Survivor Series (2012)
| Survivor Series (2012) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuring WWE Superstar The Miz | ||||
| Theme song(s) | "Now or Never" by Outasight[1] | |||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | WWE | |||
| Sponsor(s) | Kmart | |||
| Date | November 18, 2012 | |||
| Attendance | 8,500[2] | |||
| Venue | Bankers Life Fieldhouse | |||
| City | Indianapolis, Indiana | |||
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||||
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| Survivor Series chronology | ||||
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Survivor Series (2012) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on November 18, 2012 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.[3][4] It was the 26th annual Survivor Series event and the first one held in Indiana. The event received 212,000 pay-per-view buys, down from 281,000 buys the previous year.[5] This event is notable for the onscreen debut of The Shield.
Production
Background
This event was originally scheduled at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.[6] However, this booking inadvertently conflicted with the National Football League's schedule for the 2012 season, which pitted the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens in a home game on the same night. Despite Pittsburgh being a strong WWE market dating from the territorial days of professional wrestling, the WWE decided to make no attempts to locally compete against the fanbase of the Steelers (especially since the game is against the team's archrival)[7] and moved Survivor Series to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Storylines
The professional wrestling matches at Survivor Series featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.[8][9]
On the October 29, 2012 episode of Raw a Survivor Series elimination match between a team managed by Mick Foley against a team led by CM Punk was scheduled. Originally Punk was to captain a team which also included The Miz, Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow and Alberto Del Rio, whereas Foley's team was to consist of Ryback, Kofi Kingston, Kane, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. The team members were involved in several feuds: Hell in a Cell, Team Rhodes Scholars (Rhodes and Sandow) had unsuccessfully challenged Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) for the Tag Team Championship and the Miz had failed to win the Intercontinental Championship from Kingston. Del Rio had also lost to Orton at the event. However, the central feud was between the WWE Champion CM Punk and Ryback. Ryback had lost a title match at Hell in a Cell after the referee Brad Maddox low-blowed him, followed by a fast count to give Punk the pinfall victory. Ryback then took out his frustration on Punk and Maddox, first press-slamming Maddox out of the ring into the side of the cell, then chasing Punk to the top of the cell, where Ryback caught him and performed his finishing move, Shell Shocked.
The match saw several changes: On the November 5 episode of Raw, the Miz quit the team due to Punk abandoning his team in an attack by Team Foley and was replaced by Wade Barrett, who had been recruited by Paul Heyman. Furthermore, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon questioned Vickie Guerrero's decision to place Punk in an elimination match instead of letting him defend his championship, and forced Vickie Guerrero to remove Punk and Ryback from the elimination match. Dolph Ziggler replaced Punk as captain of the team, which was now renamed Team Ziggler. Ryback's replacement was to be chosen by a RAW active poll, with the choices The Miz, Santino Marella, and Zack Ryder being candidates. Rhodes was replaced by David Otunga at the event due to an injury sustained in the lead-up to the event.
Instead of competing in the Survivor Series elimination match, CM Punk was scheduled to defend his WWE Championship in a triple threat match against Ryback and John Cena, whom Punk had wrestled to a draw at Night of Champions.
Survivor Series also included a rematch from Hell in a Cell between Sheamus and Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship.
The Divas feud heading into Survivor Series was between Eve Torres and Kaitlyn over the WWE Divas Championship. At Night of Champions, Kaitlyn was attacked by an unknown woman moments before she was set to face off against Layla for the Divas Championship, which led to Eve replacing Kaitlyn and winning the title. In the weeks that followed, the evil Aksana was eventually revealed as Kaitlyn's attacker, doing so under Eve's orders. As a result, a Triple Threat Match took place at Hell In A Cell, with Eve defeating Layla and Kaitlyn to retain the title. On the November 12 edition of Raw, Kaitlyn defeated Layla to earn a Divas Championship match at Survivor Series.
Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd were initially scheduled to face 3MB in the pre-show available free on YouTube, but were replaced with Team Co-Bro (Santino Marella and Zack Ryder) due to being placed in a different match at the event.
Event
Pre-show
On the pre-show 3MB (Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal with Drew McIntyre at ringside) faced Team CoBro (Santino Marella and Zack Ryder). Though Ryder was able to execute the Broski Boot and Rough Ryder on Slater, he missed the tag made by Mahal who pinned Ryder resulting in a victory for 3MB.
Preliminary matches
The main show opened with an unannounced Survivor Series elimination match between the team of Brodus Clay, Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara and the team of Tensai, Primo & Epico and The Prime Time Players (Darren Young and Titus O'Neil). Clay was eliminated by Tensai after a Gomennasai. Tensai was eliminated by Gabriel with a Crucifix Pin. O'Neil was eliminated by Kidd with a Roll Up. Epico was eliminated by Kidd after submitting to the Sharpshooter. Primo was eliminated by Mysterio with La Magistral. Young was eliminated by Mysterio after a 619 followed by a Diving Splash, leaving Kidd, Gabriel, Mysterio and Sin Cara as the survivors.
Next, Eve defended the Divas Championship against Kaitlyn. Eve pinned Kaitlyn after the Heart Breaker to win the match.
In the third match Antonio Cesaro defended the United States Championship against R-Truth. Cesaro pinned R-Truth after a Neutralizer to win the match.
Main event matches
In the first of three main event matches, World Heavyweight Champion Big Show was challenged by former champion, Sheamus. The match ended when Big Show intentionally used the referee as a shield, causing Sheamus to inadvertently performed a Brogue Kick on the referee. With Sheamus distracted and attending to the official, Big Show performed the Knockout Punch on Sheamus, after which another referee counted the fall and awarded Big Show the victory. Referee John Cone reversed the decision and disqualified Big Show, who nevertheless retained the title. After the match, Big Show argued with the referee John Cone, before Sheamus assaulted Big Show with a chair, and setting up a rematch at next pay-per-view TLC.
