8 Ups And 5 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Nov 12)

2. ‘Brand Supremacy’

This will undoubtedly come up again during the Survivor Series column, but it bears mentioning here: The entire “brand supremacy” message that WWE tries to push about Survivor Series is stupid, nonsensical and insulting all at the same time.

Any sports fan will tell you that the reason you have big head-to-head matches isn’t just for bragging rights (though it can be a big part of it), it’s to win something. Anything. If the PPV is billed as “the one time of the year that Raw and SmackDown go head-to-head” (which is a lie), then it should be treated like the Super Bowl, World Series, or World Cup.

There is nothing on the line or at stake at Survivor Series except the egos of the two McMahon siblings. That’s it. And that’s a pretty crappy motivation for a PPV.

WWE could alleviate this by simply putting something on the line: the #30 spot in the Royal Rumble matches. Whichever brand wins the most matches at Survivor Series gets the coveted #30 spot (or maybe even the last 2-3 spots if you’re daring). That alone would be something to get excited about.

But no, it’s Shane McMahon’s theft of the meaningless WWE World Cup that is the motivating factor. Whatever.