10 Fascinating Facts About WWE In 2012
3. Ryback Forced A Huge Change Of Plans
Ex-Nexus member Skip Sheffield was repackaged into hungry, Goldberg-esque wrecking machine Ryback in April 2012, and it was a popular change. So popular, in fact, that Ryback was headlining Hell In A Cell vs. CM Punk by October. That show pulled a respectable 199,000 buys, so Vince McMahon decided to keep experimenting.
A planned ‘Team Punk’ vs. ‘Team Foley’ elimination scenario at Survivor Series was altered. 'Team Ziggler' replaced CM Punk's squad, and the WWE Champion defended his gold in a three-way vs John Cena and temporary golden golden Ryback instead.
Unfortunately, Survivors 2012 pulled 208,000 buys on PPV, which made it the lowest drawing entry in the longstanding series since 1996. Hey, maybe Ryback was responsible for those 9,000 extra buys since HIAC? OK, that's clutching at straws big time.
Still, it's interesting that Ryback forced WWE to change direction on such short notice. And his match did at least provide foundations for something longer-lasting...