What if NXT dominates at WWE Survivor Series 2019?

Fresh off the announcement that the NXT roster would be involved in the Survivor Series PPV for the first time, the brand made its presence felt on SmackDown. The crew from Wednesday night achieved a string of victories, culminating in NXT Champion Adam Cole pinning Daniel Bryan. Afterwards, their roster held the ring, backed by Triple H, throwing down the gauntlet to the Raw and SmackDown Superstars.

This was a strong start to an angle. Moreover, with NXT now airing on national television, live Wednesday nights, it makes sense that WWE would treat them as a more equitable third brand, as opposed to relegating NXT to the developmental label.

Nonetheless, given how predominantly the NXT locker room is made up of younger talents, not as well established to the mainstream audience, it stands to reason that NXT wouldn’t prevail at Survivor Series itself. After all, could we really expect Velveteen Dream to be booked over Seth Rollins at this point, or for Keith Lee to best Roman Reigns?

There is a possibility, however that put in the same ring with the traditional main roster, NXT could prevail or even dominate. This article takes a look at how they might happen and what it would mean going forward.

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#5 High profile elimination tag matches

The elimination tag team matches that traditionally happen at Survivor Series would be a natural platform for NXT stars to thrive.

Five on five or four on four elimination tag team matches have been a staple part of Survivor Series since its inception in 1987. While WWE has deviated from the formula here and there, in the current era with so many PPVs on the calendar, it’s safe to predict WWE will lean into the traditional format as an organic way for Survivor Series to stand out. Moreover, it stands to reason that the recent history of brand vs. brand competition will carry forward, and that an NXT team will be in the mix in at least one match.

Elimination tag team matches offer a natural mode for NXT Superstars to defeat their Raw or SmackDown counterparts. The team and elimination elements offer built-in excuses for better established stars to eat pins or submissions based on miscommunications with teammates, or winding up outnumbered after lesser teammates leave them alone to survive.

#4 Big time Triple Threats

Triple Threat Matches can put over talents while protecting their opponents.

For the last two years, Survivor Series has featured champion vs. champion matches promoted across brand lines. As of press time, WWE has not officially announced matches to that effect. However, if the company does follow that format with NXT in the mix, it’s possible we could get one or more Triple Threat Match featuring a champion from each brand.

Given the limited schedule that Brock Lesnar tends to work, NXT’s inclusion may offer a natural reason for him to bow out of the proceedings—for example, leaving NXT Champion Adam Cole vs. Universal Champion The Fiend, without the WWE Championship needing to be in the mix. However, it remains quite feasible that we could get three ways between brands’ tag team or women’s champions, or an Intercontinental Champion vs. US Champion vs. North American Champion scenario.

Not unlike elimination tag team matches, a part of the value of three way matches are the “outs” they build in. Two wrestlers can double teaming another, someone can steal a pin off of someone else’s finisher, and there’s a natural reason for someone to be distracted dealing with one opponent, only to get hit from behind by another. Triple Threats offer a natural platform for NXT talent to win while protecting Raw and SmackDown Superstars.

#3 NXT representation at other PPVs

NXT stars may cross over more fluidly to Raw or SmackDown if they prevail at Survivor Series.

NXT talent dominating at Survivor Series would go a long way toward establishing the brand as on similar footing to RAW and SmackDown. And so, it would quickly become arbitrary for WWE’s third brand not to have representation on other PPVs, well beyond Survivor Series.

We have already seen NXT talent make a handful of appearances in the Royal Rumble. It could be intriguing to see them get opportunities at Money in the Bank as well. Such a berth could perhaps even set up the first cash-in for not the WWE or Universal Championship, but rather an NXT title match. It’s a slippery slope from there to having NXT Superstars featured on WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and every other PPV. For the present moment, NXT still has its own TakeOver specials, but that dynamic might change if WWE better establishes the brand as main roster in its own right by winning big at Survivor Series.

#2 NXT goes on the road

NXT has hit the road for TakeOvers and live events, but might their weekly TV travel too?

NXT has had a touring roster for some time that goes beyond their home base in Orlando to put on live events across the US and even abroad. Moreover, Superstars from the black and gold brand have been featured in other locales for TakeOver specials, often overlapping with major PPV weekends for the main roster.

NXT’s weekly television has stuck almost exclusively to Full Sail University, and that has included the transition to a show that airs live on the USA Network. The choice has fit the brand and its ethos up to this point, catering to the smaller base of hardcore fans who have followed the product via the WWE Network.

Putting NXT’s roster into direct completion with RAW and SmackDown Superstars—let alone having them emerge victorious—Invites fans to think of NXT and its roster as existing on the same and an equal plane. The next step may be staging their show in a more equivalent format, not staying close to home but rather hitting the road to play arenas across the country like the red and blue brands do.

#1 More fluid crossovers to come

The NXT roster may crossover or get promoted with more fluidity if they win big at Survivor Series.

WWE often acknowledges performers’ NXT histories on the main roster, like acknowledging that men like Shinsuke Nakamura and Bobby Roode were NXT Champions, or the reputation The Revival established in Orlando.

Just the same, there are those Superstars who are more wholly reinvented on the main roster, or for whom it isn’t beneficial to acknowledge their pasts. Bray Wyatt, for example, is a bigger threat without the acknowledgment that he was a product of trial and error to reinvent Husky Harris as a serious threat. Likewise, Seth Rollins’ NXT Championship history didn’t exactly fit the narrative when he debuted as part of the insurgent Shield.

The sheer fact that NXT Superstars are being featured on the traditional main roster in the build to Survivor Series—let alone at the PPV itself—better establishes the brand as part of one unified WWE Universe. If they actually win in decisive fashion over their Raw and SmackDown colleagues?

That will set up NXT talent to be a more natural extension of any future draft scenario, and to potentially set up brand crossing feuds for other major events like WrestleMania.

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