Re: The Shield serves no purpose.
Seriously, though, be objective. I don't like Orton or Barrett all that much, but I know they're awesome, because they're half-decent and have huge followings. You can't have that much deference to the Shield given their fan support? As someone else here said, if their promo's are overrated, where are the phantom promo's that are better? Even Roman Reigns is doing FAR BETTER than when he first showed up, and pretty damn good for a rookie already.
The Shield is original, threatening, they make an impact every week. They serve as much of a purpose as anyone: they're not waiting for their turn, and they're not good enough on their own, so they're teaming up to destroy all the stars in their way. I don't know if you noticed this, but they've made six-man tag matches EXTREMELY entertaining. I seriously cannot emphasize how incredible that is. WHEN they win the tag belts they'll make them relevant again. The way they work together as a gimmick is just awesome. Yeah, yeah, other guys have done this before, shove it, it SEEMS original, so its awesome. If Shield isn't original, then nothing is.