View Photos from the Feature: Shield with Joey Mercury Photos

Where are they now? (WWE.com Feature)
by Bobby Melok

*Please Note: This article only includes the portions where the Shield was mentioned, since it was a long article. To read the full feature please go to WWE.com

“There’ll be a dozen Hall of Famers who thank Joey Mercury first and foremost in their acceptance speech,” Dean Ambrose told WWE.com.
For those who simply know Mercury as one half of MNM alongside John Morrison, Ambrose’s statement might be a little shocking. However, Mercury’s greatest impact on sports-entertainment came after he stepped out of the ring, and into his new role as one of WWE’s most respected producers, as well as a mentor to breakout Superstars like The Shield.

“He is a mastermind when it comes to wrestling psychology, and the ins and outs of being in the ring,” Seth Rollins explained. “He loves teaching people how to do things and do them better. He’s a talent maximizer. He takes your best assets and makes them better. He takes the things you’re terrible at and helps you improve.”

It’s a position that Mercury relishes, even at the age of 34, when most in-ring performers are in their prime.
“One of the things I was concerned about with being a coach and producer so young was thinking, ‘Am I missing out on that feeling of being in the ring and making the fans pop out of their chairs?’” he said. “I don’t, because it’s very fulfilling to live vicariously through the guys you help. If I give an idea about gameplan or strategy, and they implement it and it works well and they get that reaction, I feel it twofold.”

…..

“Joey can make a bad match good, a good match great and a great match classic,” Ambrose said. “You would come to the back and think you had an awesome match, and he would be like, ‘Well, that was OK, you worked hard, but let me tell you how it could have been better.’”
Mercury formed a close bond with the three members of The Shield in NXT, which continued as The Hounds of Justice joined the main roster and Mercury became a producer on the road.

“He’s like a fourth member,” Roman Reigns said. “Any time Joey’s around, it could be a five-star match, but he’ll nitpick us. That’s what makes us better. He keeps us honest.”
“He’s definitely a hero to us,” Ambrose added. “At this point, if he tells me a way to do something, I do it that way first, because he’s right 99 percent of the time.”
After all that Mercury has been through, it’s easy to forget that he’s not even 35 yet. His combination of youth and experience makes him a valuable asset to WWE.
“He brings an old man’s wisdom and a young man’s vibrance,” Heyman said.

Though many grapplers his age are still battling in the trenches, those closest to Mercury don’t think he’s itching to get back in the ring any time soon.
“I think he’s found peace,” Rollins said. “He once told me that he’s never had a feeling in the ring by himself that compares to the feeling he gets [working with Superstars].”
Joey Mercury echoes Rollins’ sentiment. “I look at them like they’re my babies,” he said. “I have a lot of children out there. To see them grow up and make it to what they’ve been working for and tear the house down, that’s really rewarding.”

Check out the new Interview the Shield did with MTV UK; the interview covered topics such as which member of the Shield is the biggest ladies man, how they like the UK fans and what they think of Roman Reigns being called the next big thing!

Shield Interview on MTV UK Photos: Interview Captures

ALTERNATIVENATION.NET INTERVIEW: WWE’S SETH ROLLINS TALKS FAVORITE METAL BANDS, ULTIMATE WARRIOR’S DEATH & TV PG

Continuing with our series of celebrity interviews as we’ve done in the past with athletes like MLB All Star Bronson Arroyo and Buffalo Sabres forward Drew Stafford, I had the chance to talk to WWE superstar Seth Rollins last week. Rollins is part of The Shield, the hottest act to hit professional wrestling in years. Just a year and a half into his WWE career Rollins has already worked with legends like The Rock, Triple H, Ric Flair, and Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Rollins is an avid fan of rock music (his last name is a homage to Henry Rollins) with a wide array of taste that includes everything from metal, to pop punk, to The Beatles. In our exclusive interview Rollins discussed his most memorable concert experiences and also hot topics in WWE like The Ultimate Warrior’s death, the TV PG product, Brock Lesnar ending The Undertaker’s WrestleMania win streak, and the new generation of promising talent currently coming up through the developmental territory NXT.

