So, The Shield reunited, again, on Monday. YAY!!!! The Monday after a big PPV almost always has at least one surprise and that was definitely a surprise. The sight of Ambrose, Reigns, and Rollins in their Shield gear never fails to make me excited with the promise of the Hounds of Justice meting out justice on RAW. It was the perfect end to a pretty good RAW.

However, as I was watching RAW, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on. Yes, it’s obvious that Roman Reigns, having lost two title matches because of  Money in the Bank cash-ins, and only escaped with his title on Sunday because of Lesnar, had thought ahead and planned to have his brothers, Rollins and the returning Ambrose, suit up to help him fend off Braun Strowman. It was a brilliant plan, though Strowman still has the briefcase, but is that the ONLY reason the Shield reunited? Think back to what else happened on RAW, Stephanie McMahon returned and got her butt kicked by Ronda Rousey. Her lackey, Constable Corbin whined about how Kurt Angle’s been running things, and Stephanie decided to put Angle on a forced vacation and makes Corbin acting GM, on the same night that the Shield reforms. See where I’m going with this?

In case you don’t here’s the theory that’s been bumping around my head since Monday:

The Shield reformed because of Kurt Angle, either indirectly or at his instigation.

Why do I think that? Let’s go back to last fall. The Shield reunited on October 9, 2017. I was in the audience in Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapols and screamed myself hoarse with excitement. However, the reunion was plagued by bad luck. Reigns would come down with a serious illness and be sidelined for a month, during which time, Angle would step in to be the third man in the huge match at TLC that pitted Ambrose, Rollins, and Angle against Miz, Sheamus, Cesaro, Kane, and Braun Strowman. While Angle proved himself a pretty good substituted for Reigns, what struck me was how Angle established himself as the one authority figure the Shield respected and that it would be a great set up for Angle to turn heel and have the Shield as his muscle, a feeling that strengthened during the go-home SmackDown before Survivor Series. The Shield acted like Angle’s muscle, acting on his directions during the RAW invasion of SmackDown, taking orders from him pretty willingly.

So, this is what I think is going on: Kurt is getting tired of being neutered by Corbin and Stephanie, so now that Ambrose is back and healthy, and Reigns and Rollins have the top two men’s singles titles, he can use the Shield to neutralize Corbin. Problem is that Stephanie making Corbin acting GM put a slight kink in those plans. Kurt’s solution was to put the plan into motion with a new directive: Create as much havoc as you can until Stephanie brings Angle back to make it look like Angle is the only one that can control RAW. What happened with Strowman was an unintended consequence of that and Angle’s had his own issues with Strowman to not be too upset over Strowman getting screwed.

So, why would the notoriously rebellious Shield go along with this? My guess is partly out of respect and liking of Kurt as a former wrestling great, partly out of dislike of Stephanie and Corbin, and partly out of self-interest if Angle promised to help them stay on top.

The other side is that if Angle didn’t directly encourage the Shield to reform, his absence was a catalyst in convincing the Shield that someone had to step up against Corbin, who has been blatantly biased towards the heels, which would definitely affect Reigns and Rollins as the Universal and Intercontinental Champions, respectively.

Is this what’s going in this storyline? Probably not. It’s more likely that the Hounds reformed for their own reasons  and the Angle situation is just a coincidence. However, it is fun to think of Kurt Angle acting as a WWE Machiavelli and plotting to regain power by reuniting the Shield to force Stephanie to bring him back.

Where could this go, IF this angle is more than a fangirl’s imaginings? I’m picturing a Team Angle vs Team Corbin angle at Survivor Series with the stakes being control of RAW.