10 Times WWE Survivor Series Decisions Backfired
1. The Road To Ratings Ruin (2015)
WWE's TV ratings had been in free-fall for much of 2015, and they would only get worse come the end of the calendar year. The original Survivor Series plan was for Roman Reigns to end Seth Rollins' eight-month WWE Championship reign, which went out the window when Rollins blew his knee out earlier in the month. Acting quickly, WWE threw together an elimination tournament, doing all they could under the circumstances to salvage things.
Reigns winning was less than ideal for much of the audience, but the subsequent Money in the Bank cash-in by Sheamus only punctuated the disaster. Ratings slipped further and further with Reigns/Sheamus as the headline feud, alarming everybody with a dismal 2.16 the night after Survivor Series, and trumping it with a 2.15 for the TLC go-home Raw just weeks later.