10 Best WWE Pay-Per-View Debuts Ever

5. The Shield (Survivor Series 2012)

The Shield Debut
WWE.com

2012 was far from a banner year for WWE. Sheamus winning the Royal Rumble had been flat, a much-anticipated showdown between The Rock and John Cena at WrestleMania failed to excite, and even Dolph Ziggler's Money In The Bank win proved ultimately pointless. Thank God then for The Shield.

Bursting onto the main roster like a group of men who were as sick of WWE's asinine product as the fans, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns injected a dose of poison into the roster so lethal that it could have been called the second coming of the nWo. The Shield were cool, regardless of how decidedly uncool Reigns is considered nowadays.

Ambushing Ryback and smashing him through the announce table with a huge power-bomb, the trio left a historic imprint and saved what had been another limp pay-per-view. Make no mistake, the debut of The Shield is the only reason to fire up Survivor Series 2012. This is the moment three future WWE Champions stole the show.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.