10 Steps To Improve WWE Survivor Series 2022’s Build
7. Pick A Side, We’re At War
The Adam Pearce and Sonya DeVille dynamic initially seemed like it was going somewhere. DeVille was undermining Pearce at every turn, particularly with issues concerning Charlotte Flair, and her ambition seemed to be to usurp and take sole command for herself. As with most angles, however, it appears WWE has lost focus, Vince McMahon got bored and now we have two authority figures presiding over both brands for no apparent reason.
For a brief time in the build to Survivor Series 2021, Adam Pearce took a vested interest in the quality of the RAW men’s Survivor Series team, opting to remove Rey and Dominik Mysterio for substitutes ranging from perfect (Bobby Lashley) to perplexing (Austin Theory). Pearce's motivations for these executive decisions were never explained and any semblance of follow up seems unlikely. Meanwhile, Sonya DeVille preached cohesion to the SmackDown Women’s Team, attempting to navigate the exhausted 'Can They Coexist' narrative, this time between feuding parties Sasha Banks and Shotzi.
This would have made so much more sense if Pearce was in sole control of RAW and DeVille had the reigns (no pun intended) on SmackDown but that's not the case. Come on, this is 'Brand Warfare', right? Pearce and DeVille should NOT be riding both sides of the fence. Under the current model, everybody wins, nobody loses and nothing is at stake. If these entries are starting to sound repetitive, that’s the point.
A PPV with no consequences is doomed to be inconsequential. Funny how that works.