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| photo courtesy: wwe.com |
How often does a new team get thrown into such high-profile matches or are made to look so dominant? It's been clear from the beginning that WWE believes in The Shield.
Though The Shield's undefeated streak is now a memory, this is a team so bursting with momentum and facing such little competition, that Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins have a decent shot at breaking a record that has stood since 2007.
The two have the best chance of anybody, though you still might not want to bet the house on it.
The history of the WWE Tag Team Championship doesn't date as far back as the now-defunct world tag titles, but becoming the longest-reigning champs in the championship's 11-year history would still be impressive.
Record holders Paul London and Brian Kendrick held the title from May 2006 to April 2007, for a total of 331 days.
Brian Kendrick and Paul London vs Kid Kash and Jamie Noble - Grerat American Bash 2006
Since then, more than 20 teams have won the championship. For The Shield to hold the belts longer than any of them and longer than London and Kendrick, Reigns and Rollins would have to keep winning for nine more months and retain their titles until WrestleMania XXX.
That's a tall order, but the majority of The Shield's foes seem incapable of dethroning them.
The Shield faces The Usos at the Money in the Bank pre-show. The Usos will go into that match as massive underdogs, while The Shield has been battling the likes of John Cena, Ryback, Sheamus and Randy Orton on pay-per-view this year. The Usos have been watching those shows from the locker room.
Rollins and Reigns easily dispatched Jimmy and Jey Uso in May. Expect them to do the same on July 14.
The Usos vs. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns: SmackDown, May 17,
2013
With Christian's help, The Usos did score a victory over the three-man version on WWE SmackDown at the end of June. The Shield got its revenge just a few days later. This back-and-forth is WWE's way of making the Money in the Bank match seem less predictable, the smart money is on The Shield to retain, though.
The rest of the tag division doesn't offer any overwhelming threats.
Tons of Funk and 3MB are comedy acts. Neither team has won a significant match. The Prime Time Players stand a comparatively better shot, but Titus O'Neil and Darren Young once gave way to a hotter team in Team Hell No and will probably do that again with The Shield.
It's more likely that either the Wyatt Family or self-destruction will cause The Shield's downfall.
Bray Wyatt and his creepy followers offer WWE a blank slate. They have not lost a single match. They have not been dominated or embarrassed the way the other teams have at some point.
Should WWE send them on a rampage to open their WWE campaign, they could be built up as contenders for the titles.
Either that or jealousy, mutiny or tension within the group could lead to The Shield falling.
Their path to surpassing London and Kendrick is certainly not without obstacles, but it's a journey we could witness over the next few months. The company has shown that it is not opposed to lengthy tag title runs.
Carlito and Primo Colon, John Morrison and The Miz and Team Hell have all held the title for around 250 days. They were all a few months away from making history themselves.
It would be exciting for The Shield to do what those squads couldn't. WWE is in the business of drumming up excitement and because it can create its own history, The Shield could benefit from a desire to see a record broken, to see dominance reign.
The only thing is, crowning new champs is a thrilling story as well.
Does WWE pull the trigger on new titleholders before The Shield can overtake London and Kendrick, or does it look to make Reigns and Rollins into legends?
It's not as though The Shield has to win 100 matches to break that record.
The tag titles aren't often defended on weekly TV and are often not a part of pay-per-views. Say WWE has plans for The Shield at Survivor Series that don't involve defending the titles. Say Reigns or Rollins or both enter the 2014 Royal Rumble instead of fighting a team of challengers.
That means The Shield would have to win roughly six or seven times on pay-per-view. That's not an impossible number to reach, but it's one that is anything but certain.
In order to become the longest-reigning champs, The Shield must go on a trek with foes lining the mountain it wishes to climb. Count on Reigns and Rollins knocking The Usos out of their way on Sunday.
Stay tuned to see the group approach history beyond that, step by step, win by win.
source: bleacherreport.com
