10 Fascinating WWE Survivor Series 2012 Facts

5. The Main Event Was Added Based On Ryback's Potential

The big elimination match for Survivor Series 2012 was supposed to see WWE Champion CM Punk captain the heel side of the ticket. One member of Mick Foley's group of five babyfaces was to have been Ryback, fresh off of a Hell in a Cell title loss against Punk.

It was that very Hell in a Cell pay-per-view that caused WWE to rebook Survivor Series. The event did 199,000 buys, higher than virtually every other secondary pay-per-view in 2012 (sans the Brock Lesnar-headined Extreme Rules).

WWE interpreted the serviceable number (for a secondary pay-per-view) as Ryback having potential as a popular character. He'd only made his main roster debut in April. If a pay-per-view where he challenged for the main championship sold decently enough, it indicated that Ryback had breakout aspirations. The World title match was made to see if fans would buy another show with Ryback on top.