Q: I did some research into music you’ve referenced liking, and it’s a pretty wide array like Metallica, The Devil Wears Prada, Pantera, Jimmy Eat World, and Black Flag obviously. What albums do you think would most surprise people that you’re into? Perhaps an album from the WWE’s favorite band Limp Bizkit, or something along those lines?
Rollins: No, heaven’s no, maybe when I was 14 or something like that. Maybe the Beatles, I’m a big Beatles fan, which doesn’t really fit into much of my taste you mentioned earlier. I own Beatles 1, and I’ve got a lot of Beatles on vinyl and stuff like that, so I really dig that kind of stuff.

Q: When it comes to concerts I was looking at your Formspring, and I actually saw you kind of rip a couple shows you’ve been to. So what are some of the best and worst concerts you’ve ever been to?
Rollins: Jeez, I forgot about my Formspring, I tried to delete that damn thing a long time ago actually. I don’t know, my favorite concert I’ve ever seen, it’s such a different vibe now because I’m old (laughs). I don’t like go into the concert, I watch from afar or side stage or wherever. When I was younger, my favorite show was an awesome lineup it was: Unearth, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and Lamb of God. That was probably one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to, I spent more time in the pit and beat up more people than any of my other concert experiences combined, that was probably my favorite one.
As far as least favorite concerts, I really don’t like a lot of these festival shows for whatever reason. I’ve been to the Warped shows and stuff like that, and I just don’t like the feel of it, standing around in the sun all day, it’s hot as shit. By the time A Day To Remember is playing at like 9PM I’m just drained of energy. I’m not excited to be there, my feet hurt, and I just want to go home. I prefer the club shows to festivals and stuff like that.

Q: Have you gotten to meet any musicians at shows? Because I’ve seen other wrestlers who have been able to take advantage and meet some guys.
Q: Yeah, what’s awesome is being semi-famous, you get to meet other semi-famous people (laughs), which sounds silly. When I was a kid my favorite bands were like Korn and Metallica, then as I grew up I got really into the newer American metal scene, now I really like pop punk kind of stuff for whatever reason as I get almost into my 30′s. But like with Twitter you’re able to connect with these people kind of easy and it really helps a lot. Surprisingly, I’ve found out that a lot of guys in bands that I listen to are wrestling fans too, so we kind of have mutual interests. I’m good friends with Dan Campbell, Soupy from the Wonder Years, I did an interview with him not too long ago. I got to meet the Day To Remember guys, I’m still down for a meeting with Metallica. That would be pretty awesome. I’d love to meet James, Lars, Kirk, and those guys.

There’s a lot of musicians who are obsessed with wrestling. The members of Tool I know met some WWE guys recently, and obviously Billy Corgan obviously is a big wrestling fan.
Rollins: Billy’s got his own promotion right?

Q: Yeah, Resistance Pro. So when The Shield debuted did you get to talk to Jim Johnson [WWE’s head of music] at all about the theme song, and could you imagine any other theme song working for The Shield?
Rollins: We didn’t, when we were worried about the music. Because music to me is super important, it’s always been a big deal. I love music, I was always a stickler for wanting real music, like a real song. But when I heard Jim was going to our song, I was pretty excited because he’s got a good track record for entrance themes. I remember when we recorded the voice portion of it, that’s us actually doing the Sierra Hotel India, that’s me, Roman [Reigns], and Dean [Ambrose]. I remember recording that and then we got to hear it maybe the next week at television or something like that. It was awesome, it would be really hard to imagine now doing another song because we’re so used to hearing those words and the beat of the music coming down the stairs to it, so it’d be really hard to imagine doing something else. One song we get kind of fired up to is called “Wild Eyes” by Parkway Drive, who I’m a big fan of, the song is pretty gnarly and I think it would make a sick entrance theme actually.

