Chris Hero has finally opened up about the rumours that he was originally supposed to be the third member of The Shield, revealing why the speculation “annoys” him.
Speaking with Inside The Ropes‘ Kenny McIntosh, Hero – who wrestled in WWE until Kassius Ohno before his release in 2020 – would open up about how the story has taken on a life of its own, and that it can’t be true, as The Shield didn’t actually exist at that point.
“A little thing that annoys me about this is that people heard the podcast with [CM] Punk, and then they put that information out there, and it just kind of took a life of its own. When Punk pitched the trio of myself, [Dean] Ambrose and [Seth] Rollins, there was no ‘Shield’ concept. It was just, ‘Hey, let’s pair these three guys with me.’ Right? So, technically, I was never supposed to be a member of The Shield because The Shield didn’t exist when this was pitched.”
Hero, who now hosts his own podcast ‘Can Chris Hero Save Wrestling?‘ on AdFreeShows, goes onto say that the story has now become so far removed from what was actually said, that it’s simply untrue.
“That’s a thing that I see on Twitter pretty much every other day. It gets a little annoying because it’s deviated so far from the original source of it. I found out just when everybody else found out – by listening to CM Punk on The Art of Wrestling podcast. I’d never had a conversation with him about this.”
Hero went on to discuss how “these things happen” when you pitch ideas, but that you try to avoid getting people’s hopes up.
“These things happen all the time where you pitch ideas or you talk about things but the last thing you wanna do is get someone’s hopes up by saying, ‘Hey, man, I pitched this…’ or whatever, ‘I’m gonna do my best to get this to work’ -and then, if it doesn’t work, it’s just unnecessary bad feelings. Not BAD bad feelings – but you understand my point.”
Hero even said that he has never spoken to CM Punk about it, because he doesn’t know how to address it – but said that he would have been a success if he had been in The Shield, because he’d have made the most of it.
“So, listening to that podcast was the first time I had heard that. I’ve never had a conversation with Punk about this. Still, to this day, I have not – because I don’t really know what the point of the conversation would be. People ask me if I think I could have been successful in The Shield and, of course, my answer is, ‘Yes, of course.’ I think I can take anything that’s given to me and make the most out of it.”
Hero would note how people tend to use the argument to pit him against WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, before praising the Tribal Chief and reiterating that he was never pitched for The Shield.
“Unfortunately, people like to pit this as a me versus Roman Reigns thing – which is very silly, because he’s an incredible performer, he’s one of a kind, he’s got his own thing figured out and there’s really no reason to compare the two of us, especially when I wasn’t pitched for a Shield because a Shield didn’t exist yet.”
Hero went on to say, no matter what had happened with The Shield, but admitted being part of a faction was very beneficial to the now Universal Champion.
“Shield or not, I think Roman would have went on to be a star. The Six-Man tag, just the package of them allowed Roman to gain experience without being exposed early on. Not that he would have been exposed but he just did not have the experience that those guys did, or the experience of their opponents. Similar to the Wyatt Family where they were all able to exist at the same time but they’re not out there having 20 minute matches where you can see all their strengths and weaknesses at the same time.”
‘Can Chris Hero Save Wrestling?‘ is available to listen to now via AdFreeShows.
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