10 Steps To Improve WWE Survivor Series 2022’s Build
8. Qualifying Matches!
It’s one thing for WWE to disregard fans and casual observers alike when they make suggestions to improve the product, but when the actors themselves start pointing out plot holes in the movie, maybe it’s time to reassess the screenplay.
A common theme running through the presentation of this year’s Survivor Series was featured players questioning exactly what the endgame was. Seth Rollins and King Woods had an online exchange debating the reward for emerging victorious from the Survivor Series elimination tag team match with Woods even offering a few suggestions. Becky Lynch called the format outdated and offered to fight for something as innocuous as a banana as long as it meant something was at stake.
But it may have been Ricochet who made the most salient observation about the sudden absence of qualifying matches. While it’s true that qualifying matches haven’t always been the formula for assembling Survivor Series teams, the sheer size and density of the current roster’s talent should make having to earn one of the 20 coveted spots a no-brainer. Instead, we were presented with four thrown-together teams and a pair of lazily booked “replacement matches”, where, as opposed to traditional qualifying matches, new participants stole the spot of someone already named to the first draft of the crew. Even when Rey Mysterio and Aliyah were inexplicably removed, there was no meritocracy. WWE threw a dart at the wall and it hit Austin Theory and Toni Storm’s names.
Why is building between PPVs so difficult?