Here is a look at three ways to make WWE Survivor Series 2017 more interesting by adding more stakes on the line other than bragging rights.
The seeds for a brand war at WWE Survivor Series have already been planted. The build towards the annual PPV started when the WWE champion Jinder Mahal challenged the Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. It came out of the blue and made no sense. Why would Jinder want to basically throw himself in front of a freight train? He tried to explain it as a way of his next conquest but that felt really hollow and flat.
On Monday, we learned that this year, just like the last year, it will be one brand competing against the other. The Champions from each brand would compete against their respective counterparts. In addition, the men and women will partake in a traditional five on five elimination match. If there is anything we learned from last year’s Survivor Series, it’s that these things don’t matter. There is no end game to the brands going to fight against each other. Nothing is up for stakes.
The commentary team tries to play up ‘bragging rights’ as a motive. We even had a PPV with the same name and they even used to have a trophy. But in all honesty, does it make any sense at all? Why would Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens offer their help to Shane McMahon unless something was on the line that could benefit them? Why would Braun Strowman (most probably) agree to be a team player if there isn’t any real benefit to him?
That is exactly why creative needs to add more stakes to these matches. The pride of one’s respective brand is not enough to motivate a wrestler to fight for his brand. Here are three better and more logical reasons for the brands to fight. Each of these ideas will in fact benefit the stars from the respective brands. So immediately, there will be a sense of urgency and motivation among them, faces and heels alike.
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3. Winning Brand gets the WWE Hardcore/European Championship
One of the big positives of the brand split was the creation of a better main event card. More talent managed to break it to the main event scene as opposed to the spot that was held by a few stars back in the day. Now that Raw and SmackDown Live are two different entities with exclusive superstars, there was enough room to showcase different stars on the main event. However, another big negative soon followed suit.
Both brands parted ways with one mid-card title at their disposal. This essentially made for a weaker mid-card scene on both brands. Prior to the brand split, someone on the mid-card had the luxury of fighting for the IC Title or the US Title. Now, if you’re on Raw, the IC Title is the stuff of main event spots and the Universal title is a fabled myth. Ideally, we would like at least one more mid-card title on either of the shows. That is where Survivor Series could come in.
The brands could fight over the right to hold one more title exclusive to them. The WWE has not used the Hardcore title ever since WrestleMania 22. Mick Foley and Edge declared themselves as co-holders of the title and we have never seen it afterwards. Another title that was prestigious back in the days was the European title. It became defunct in 2002 after a five-year run in the WWE. Why not bring either of these titles back to boost the mid-card scene on either brand?
Having an extra title to compete for means your odds of holding gold in the WWE are higher. The superstars on either brands would be wise enough to notice this. In addition, all the present title holders will be busy with their own matches and only the ones without any gold around their waist would be competing in the elimination match. That would give them one more reason to fight their hearts out. Additionally, that would add an instant sense of priority and prestige to the titles being brought back. Something tells me Raw will be the ultimate winner at the end of all this and they could certainly use one of these titles considering how talented their mid-card is and how underutilized it is.
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2. Number Thirty Spot in the Royal Rumble Match
If you are a superstar from either Raw or SmackDown, and you’ve just entered the Royal Rumble match, which position would you want to go in? Nobody in their right minds would pick the Number one spot. In fact, arguably nobody would want to enter themselves as one among the first fifteen entrants. If we take it even further, any sane superstar would want to enter at Number Thirty spot.
That spot puts you at a distinct advantage. While most of the other superstars are tired from battling it out, you get to enter fresh as a Cucumber. Although, statistically the number twenty-seven spot has produced the most winners, everybody envies the number thirty spot. Creative can have a stipulation that the number thirty entry spot in this year’s Royal Rumble match would be guaranteed to a superstar from the winning brand.
The GM can then conduct a tournament among the wrestlers who competed for his brand to determine who gets the advantage. If knowing the number thirty entrant beforehand affects the unpredictable nature of the Rumble, WWE can instead have the stars take lots as usual to get the number thirty spot. Whichever way, everyone knows what winning the Rumble could do to their careers. That will be reason enough to have even the nastiest heels to comply with the GM and fight for their brand.
Additionally, creative can add more stipulations like the members of the winning team gets to pick their entry positions, once the number thirty spot has been taken. These kind of minor stories within the brand could help to add more twists and turns during the build up towards this years Royal Rumble.
Credit: WWE.com
1. Main Event Spot at WrestleMania 34
If you are a wrestler in the WWE, what is your ultimate dream? For everyone from Finn Balor to Curt Hawkins, the answer would be to compete in the main event of a WrestleMania during the prime of your career. What if that opportunity was up for grabs in this year’s Survivor Series? Both brands have their own top title. The WWE Championship is home to SmackDown Live. Raw on the other hand has the Universal Championship.
Which of these title matches would take place during the main event of WrestleMania? Whichever one it is, the other title would seem to be of less value instantly. However, there is a way to prevent this though. Why not have the brands fight it out to earn the right to represent their title in the main event of the Showcase of the Immortals?
WWE can play up this idea along with the Royal Rumble spot idea from the previous slide. Not only would superstars from the winning brand gets favorable odds to win the Rumble, now they can guarantee a spot to feature in the main event of the Show of Shows. How big of an opportunity would that be if you are a mid-carder, without any gold around your waist at the moment?
Adding stipulations like this would add a bit of logic to the Blue Brand’s savage attack from Monday night. It would explain why both faces and heels agreed to fight side by side. If creative decides to stick with the ‘bragging rights idea’ though, forget logic. Moreover, forget any kind of continuity or impact resulting from a team’s win at WWE Survivor Series 2017.
Next: Will We See A Title Change Before Survivor Series?
What do you make of these suggestions? Are there any other similar ideas storming in the back of your brain as you went through this post? Share them with us and the rest of the world in the comments section. What if the WWE actually sees this and makes some amends to their Survivor Series build up? You just never know. Anything can happen in the WWE.