5 Reasons Why The Build To Survivor Series Has Been Terrible
Once again, WWE's fall classic is being treated as the lesser of the "Big Four" pay-per-views.
This year's Survivor Series is taking place in Toronto, just two hours away from my hometown. It will be the first WWE pay-per-view that I will be attending live after 11 years of watching WWE programming. This prospect alone should have had me tuning in with excitement during the buildup, highly invested in what I will be experiencing from the crowd at the Air Canada Center.
However, I feel a disappointing sense of apathy towards this year's fall classic. While it's true that Raw has been something of a black hole for the fans' enthusiasm, I find SmackDown Live falling into many of the same ruts as its big brother. I'll fully admit I've found myself dosing off during each show as of late.
So, what exactly has plagued the lead up to Survivor Series 2016? Here are 5 major causes.
5. Bragging Rights: One Month Later
Since the original brand extension, WWE have been trying to establish the feud between Raw and SmackDown as competitors. At first, the competition was just in ratings and content alone, but around 2005, that changed. That year, WWE ramped up the intensity of the feud when at the Raw Homecoming, then Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff cancelled a SmackDown-feature 6-Man tag, literally turning the lights out and embarrassing them. This was interpreted by SmackDown GM Theodore Long as fighting "Gangsta style", and a massive brawl broke out between the brands. It culminated at that year's Survivor Series, after what felt like massive, personal warfare between the two brands.
Unfortunately, this was the only time SmackDown vs Raw felt special. When WWE tried to recreate the success of 2005 with an annual PPV in Bragging Rights, where SmackDown and Raw teams would face each other in 7-on-7 matches, it felt much less like a feud, and much more like a heavy handed promotional tactic. Whereas PPVs like Hell in a Cell and TLC devalued specialty matches by making them a place on the calendar, Bragging Rights devalued the very brand extension in much the same way. The show would only last two years.
There are echoes of Bragging Rights today. While not allotted to a spot on the calendar, there seems to be much less of an actual rivalry (unless you count Shane vs Stephanie), and much more of a promotional tactic on display in this years Survivor Series. It feels like a B pay-per-view, because it's modeled after one.