5 reasons WWE has already done a good job with Survivor Series 2017

What a difference a few days can make!

When the Survivor Series card was first announced, very few people were enthusiastic about it. Now, about a week and a half before the event, it's the one I'm very much looking forward to. Survivor Series this year might even wind up being one of 2017's best shows, which isn't something I thought I would be saying as recently as yesterday. What looked to be an event that would be defined by high highs and low lows now looks like it could be a real gem with a stacked card. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this show winds up being superior to next year's WrestleMania.

WWE should be commended for putting together Survivor Series, and here are five of the reasons why they managed to make the build to this event work so well.

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#1 Making meaning out of something meaningless

Kurt Angle selling the shock really well.

Right out of the gate, WWE created a polarization between RAW and SmackDown by staging the "under siege" invasion the night after TLC, when the initial Survivor Series card was rolled out. Polarization catches attention and engages emotions, which is exactly what you want while selling something.

Sure, there were a lot of logical plot holes. Guys who wanted to rip each other apart one night were suddenly teammates on the next. That was awkward to a lot of people. Still, the siege felt like a big event, and that matters more. It isn't uncommon for enemies to team up against a bigger, more dangerous enemy either. A lot of wars throughout history will attest to that.

The invasion ensured that Survivor Series wouldn't feel like a ho-hum, friendly, but meaningless competition. It made the event feel like it could actually matter, a feeling that has been steadily built upon in the weeks since, which brings me directly to the second reason this build has been so good.

#2 It's made SmackDown worth watching

Shane McMahon's declaration of war.

With Jinder Mahal's depressing title reign, a mid-card scene that just wasn't very interesting (even with AJ Styles as US champion for a few months), and a women's division that had long been a directionless cluster, I had tuned out of SmackDown for months. The only highlight of the summer was the tag team division, but that alone wasn't worth spending two hours to watch SmackDown when I could just see what was happening online. The Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon feud added some much-needed depth to the show, but it still wasn't enough for me to watch the show every week.

The invasion of RAW changed that. Now there was a compelling reason to watch SmackDown in order to see whether the red show would retaliate and how the blue show would prepare for Survivor Series. So far, things have been quiet, but SmackDown has done a good job by hyping up RAW's counterattack, which will surely happen on next week's go-home show. As Daniel Bryan himself said, "they didn't come...tonight, but they will."

The proof is in the pudding, as the build has led to improved SmackDown ratings for the past few weeks.

It's being beaten to death that "Survivor Series is the only time of the year where RAW and SmackDown meet in head to head competition." So to do that, SmackDown has actually been elevated into an equal adversary for RAW. Now that trend needs to continue beyond Survivor Series, albeit without the constant threat of RAW looming.

#3 A focus on strategy

Under Siege Part 2?

The New Day's invasion of RAW on Monday, which led to a change of the tag team titles, was masterfully orchestrated. It was a perfect diversion, a feint that baited Kurt Angle with ease. By moving half of RAW's roster to ringside to deal with three SmackDown guys, a strong invasion force could have ransacked the rest of the roster backstage and hit Kurt Angle's ringside unit in the flank and rear. He was very lucky that the New Day's attack was essentially just a probe rather than an assault.

So far, SmackDown has completely out-generaled and outsmarted RAW. It's messed with Kurt Angle's head. It's made him insecure. It's forced him to make what could have been a potentially catastrophic mistake. It's pushed Stephanie's buttons, too.

Sun-Tzu would be proud!

How RAW will act when it inevitably invades SmackDown on next week's go-home show, and how it adapts at Survivor Series itself, remains to be seen, but so far, I've loved the focus on the strategy that this storyline has shown. It almost leaves you with a taste of what the much-maligned WCW/ECW Invasion Angle could have and should have been all those years ago.

#4 Changing bad matches

...And NEW

With the exception of the elimination matches and the reported Usos vs. Shield match, the Survivor Series card just looked bad when it was first announced. The Miz vs. Baron Corbin looked decidedly lacklustre. Alexa Bliss vs. Natalya looked like a great bore. Brock Lesnar vs. Jinder Mahal looked like one of the worst matches of the year in the making. Then to top it all off, they had to add yet another rematch between Enzo Amore and Kalisto for the Cruiserweight Championship to the mix.

After this week's RAW and SmackDown, things look completely different, and it's wonderful.

While the much-hyped Usos vs. Shield match looks like it won't happen, the Usos vs. the Bar should be almost as good. The title change also looks like it will set up a dream match scenario in the Shield vs. the New Day, so, on the whole, it's been a big net positive.

Most notably of all, last night gave us what we've begged for six months - Jinder Mahal dropped the WWE Championship to AJ Styles, setting up another dream match between "The Beast" and "The Phenomenal One". If Brock Lesnar is motivated, this could turn out to be one of the best matches of the year. It's night and day from what had prevailed before.

We might even just see another title change next week, as Charlotte will have an opportunity to take the SmackDown women's championship from Natalya in her hometown to set up a match better clash between women's champions. Let's hope WWE bucks its trend of having superstars lose in their hometown. A match between Charlotte and Alexa Bliss would be a much better scenario.

In the meantime, the two elimination matches have mostly filled out, and both of their rosters look stacked.

Sure, the Miz vs. Baron Corbin and Enzo vs. Kalisto will still suck, but one or two matches at a WWE event always will. The bottom line is that those scenarios now look to be the exception rather than the rule, as every other match on the final card should be at least good.

One almost gets the feeling that WWE has been scrambling to make changes to the Survivor Series card because they realized it was so bad, but this time it should be commended, and this leads us to the final point.

#5 Actually putting in effort

Who will be the last one?

How many times since the fall of WCW has WWE been content to half-ass it? They know they have no threatening competition, so they've been fine with coasting on their laurels all the time ever since. This year alone saw much of that. We almost had the pumpkin Demon vs. Sister Abigail cataclysm, after all. And does anyone dare to remember 2017's Battleground?

In many ways, Survivor Series 2017 has bucked the trend. If WWE recognized that the card was a stinker, good on them for actually having the audacity to change the matches rather than stick with the status quo. Good on them for making the RAW vs. SmackDown war feel like it means something through polarization, anticipation, and the use of smart strategy.

With event attendance in decline and the WWE Network still far short of its two million subscriber target, a change in pace has been needed for a long time. The free content on TV simply hasn't acted as a good enough funnel to drive people into subscribing to the Network or buying tickets. WWE would be wise to improve the quality and size (in this case, ratings) of that sales funnel, but to do that they need to put more effort into their content than they have been. The build to this year's Survivor Series serves as a good example of what's possible, especially with the immensely talented roster they have.

Keep this up, WWE! Events like Survivor Series should be well worth the $9.99 subscription price.