and keeping them strong, now it's up to them to take their careers to the next level. The WWE released this at the perfect time, too. The architect and brains of Rollins, the crazy lunatic Ambrose and the power house Reigns all brought something different to the table and each made The Shield one of the most exciting and captivating groups in professional wrestling history. The training scenes for Summerslam feature on this documentary were also pretty interesting. I never heard about Crossfit until seeing this. Seth Rollins could do some amazing moves. Ambrose running in the desert is pretty damn interesting. Reminds me of something out of a 'Rocky' movie. Roman Reigns is indeed the power. You can't believe, how much this guy lifted at the gym. Hopefully as singles, each wrestler can reach new levels of success. Overall: It's a must watch for any WWE fan.