Wrestling fandom is not a monolith, and I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who have fond memories of watching the WWE product in 2012. I suspect, however, that there are even more of you out there for whom the absolute best thing you can say about this particular year in WWE history is that CM Punk was WWE Champion the entire time — and that reign is most notable for being terribly booked and making both title and champion feel less important by the time it was over. While we focus a lot on Punk’s reign being bad, however, we shouldn’t lose focus on the fact that pretty much everything happening around him in 2012 was as bad, if not worse.

You don’t even have to watch the whole show to learn this (though I did). Just scan the Wikipedia page. An Alberto Del Rio match; a Zack Ryder match; a Layla vs. Eve Torres match. Supporting performers at ringside included David Otunga, Aksana, and Vickie Guerrero. A pre-show battle royal, won by Ryder, included the following participants: Michael McGillicutty, Ted DiBiase Jr., Primo, Epico, Justin Gabriel, Tyson Kidd, Brodus Clay, Heath Slater, JTG, Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal, Santino Marella, Titus O’Neil, Darren Young, and Tensai. That’s bleak, man. The WWE roster was so stagnant in September 2012 that we’re about six months away from fans embracing Fandango, of all people, because at least he was different.

We’ve done a decent number of these retro loved/hated columns at this point, and while we’ve covered a decent number of shows from the late 1990s, and from the mid-2000s, and from 2014, we’ve largely avoided this period of WWE, and we have done that, by and large, because it sucks. This show demanded our attention thanks to it featuring a really good Punk vs. John Cena match at Night of Champions, but beyond that, it’s primarily a reminder of just how barren the landscape was before the roster got a massive refresh over a multi-year period starting in 2013. This is before the Four Horsewomen, before the Wyatt Family, even before the Shield. Kofi Kingston is out here teaming with R-Truth because the New Day didn’t exist yet; Daniel Bryan is just beginning his tag team act with Kane instead of winning world titles; Antonio Cesaro has yet to feud with Sami Zayn because “NXT” as we know it has only been around for a few months and Zayn hasn’t even debuted there yet. Mistico leaves WWE in 2014, Rey Mysterio in 2015, and Cody Rhodes in 2016; the battle royal is a parade of ex-WWE stars, plus Drew McIntyre, who also left before coming back. And as usual for this era, the less said about the women’s division, the better. It’s unreal the degree of turnover this version of the roster was forced to undergo, but it was also entirely necessary — as anyone who has sat through Night of Champions 2012 can tell you.

Written by Miles Schneiderman