Q: WWE’s product has been TV PG for about 6 years now, but at Extreme Rules you had a pretty great jump in the crowd during the six man tag. Do you see the product moving back into a more hard hitting unpredictable style like that, or do you think that was just a special match?
Rollins: I don’t think the PG rating has a whole lot to do with the style we bring in the ring. The company is now publically traded, and as you mentioned the programming is PG, but realistically a lot of the matches are still as hard hitting and fast paced and definitely more athletic than they’ve ever been. If you look at the talent roster now, you look at guys like Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, The Usos, and especially a lot of the guys coming up in NXT like Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville, and myself. We’re just bringing a different element to the matches that I don’t think people are used to. So I don’t really think that the PG rating has much to do with the in ring content, as it does necessarily with the storyline content. Plus the company is just a little more keen on our safety these days too, they take extra precaution when it comes to injuries. They’ve really taken the danger out of the bleeding situation, they’ve taken the extra care to make sure that everyone’s healthier so we can be doing this longer. Realistically, that’s good for everybody. If you look at Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Family too, their storylines are pretty edgy and sometimes borderline PG 13. I think it’s a good time to be a wrestling fan, I don’t think there’s any reason for us to move away from trying to be kid friendly.

Q: Yeah, I don’t think that being TV PG can technically stop you from having an edgier product. Because if you look at WCW back during the nWo days, or even during the earliest days of the Attitude Era, it was under the TV PG banner, it’s just all about what you’re doing under that. So it seems like [the product] is moving in a good direction. But talking about WrestleMania weekend last month, a lot of surprising things happened that month. The Undertaker’s streak ended on the actual show, then a few days later The Ultimate Warrior tragically passed away. What were the reactions from you and those around you when those events occured?
Rollins: It was really just a roller coaster of a weekend, because on one hand it’s WrestleMania 30. It’s the biggest event in the history of our sport, something to be really excited and happy about. The unpredictability of The Undertaker’s streak being snapped for the first time in 22 years, that was literally one of those moments where you’ll remember where you were at and what you were doing. I was upstairs in the family room, we had just got done beating the dog crap out of Kane and the New Age Outlaws for like 2 minutes, so we were riding pretty high. I was up in the family box with my friends watching the rest of the show kind of reveling in my success, then I remember the 3 count after [Brock Lesnar’s] F5. I literally stopped and my jaw dropped, I couldn’t believe it, I thought for sure that was never going to happen. I thought that would never, I don’t know, talking about it now still seems surreal even though it’s been a little over a month. The sad part is, that is what it is, it’s part of the show.

We got to Tuesday night when I first heard about the Warrior, I heard about it through Twitter because Triple H was the first one to get the news, and he went straight to Twitter and put it up there. That was the first I had heard of it, there’s really no words for that. For a guy who after all those years had come back, and was in the middle of a personal and professional redemption, to lose his life at really one of his highest points personally is strangely inspiring, and at the same time very sad. A lot of people talk about his promo from Monday and how prophetic it was, maybe it was almost too much like he knew what was coming. He was at a beautiful place, I know that from talking to him over the weekend. Just from people who were close to him, to see how happy he was. At the very least, he was in a very good place personally, my thoughts and sympathies go out to his family and his daughters and stuff like that. I think for him, it might have been okay for him, I think he might have been alright with the way things ended, and that’s always important.

WWE’s Seth Rollins: ”There’s a Lot of Life Left in The Shield”
The WWE star on The Shield’s success and their recent face turn.
By Eric Goldman (May 1st, 2014)

The Shield have been an increasingly popular part of WWE programming the past two years, with fan reaction strong nearly from the start. I sat down with one of The Shield’s members, Seth Rollins, to discuss the group’s success, their recent shift from heels to face and more.
I should mention I spoke to Rollins right before the current story-line involving The Shield and Evolution kicked off, hence us not discussing that situation. You can see those two groups square off at WWE’s Extreme Rules event, this Sunday on the WWE Network and Pay-Per-View.

IGN TV: For the three of you, did it just seem like you knew early on, “This is working”? Could you feel that everything was coming together?
Seth Rollins: Yeah, and I can’t really pinpoint an exact moment when we knew it was going to be good. For whatever reason, man, it was just clicked with the three of us. We all had the same work ethic and the same goal in mind from day one. We wanted to be the best, and we wanted work as hard as possible to get there. For whatever reason, it just all seemed to come together. We complemented each other very well, not just as performers, but as people too. It’s good for everybody.

