Evolution reforms in WWE to fight The Shield and people should care

The April 14 edition of Monday Night Raw ended with the official reformation of Evolution, minus Ric Flair, as Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista joined forces to combat The Shield. Unfortunately, the crowd in the BJCC Arena reacted like they were watching paint dry, which is a shame because this is a much bigger deal than some fans seem to feel it is.

The Shield is easily one of the most popular stables in recent WWE history and has seamlessly made the transition from heels to faces. Fans started cheering them because they were just so freakin' cool as heels, and now they're officially good guys in terms of the story. The problem, though, is that a heel stable can beat down everybody in sight with no problem, but a babyface stable can't really do that, at least not believably.

So The Shield needs a group with whom to go to war. They've already been rebelling against Triple H, and Hunter's two buddies just so happen to be in his orbit at the moment. One plus one plus one equals Evolution.

Part of the reason for the flat re-debut was the technical issues with the segment. Someone in production slipped up and played the music too early, which threw off the proceedings. And when Triple H dropped the microphone, it literally sounded like a pipe bomb had exploded. Plus, the non-reaction of the live crowd didn't help.

But this should be a much bigger deal than it came off as on Monday. Say what you want about Triple H, but he's at the point in his career now where a match with him is not just a big deal. It's an honor. He made Daniel Bryan look like a million dollars (twice) at WrestleMania 30, and he's lacing up the boots again to fight The Shield in a six-man tag team match at Extreme Rules. Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are already huge, but this will push them one more rung up the ladder.

I'll confess I checked out of the WWE product around 2002/2003 once Stone Cold was gone and only came back in a little less than two years ago. So I missed much of the transitional period of the mid-2000s, when Evolution was at its peak. But I won't deny the group's historical significance even if I'm not the biggest fan of the stable. You had some of the most well known wrestlers in history working as a team, which is always a big deal. It was then and it was on Monday when they got back together.

Of course, one might question the timing of this move or the logic of it in terms of the story. Daniel Bryan was off this week celebrating his marriage to Brie Bella (congratulations to them both, by the way) so he wasn't on Raw. But you would imagine Orton and Batista would target the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion the second he walked in the door. Rematch clauses are fluid in WWE's world, but the characters would want another shot at the gold, right?

The other part of the problem is that it seems like Bryan is going to defend the title at Extreme Rules against...Kane? Look, I'm all for an actual payoff in the Bryan/Kane story that we never really got once Team Hell No broke up. A match between the two with real stakes would put a nice period on the end of that sentence. But it just seems like WWE had no one for Bryan to face after Mania, which is odd considering he just won the title two weeks ago.

But as always, it's easy to isolate one week or one story and pick it apart. We need to see where this heads before we can make a true judgment. Some reports indicate Bryan would face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, so perhaps WWE is just biding its time until that payday.

If they do go the Bryan vs. Kane route, then here's my suggestion. We got that promo with Stephanie McMahon about the "Big Red Machine" coming back to life. So let's see it. Make this feud personal. Have Kane come out during a Divas match and chokeslam Brie right in the middle of the ring. The pay-per-view (excuse me, "Special Event") is called Extreme Rules, so let's go extreme.

What are your thoughts about the reformation of Evolution? What do you expect at Extreme Rules? Let us know in the comments below.