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WWE Survivor Series 2019 ended on a high note with NXT defeating both RAW and SmackDown in the battle for brand supremacy. Although we saw the title-holders of each brand locking horns with their respective counterparts, the top Champions of all the three brands did not square off.
Instead, they were booked to defend their title against a challenger from their brand in a singles match. Brock Lesnar defeated Rey Mysterio to retain his WWE Universal Championship, The Fiend successfully defended his title against Daniel Bryan, and Adam Cole protected his NXT gold against Pete Dunne.
The fact that no title changed hands at one of WWE’s big 4 pay-per-views raised a few questions among the fans. In this list, we take a look at five possible theories behind the decision to have all the three Champions retain their title on Sunday night.
Also Read: WWE Survivor Series 2019: 5 Superstars who flopped and 5 who impressed
#5 To avoid short title reigns
While Adam Cole has had a long run with his NXT Championship, Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt have held their respective titles for only a few weeks. The ‘Beast Incarnate’ defeated Kofi Kingston within seconds to win the WWE Championship at the beginning of October whereas ‘The Fiend’ defeated Seth Rollins to win the Universal Championship on the last day of the previous month.
The WWE Creatives would have been subjected to extensive backlash from the fans if either of these two Champions lost their title at Survivor Series. The WWE Universe often complains about Lesnar’s short title reigns coupled with his sporadic appearances.
In the case of the Universal Championship, The Fiend finally won the title after an extended rivalry with ‘The Architect’. He is immensely over with the crowd and losing his title within three weeks would have caused the fans to turn on him.
It was a safer option to have both these Champions retain their title. In the case of Adam Cole, he is currently feuding with Tommaso Ciampa for the championship and that storyline would have come to an abrupt end had he ended up losing his title to Pete Dunne at the PPV.
Also read: Top 5 performers at WWE NXT Takeover: WarGames III
#4 Lack of build-up before the PPV
Brock Lesnar had an extensive feud with Rey Mysterio ahead of Survivor Series which justified the title match between these two Superstars. However, that was not the case with the other two Champions.
Bray Wyatt’s ‘The Fiend’ initiated a rivalry with Daniel Bryan only a couple of weeks ago by attacking him. Although it was easy to intensify this rivalry, there’s still a lot that needs to go into the build-up for this match before it can get the viewers completely invested in the feud.
Similarly, Adam Cole’s ongoing rivalry with Tommaso Ciampa has already drawn a lot of attention from the fans. Their ongoing feud is expected to meet a justified end at Takeover. On the other hand, his opponent at Survivor Series won a shot at the title less than 24 hours before their match.
Pete Dunne defeated Killian Dain and Damien Priest at NXT Takeover: WarGames to win an opportunity to challenge Cole for the NXT gold. Although this rivalry has the potential to narrate an epic storyline, it requires a much better build-up for the correct execution.
Therefore, losing the titles at Survivor Series would have forcibly subjected the Championship reigns of both Adam Cole and The Fiend to an underserving conclusion.
#3 Unflattering runs of the challengers
If you take a look at the recent run of all the three challengers for the respective titles, it would be clear that they have not done anything significant outside of the title feud.
While Brock Lesnar and Rey Mysterio have been exchanging blows for a few weeks now, the latter’s run before that did not warrant a title shot. Their rivalry was initiated with the purpose of introducing Cain Velasquez to the WWE Universe. However, their intense feud gained more heat in the following weeks which ended with Mysterio challenging the ‘Beast Incarnate’ for his WWE Championship.
Daniel Bryan, too, has limited history with The Fiend as the two SmackDown Superstars only met twice before their match at Survivor Series. Before that, Bryan appeared directionless on the Blue brand and was contemplating forming an alliance with Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn. This rivalry between Bryan and The Fiend might get more intense in the coming weeks as the recently concluded PPV fetched positive responses from the fans.
As for Adam Cole, his challenger won the title shot the night before the PPV. Before that, Pete Dunne was involved in an intense feud with Killian Dain and is likely to continue the same feud following his defeat at Survivor Series.
#2 Complete focus on brand wars
WWE Survivor Series 2019 witnessed NXT going up against RAW and SmackDown for the first time in the history of the pay-per-view. While the Black and Gold brand shocked the entire world with their victory last night, the impact of their historic achievement would have been affected if the focus was on anything other than the battle for brand supremacy.
The top champions of all three brands successfully defended their titles in separate encounters. This allowed the WWE Creatives to book exciting matches without drawing any attention away from the other matches that determined the final result of the PPV.
Any title change would have led to the fans focusing more on the new champion and less on the commendable victory of the ultimate underdogs in the war between all three brands of WWE.
The objective behind the booking of Survivor Series 2019 was to establish NXT as the mainstream brand. We have often seen NXT Superstars claiming that the Black and Gold brand is indeed the main roster. Therefore, WWE couldn’t afford any booking that could steal the thunder of the product that’s supposed to rule Wednesday nights.
#1 Build excitement for Starrcade and TLC
The Starrcade live event finally made its return two years ago. It is also the next WWE event, scheduled to take place at the Infinite Energy Arena in Duluth, Georgia on December 1st.
Considering the fact that this event is billed as a ‘Network Special’, WWE will desperately need fans to be invested in the matches that feature the reigning champions. For instance, The Fiend is set to defend his title against Braun Strowman.
Hence, his rivalry with Daniel Bryan may force the latter to interfere during the match which would then lead to an extended feud between two of the most popular Superstars on SmackDown. It will also be the perfect opportunity to set up a match between Bryan and Wyatt at TLC which will be the last PPV of this year.
In the case of the WWE Championship, Brock Lesnar may not defend his title next Sunday. Therefore, he will be forced to appear at TLC as WWE has a rule that demands every Championship be defended once every 30 days at the very least.
Hence, the successful defense of all three titles was definitely the best option for the creatives at Survivor Series.
Also read: WWE Survivor Series 2019: Top 5 performers at the PPV
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