The fifth match was a Survivor Series match between Team Foley (Randy Orton, The Miz, WWE Tag Team Champions Kane and Daniel Bryan and WWE Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, with Mick Foley at ringside) and Team Ziggler (Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Alberto Del Rio, Damien Sandow and David Otunga). Sandow was eliminated by Kane after a Chokeslam. Kane was eliminated by Ziggler after a Zig Zag. Otunga was eliminated by Bryan after submitting to the No Lock. Kingston was eliminated by Barrett after a Bull Hammer. Bryan was eliminated by Del Rio after submitting to the Cross Armbreaker. Barrett was eliminated by The Miz after a Skull Crushing Finale. The Miz was eliminated by Del Rio after a Step Up Enziguri on the Top Rope. Del Rio was eliminated by Orton after an RKO. After Orton kicked out of a Zig Zag, Orton attempted to perform a Punt Kick on Ziggler but Ziggler performed a Superkick on Orton to eliminate him, leaving Ziggler as the sole survivor.
The main event was a triple threat match for the WWE Championship between reigning champion CM Punk and challengers Ryback and John Cena. The match came to an end when the debuting trio of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns - later known as The Shield - approached the ring from the crowd and triple-powerbombed Ryback through the broadcast table, allowing Punk to retain the title by pinning Cena after the Shell Shock from Ryback.[10][11] With Punk's win he became only the seventh wrestler in history to hold the WWE Championship consecutively for one full year.
Results
Survivor Series elimination matches
| Elimination | Wrestler | Eliminated by | Elimination move | Time[19] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brodus Clay | Tensai | Pinned after a Gomennasai | 8:25 | |
| 2 | Tensai | Justin Gabriel | Pinned with a Crucifix pin | 10:23 | |
| 3 | Titus O'Neil | Tyson Kidd | Pinned after a Roll-up | 13:51 | |
| 4 | Epico | Tyson Kidd | Submitted to the Sharpshooter | 15:02 | |
| 5 | Primo | Rey Mysterio | Pinned with a La Magistral | 17:32 | |
| 6 | Darren Young | Rey Mysterio | Pinfall after a Diving splash | 18:27 | |
| Survivor(s): | Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd | ||||
| Elimination | Wrestler | Team | Eliminated by | Elimination move | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Damien Sandow | Team Ziggler | Kane | Pinned after a Chokeslam | 03:08 |
| 2 | Kane | Team Foley | Dolph Ziggler | Pinned after a Zig Zag | 03:47 |
| 3 | David Otunga | Team Ziggler | Daniel Bryan | Submitted to the "No!" Lock | 07:11 |
| 4 | Kofi Kingston | Team Foley | Wade Barrett | Pinned after a Bull Hammer | 09:43 |
| 5 | Daniel Bryan | Team Foley | Alberto Del Rio | Submitted to the Cross Armbreaker | 12:40 |
| 6 | Wade Barrett | Team Ziggler | The Miz | Pinned after a Skull Crushing Finale | 16:05 |
| 7 | The Miz | Team Foley | Alberto Del Rio | Pinned after a Step-up enzuigiri on the top rope | 17:14 |
| 8 | Alberto Del Rio | Team Ziggler | Randy Orton | Pinned after an RKO | 21:00 |
| 9 | Randy Orton | Team Foley | Dolph Ziggler | Pinned after a Superkick | 23:43 |
| Survivor(s): | Dolph Ziggler (Team Ziggler) | ||||
References
- ↑ "Tweet Survivor Series Theme Song". WWE Music Group @WWEMusic.
- ↑ "Recent WWE attendance figures (11/18 and 11/20)". Wrestleview.com. Retrieved 2013-06-09.
- ↑ "WWE Survivor Series". WWE. Retrieved 2012-08-19.
- ↑ "WWE Survivor Series presented by Kmart". Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Retrieved 2012-09-01.
- ↑ "WWE Survivor Series 2012 Pay-Per-View Buys Show A Drop From Previous Two Years" (Press release). Wrestling INC. December 22, 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
- ↑ http://www.wrestlezone.com/news/252755-exclusive-wwe-survivor-series-2012-location-a-date-
- ↑ http://www.wrestlenewz.com/wrestling/wwe-news/huge-change-expected-for-survivor-series-pay-per-view/
- ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
- ↑ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
- ↑ The Masked Man (David Shoemaker) (November 20, 2012). "New Kids on the Mat". Grantland.com. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
- ↑ Murphy, Ryan (November 19, 2012). "WWE Champion CM Punk def. John Cena and Ryback (Triple Threat Match)". WWE. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ↑ "3MB def. Team Co-Bro". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel & Tyson Kidd def. The Prime Time Players, Tensai, Primo & Epico (Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Tag Team Match)". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Divas Champion Eve def. Kaitlyn". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "United States Champion Antonio Cesaro def. R-Truth". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Sheamus def. World Heavyweight Champion Big Show by disqualification". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "Team Ziggler (Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, Wade Barrett, Damien Sandow & David Otunga) def. Team Foley (Randy Orton, WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No, The Miz & Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston)". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ "CM Punk def. WWE Champion John Cena and Ryback (Triple Threat Match)". WWE. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
- ↑ Caldwell, James. "CALDWELL'S WWE SURVIVOR SERIES PPV REPORT 11/18: Complete "virtual time" coverage of live PPV - Punk-Cena-Ryback". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 19 November 2012.