WWE Survivor Series 2019: Including NXT greatly increases interest in show

WWE Survivor Series 2019 is about two weeks away and in familiar trends of recent years, the show will feature battles for brand supremacy, but this time, the WWE’s up and coming brand will be in the mix.

At WWE Survivor Series 2019, it will be Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT matches for the first time and the fallout from that announcement has been making waves across the landscape of the WWE over the past week with NXT stars taking over both the red and blue brand.

It got started last week on SmackDown when Triple H and Shawn Michaels brought countless NXT stars to Friday night in the midst of a travel crisis of sorts in which many SmackDown superstars were still in Saudi Arabia following the Crown Jewel event.  Speculation was running wild as to what WWE would do to put on the scheduled SmackDown show with so many Superstars still in Saudi Arabia, but the perfect solution was found in the form of NXT.

The first shot was fired when after Bayley successfully defended her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Nikki Cross, NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler appeared and took out Bayley.  Keith Lee and Matt Riddle then settled their differences with Sami Zayn by laying out the loud-mouth in the middle of the ring after a backstage interaction.  Miz TV developed into a big match when Tommaso Ciampa wound up taking on The Miz and defeating The A-Lister.

Rhea Ripley and Tegan Nox defeated Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose in tag team action before the epic main event that saw Daniel Bryan challenge Adam Cole for the NXT Championship.  In one of the better TV matches in a while, Cole pulled off arguably the biggest win of his career by defeating Bryan clean to make an ever-lasting statement that NXT is here for war heading into Survivor Series, as Triple H declared after the match flanked by his NXT superstars.

NXT’s declaration of war continued on Raw last night when Triple H approached a distraught Seth Rollins just days after losing the Universal Championship to Bray Wyatt.  Rollins said for the first time in a long time, he doesn’t know what comes next for The Architect.  But The Game seemed to know what was next when he gave Rollins an ultimatum that he’s either with NXT, or he’s against NXT.  The Undisputed ERA then looked for a fight and the rest of the Raw roster obliged.

Rollins approached Triple H backstage and said he wanted an NXT Championship match against Cole later in the night and the only way he would return to NXT would be as the top guy.  Later in the night, Becky Lynch’s backstage interview was interrupted by Baszler, which led to some amazingly-intense moments as you might expect.  It was then made official that at Survivor Series, it will be Lynch vs. Bayley vs. Baszler in a champion vs. champion vs. champion match.

The main event between Rollins and Cole was a solid match as expected, but the finish thwarted Rollins’ chance to win the NXT Championship when The Undisputed ERA jumped Rollins to result in disqualification.  Chaos ensued afterward when NXT and Raw superstars began brawling to stake their claims as to being the dominant brand heading into Survivor Series.  In a short amount of time, the influx of NXT into Survivor Series has already greatly increased interest in the show.

The whole Raw vs. SmackDown theme has started to run its course in recent years as it is, so including NXT into the proceedings adds a completely different dimension.  Survivor Series now has a hipper, edgier side to the brand supremacy wars that are set to take place in what many consider to be the best brand in the entire WWE.  It creates must-see TV in the weeks leading into Survivor Series, but it also could help in another aspect for NXT.

Since the “Wednesday Night Wars” began about a month ago, AEW Dynamite has had the decided advantage in the ratings over NXT and Dynamite has yet to lose a single week.  This is a great way to help create more buzz and increase viewership for NXT on Wednesday nights.  Not to mention, seeing these NXT superstars involved with main roster superstars will create many dream matches of sorts that haven’t been seen before.

Fans are bored with Raw and SmackDown by themselves, so adding NXT into the mix for the next couple of weeks just makes sense.  Expect to see many NXT superstars have career-defining performances and moments along the way now that many of them are getting their first main roster experience.  It gives Survivor Series a different element that it has never had before.

One thing’s for sure, things are going to be interesting heading into Survivor Series and that will ultimately bode well for not only NXT, but the entire WWE in general.