1. Team Hell No & Ryback Vs. The Shield
A TLC match with nothing at stake, this match was The Shield's first on the main roster and was absolutely spell-binding from start to finish. The pace of the match was astounding, with all six men bringing their working boots and then some. Sure, it was heavy on weapons and violence, but it never felt that the weapons were taking centre-stage. The performers were the important part, not the gimmick. The match also set The Shield's stall out from the very beginning. Seth Rollins was an athletic freak, Dean Ambrose was insane and Roman Reigns was the brute force. Daniel Bryan was Daniel Bryan, pulling off the face-in-peril and energetic hot tag better than most on the planet. Even the obvious deficiencies of Kane and Ryback were masked well, showcasing what both guys were good at rather then focusing on their weaknesses. The Shield made their debut in a major angle, but it was this match that truly set them apart at the top of the WWE food chain. They would go on to have great match after great match against a whole variety of opponents. This was that rarest of beasts in WWE, a match where all six men came out looking like superstars despite the fact that three of them hadn't had a main roster match at this point.
John Bills
Contributor
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
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