Dave Batista

Welcome to WIR, Top 5 Debuts in the 2010′s era. Today I cover number 2, the debut of the Shield

WWE CM Punk vs Ryback vs John Cena in Triple Threat Match for WWE Championship @ Survivor Series 2012 by Randy Savage

The Shield is one of the greatest debuts of all time because of not only the impact they had that night, but the impact they would have for the next 2 or so years in the WWE.

Even the debut itself was amazing: 3 rookies taking out the most popular face (good guy) at the time and costing him the championship. Up to that point Ryback had built himself up as a potential new main event face, squashing most opponents and looking strong enough that many believed he would win the WWE championship. When it came match time, Ryback had it won, even overcoming John Cena, only for this new group of nobodies that no one’s ever seen before (On official television. If you know NXT, then it’s even better as it’s the NXT champion himself with 2 others) to thwart his efforts, completely annihilate him in a beatdown, and even put him through a table with a triple powerbomb.

And of course, the end result of it all was CM Punk retaining his WWE championship and continuing his reign that would eventually be the longest WWE championship reign in modern times (and it was already on it’s way by this time).

Looking past that night, Shield would go on to feud with superstars such as John Cena, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk himself, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Kane, Big Show, Triple H, Batista, and more and they would go on to defeat every one of these men. In addition to beating such super teams as Ryback+Cena+Sheamus, Daniel Bryan+Kane+Ryback, Randy Orton+Sheamus+Big show and more, the Shield also put on great matches with these different teams and ended up stealing the show nearly every time.

From their 5 star match with the Wyatts at Elimination Chamber to great matches with Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Ryback, to the great wars had vs. Evolution, Shield was proven to be a great stable, a great faction, and a huge success. Some say they could be one of the greatest of all time, and it all started with that night.

So not only was that night huge, epic, surprising, and awesome in many ways, but what it led to was also great and may be etched in history.