IGN: When I spoke to Roman, I asked about your entrance, because obviously it really stands out. Does it still have that special excitement, the way you come in that way through the crowd?
Rollins: Yeah, I like it a lot. It’ll be weird if we ever have to come through the stage. That’ll be strange! But it’s cool, man. Every time we go up there and we’re waiting to come down, we get a little crowd that kind of surrounds us, and there’s a lot of energy there. As soon as that music hits, man, it’s just like, “Boom!” You know what I mean? Everybody turns around and stands up. It’s just a crazy energy. I can’t really describe it. It’s awesome.

IGN: Obviously the crowd has been backing you more and more, but now you’ve fully made a shift. Does it feel different for you? The energy’s always been there, and now it’s aimed a different way.
Rollins: Yeah, I think that’s the best way to describe it. We’re just doing what we do. I don’t think we’ve necessarily changed that much about us. We’re still black-clad, we’re still out there kicking ass, taking names. For whatever reason, the crowd seems to be on our side at this point. It feels good. It’s nice. The energy levels definitely haven’t gone down at all. If anything, they’ve risen up. It’s a different kind of energy. It’s awesome. I think people have always appreciated what we do, but I feel like for whatever reason now, they just feel like it’s okay to cheer us. So that’s cool. I dig that.

IGN: You had some fun interactions with the Wyatts for awhile. It seems like your two groups — while very different — also played well of each other.
Rollins: Yeah, definitely. From the first time we had any sort of interaction with them, when we were over in the UK last November, there was definitely some crazy electricity that was going on. We knew that once we got into it that it was going to be awesome. I think it exceeded whatever hype it had laid in front of it, and that’s really tough to do nowadays, to have a match where people wanted to see that. They were genuinely like, “Damn, I want to see that. That’s going to be awesome.” So I was really happy we got the opportunity to do that with those guys.

IGN: I remember the end of that RAW when you guys had your first mini-confrontation, the crowd got so pumped up. Obviously, you’re in the ring, you’ve got to perform, and you have to be on, but at the same time, you’re hearing the crowd. Does it really just energize you more when you get a moment like that where you just feel, “Oh, man. They are really into what’s going on right now”?
Rollins: Yeah, that’s what we live for. Those moments are what we do it for. That’s what keeps us coming back. It’s a rush every time we come down the stairs and through the crowd and get in the ring and have a great match. It’s special moments like that where you can’t describe the electricity; it’s a lighting-in-a-bottle sort of thing. That’s what keeps you coming back and really why you do it. Make people really feel something; that’s pretty impressive. That’s an awesome thing to be able to do.

IGN: In wrestling, even the best of stables eventually seem to split up. For awhile people were wondering if you guys were heading towards a split. Right now, it seems like it’s shifted back. Would you like to stay together for awhile more?
Rollins: I definitely do. I think there’s a lot of life left in The Shield, especially with the different direction the crowd has taken on with us. I think there’s a long way to go for us as a group — as individuals as well. There’s no reason we can’t advance in both situations. I think people assume that for whatever reason there’s an exclusivity to being a single star and a great stable. But for me it’s never about that. We can all grow as individuals, and we can all be big stars in our own right. The Shield can be as big as it’s ever been. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

IGN: You’re doing this professionally, you’re having a lot of success, but do you still have your own moments as a fan; whether it’s someone returning or just seeing an in-ring moment, where you get to just step aside for a second and see through that perspective?
Rollins: Yeah, getting to have conversations actually with guys that I idolized or being across the ring from someone like an Undertaker, that’s crazy stuff. That’s stuff you never ever think’s going to happen to you. I always wanted to be a wrestler, and I always thought that this was a place I was going to end up, just because that was the goal for me. But some of these things that we’ve done over the past year and a half have been really surreal, just being in a WrestleMania, wrestling guys like Undertaker and being in the ring with The Rock. You think those guys are going to be long gone by the time you get here. For them to be around and having a WrestleMania match with the Outlaws and Kane, who I watched when I was 12 years old, that’s just crazy stuff, man. That’s stuff you can write chapters in your book, you know what I mean? It’s just crazy.

Source: ca.ign.com
Follow Eric @EricIGN

Seth and Dean were at it again with their media appearances! They showed up at Fox4 Kansas City yesterday to judge a trash talk competition of sorts and talk about promo work! Here are the two parts of their appearance!