PPV Rewind - WWE Survivor Series (2012)

#7 (WWE Championship – Triple Threat Match) – CM Punk vs John Cena vs Ryback

(WWE Championship – Triple Threat Match) – ©CM Punk vs John Cena vs Ryback.

CM Punk defeated the previously undefeated Ryback at Hell in a Cell with interference from a planted referee officiating the contest. The “referee” gave Ryback a low blow, allowing for Punk to rollup Ryback for the quick counted 1,2,3. The referee was revealed to be Brad Maddox, a man hired by Punk and Paul Heyman to secure CM Punk his title victory over Ryback. Mr McMahon announced a rematch for the Survivor Series, with John Cena added to the mix to shake things up for the WWE Champion on a prior episode of RAW.

The match began with John Cena and Ryback giving chase to CM Punk, as Punk is eventually cornered by Ryback and Cena. Both men double team Punk, taking turns exchanging blows to the champion. CM Punk would eventually get the upper hand, taking Cena down and went right after Ryback.

Ryback would counter Punk with a Big Boot then applied a Chokehold. Following this, Cena recovers and hits Punk with a running bulldog. CM Punk is then clotheslined outside the ring by Ryback. A stare down takes place between Ryback and Cena inside the ring.

Ryback overpowers Cena, as the crowd breaks into chants of “Let’s Go Cena/CM Punk!”. Cena delivers a shoulder tackle to Ryback. Ryback counters back with a shoulder tackle of his own. Punk re-enters the ring and goes after Ryback, kicking away at his leg to weaken “The Big Guy”, then drops him with a Snap Suplex. Ryback no sells the suplex, gets back up and delivers a Military Press Slam to Punk. John Cena then attacks Ryback, as Punk climbs to the top turnbuckle and hits a Diving Axe Handle on Ryback.

Afterwards, Punk tosses Cena outside the ring and then hits Ryback with another Diving Axe Handle from the top rope. Ryback fights back and hits Punk with a shoulder block into the corner. Punk responds with a Spinning Back Wheel Kick to the face of Ryback. Cena gets back into the ring and attempts an Attitude Adjustment, but Punk counters this into a DDT. Cena hits Punk with a powerslam, then a Spin-Out Powerbomb to Ryback. Ryback no sells the powerbomb and begins exchanging punches with Cena.

CM Punk rolls outside the ring grabs Cena and drags him to the arena floor, slamming him into the steel steps. Punk climbs onto the apron and hits Ryback with a Springboard Clothesline inside the ring. Ryback counters and hits a series of clotheslines followed up by a Back Body Drop and a Spinebuster to Punk. Ryback starts to rally the crowd into chanting: “Feed. Me. More!” as he prepares to hit the Meathook Clothesline on Punk. He drills the champ with the Meathook Clothesline. Ryback hits the Shellshock on Punk, but Cena gets back into the ring, breaks up the pin and applies an STF to Ryback.

Punk regains his composure, shakes off the cobwebs and climbs the top turnbuckle to deliver a Diving Elbow Drop to both men to break up the submission attempt. Punk attempts a GTS to Cena but is countered as both men exchange rights and lefts. Ryback gets up and hits both men with a double clothesline that sends both Punk and Cena crashing to the arena floor.

Outside the ring, both Punk and Cena regain their composure and go after Ryback. They block a Double Shellshock attempt and send Ryback crashing through the announce table with a Double Suplex. Punk and Cena go back into the ring, as Ryback is laid out on the arena floor amongst the wrecked table.

Cena mounts a comeback to Punk, hitting two Running shoulder blocks followed up by a Spin-Out Powerbomb. Cena goes for the 5 Knuckle Shuffle but has this countered into the GTS for a near fall. Cena gets back up and delivers an Attitude Adjustment to Punk for a near fall as well.

The crowd begins to chant for CM Punk as Punk delivers a variety of kicks to Cena, then a Running Knee Lift into the corner. Punk attempts a bulldog from the corner but has this reversed into the STF. Ryback gets up from the wreckage outside the ring and drags Cena outside to the floor. Ryback hits Cena with the Meathook Clothesline, laying Cena out. He enters the ring, picks up CM Punk and hits the Shellshock. Cena comes back into the ring and goes after Ryback. He attempts an Attitude Adjustment but has it countered into the Shellshock.

Suddenly, three mysterious individuals jump over the barricade, dressed in black, as they break up the pin attempt and target Ryback. The trio drags Ryback outside the ring, continuing to pummel and assault him before they deliver a Triple Powerbomb through the Spanish announce table. The three men then quickly leave the scene, as Michael Cole would later reveal the three men to be Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose from NXT.

With Ryback taken out by these three men, Punk crawls over and covers Cena in the ring to get the pinfall victory to retain the WWE Championship. CM Punk and Paul Heyman would celebrate Punk’s title victory as the Survivor Series goes off the air.

The main event was indeed very exciting and was a good match to conclude the show. The debut of Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, the three men who we would learn would become “The Shield” was the standout moment of the entire pay-per-view. Outside of the interference, the match was good and had the crowd was very engaged.

Ryback looked very strong and hung in there with Punk and Cena, who were established main eventers for WWE at the time. Punk would weasel his way out of this predicament and continue his reign as WWE Champion for the next several months. Ryback would go on to feud with The Shield in the weeks to come, as John Cena would continue to feud with Punk and eventually The Rock over the WWE Championship title. All in all, this was a satisfying main event that delivered and gave each Superstar involved a direction to go after the show went off the air.

Match Rating: 4 Stars

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