3 Interesting observations from WWE SmackDown (November 22, 2019)

#1: Why the show's cold opening was a great narrative tactic for events that would occur later on in the episode

#TheBigDog has (literally) opened the door for ALL COMERS tonight ahead of #SurvivorSeries.@WWERomanReigns pic.twitter.com/7yjFgvyNGk

— WWE (@WWE) November 23, 2019

Before SmackDown's title sequence kicked in, we saw SmackDown superstars huddled together backstage as Roman Reigns opened the doors for RAW and NXT.

Roman Reigns' decision to go full steam ahead was mirrored by King Corbin's incompetence as a cartoonish leader who only wanted to retreat. As discussed earlier, this theme was further explored during the main event of the night.

Sasha Banks also interrupted the cold opening to create a firm stance amongst the women of SmackDown, and this would directly lead into the first match of the night, where team captains of the Women's Survivor Series Elimination Triple Threat Match (Banks, Ripley, Flair) faced each other in a triple threat match.

Of course, the biggest payoff would occur when NXT would storm the gates along with D-Generation X (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Road Dogg) in a tank. What makes this thematically perfect is that these were the same gates that Roman Reigns had ordered to be opened during the cold opening of the show.

This just goes on to show how effective narrative tactics can be. On the surface, it might just seem like a bunch of people interfering throughout the night, but a recurring theme was persistent during the episode's events.

Which brand will dominate Survivor Series 2019?

#WWENXT's got TWO WORDS FOR YOU: TAKE OVER. #SmackDown #RAW #SurvivorSeries pic.twitter.com/6LanAO6EgH

— WWE (@WWE) November 23, 2019

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