We’re getting brand warfare at Survivor Series again, aren’t we?

Between 2016 and 2021, WWE has used the Survivor Series pay-per-view to present a litany of Raw vs. SmackDown matches that few fans asked for. Sure, the format has given us some gems like Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles, Lesnar vs. Daniel Bryan, and Sasha Banks vs. Asuka, but for the most part, sitting through a bunch of matches with unimportant stakes was a forgettable experience.

In 2022, when Triple H took the creative reins in WWE, we got a reprieve from “brand warfare” in favor of a pair of heated, entertaining WarGames matches. Most fans appreciated the company shaking things up with one of its “Big 4” PPVs (or premium live events), making it feel more important than it has in years.

So, of course, WWE is teasing the return of the polarizing show vs. show concept with this year’s Survivor Series around the corner.

Is bringing “brand warfare” back for Survivor Series a good idea?

The “season premiere” of SmackDown gave us a small hint of an attempted rekindling of conflict between the main roster programs. As Nick Aldis stepped in as the new SmackDown general manager, he told new Raw GM Adam Pearce that he looked forward to “healthy competition” between the two shows. Seems innocuous enough, right?

Well, it only took a week for things to escalate. It started with John Cena cutting an impassioned (and very good) promo about wanting to get his first televised singles win in over 2,000 days. Then, once Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa attacked Cena, a disguised Jey Uso ran through the crowd and got a measure of revenge for his brother costing him and Cody Rhodes the Undisputed Tag Team Championship.

Unfortunately for Jey, WWE chose this week to suddenly care about the brand split, so Aldis instructed “security” to remove him, and later Pearce, from the AT&T Center, establishing the tension between the two authority figures and setting the stage for what could come at Survivor Series.

Of course, going back to this storyline doesn’t come without some issues. Even with this Usos angle, which was very effective in a vacuum, it becomes less effective when you remember all of the wrestlers from Raw and SmackDown that have appeared on the other show over the last year or so. It seems like a small oversight, but it’s indicative of WWE making the same mistakes with brand warfare. And if WWE is going to make the same mistakes with this angle, then what’s the point of doing it at all?

As we’ve discussed in the past (and as Raphael Garcia authored in his piece), there are ways to make “brand supremacy” work, but it requires a level of booking discipline that even the best versions of WWE have rarely exhibited. Between the aforementioned guest appearances and wrestlers changing shows every year, the idea of “brand loyalty” is, at best a flimsy one.

It also doesn’t help that other feds like All Elite Wrestling and IMPACT Wrestling regularly offer matches where wrestlers under their respective banners team with wrestlers from other promotions with their own unique identities. Meanwhile, WWE is still trying to convince fans that Chad Gable hates Rey Mysterio simply for being on a show with a different color scheme.

Perhaps things will change with Triple H in charge. The man has shown some patience with his creative decisions, and he certainly has enough awareness of the collective fatigue over this narrative to try something new with it.

Hopefully, he does, because if we get the same old stuff for Survivor Series, it will be a waste of everyone’s time, including his own.