Classic Match: The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No (TLC Match), TLC 2012

RondaRousey.com’s Classic Match series takes a closer look at significant and super cool matches from wrestling history.

Whether they’re together or apart, no group has had more of an impact on modern-day WWE than The Shield. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose have been three of the company’s biggest stars since the day they debuted in November 2012, and their shared history has remained a focal point of WWE storylines—most recently in the form of the current feud between Rollins and Ambrose.

But every super-team has an origin story, and The Shield’s first match together was an appropriately chaotic affair: a six-man Tables, Ladders, & Chairs match against Ryback and Team Hell No (the delightfully dysfunctional duo of Daniel Bryan and Kane) at TLC 2012, on December 16 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Despite only existing as a unit for a month, The Shield had already built a reputation as a tight-knit squad bent on unleashing destruction, including their trademark triple-powerbomb, which they had used on Ryback a month earlier at their surprise run-in debut at Survivor Series 2012.

The Shield didn’t ease into their first WWE match: At the time of TLC 2012, Ryback (who left WWE in 2016) was feuding with then-WWE Champion CM Punk, and Team Hell No were the Tag Team Champions. But even in a formative state—TLC 2012 was not only their first match as a group, but each member of the team’s first main roster match—The Shield showed off the qualities that made them special, starting with their black tactical gear and entrance through the crowd. Even in their debut bout, The Shield’s roles were pretty well-defined—Roman the powerhouse, Seth the daredevil, and Dean the “eccentric” wildcard.

Predictably, the match started with mayhem, with all six participants brawling in and around the ring. Throughout the opening minutes, The Shield took turns isolating their opponents and triple-teaming them. Just as soon as it looked like The Shield might be vulnerable—like when Ryback heartily smushed both Ambrose and Rollins with a ladder—things swung back around in the trio’s favor.

To Ryback’s credit, though, he performed about as admirably as one could hope for, including suplexing both Ambrose and Rollins onto a ladder (definitely watch this match to see Dean’s face after this happens, it’s worth it). Yet even “The Big Guy” had his limit against the “Hounds of Justice,” and he ended up triple-powerbombed through an announce table for the second month in a row. (Worth noting that this match could only end by pinfall or submission, there was nothing hanging from the ceiling to grab via ladder like traditional TLC matches.)

Daniel Bryan—at this point in his career repeatedly saying “NO” instead of “YES,” in one of the more amusing character tuns—immediately responded with a pointed dive to the outside, but The Shield quickly got the better of him. Kane soon received the same treatment. In one of the match’s most imaginative sequences, Dean and Seth suplexed Bryan off of a table propped up on the top rope—then attempted to do the same thing to Kane, who reversed and hit a flying clothesline off the table, and then chokeslammed Ambrose onto a chair (which looks about as fun as it sounds).

The Shield’s dominance continued, as they buried Kane outside the ring in a pile of debris and plunder (chairs, Spanish announce table remains, and whatever else was lying around). Bryan got another heroic moment to shine as he got the YES Lock—er, NO Lock—on each member of The Shield one by one, but he then fell victim to a Curb Stomp by Rollins onto a chair (yow), which certainly had to be the end—except Ryback sprung back to life and cleaned house, including tossing Seth outside the ring onto Dean with an overhead slam.

It looked like Ryback had Dean pinned with his finisher, the Shellshock, but Seth and Roman made the save—The Shield then took things outside the ring and hit Ryback with, as JBL put it, “almost everything in this arena.” In typically ambitious Rollins fashion, he scaled a very high ladder looking to drive Ryback through a table—which backfired when Ryback got up and sent Seth flying though said table. Yet while that was happening, Ambrose and Reigns were double-teaming Bryan in the ring, leading to a powerbomb from Reigns off the middle rope through a table, securing The Shield’s victory.

This match was the true beginning of The Shield’s dominance, an era that continued until Rollins famously turned on his partners in June 2014. The tensions between Ryback and The Shield continued after TLC, with the trio costing Ryback a TLC match against CM Punk just a few weeks later on RAW.

You can go back and revisit this match (and the entirety of TLC 2012) on the WWE Network.