Sometimes, the much mocked WWE Creative team throws you a moment that, as a fan, reminds you why you fell in love with wrestling in the first place. That makes you ‘mark out’ . For the uninitiated ‘marking out’ is when the viewer goes beyond the suspension of disbelief and actually feels, in that moment, that what they are seeing is real (ever got nervous watching James Bond trying to get out of that life-threatening situation in a movie? Yeah, you marked out. Ha, you mark).
Survivor Series 2012 contains one of those very moments with the introduction of The Shield.
Comprised of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and the highly acclaimed Dean Ambrose, The Shield appear without warning in the triple threat match between WWE champion CM Punk, ten time champion John Cena and lumbering Goldberg clone Ryback. Their impact is huge – there is nothing to even hint at their arrival. The crowd seem genuinely stunned.
The Shield move like a pack of wild dogs. This is not three guys thrown together because no one knew what to do with them. This is a unit where every movement, no matter how slight, feels important. Not since CM Punk’s now legendary ‘pipe bomb’ promo of 2011 has anyone in WWE made such an impact.
So I could just tell you to buy this DVD based solely on this match. Or for the bonus feature of CM Punk and Paul Heyman being interviewed backstage after the match (sadly, the only bonus feature on the DVD, although the Blu-Ray has many more). It is yet another masterclass in promo cutting from two guys at the very top of their game – Heyman playing the angry sidekick as well as ever, Punk the cocky champion with a chip on his shoulder (at one point suggesting the interviewer should be off buying him a celebratory cake).
Punk’s title reign made the belt mean everything again, something that is seemingly being undone at the moment with it being stuffed in The Rock’s suitcase while he’s off promoting movies rather than appearing on Raw. Anyone getting into wrestling for the first time would do well to hunt down as much footage from Punk’s 434 day title run as they can, sit back and watch a master at work.
Aside from the main event, the rest of the show is made up of Team Foley vs Team Ziggler, featuring even more of Dolph’s infamous bumps including the moment when he makes a standard flip from Kofi Kingston seem like he’s been hit by a truckload of angry fridges. There’s a surprisingly compelling WHC title match between Sheamus and champion Big Show that keeps their feud running, a US title defence by the ever impressive Antonio Cesaro against R-Truth, a fairly run of the mill Divas title match between Eve and Kaitlyn and a traditional, if somewhat dull, Survivor Series match that pits Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd (who steals the show easily) against Primo & Epico, The Prime Time Players and the godawful Tensai.
All in all Survivor Series 2012 is a mix of very strong and pretty average matches. But frankly if I didn’t advise you buy ANY DVD where the main event involved both CM Punk and Dean Ambrose then I’m not too sure I could really live with myself.
