WWE Survivor Series 2020: Ranking the build-up of each match

Survivor Series is one of the original four pay-per-views that WWE made its name on. Alongside SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and WrestleMania, Survivor Series used to have titles defended and several traditional five-on-five elimination matches.

Once the brand split happened in 2016, however, WWE made the pay-per-view more about pushing 'brand supremacy' rather than ending feuds. If RAW or SmackDown won, it gave them bragging rights and not much else. If tangible rewards were attached to winning certain contests, then perhaps the pay-per-view would have the same allure as in the past.

But regardless, WWE has had several Champion vs. Champion matches since 2016 and even added NXT to the festivities last year. NXT ended up notching the most wins on the night, but after that, things went back to normal. Dream matches like Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar vs. AJ Styles have been great since the brand split.

This year's pay-per-view has a total of seven matches. WWE has built some matches well ever since the end of Hell in a Cell. Others have only had a week or two of story behind them. Some have had title swaps that changed the dynamics of the planned bouts. Here are the matches from Survivor Series ranked from the worst build to the best build.

#7 Dual-Brand Battle Royal at WWE Survivor Series

Which stars will show up in the dual-brand battle royale?

WWE literally announced prior to SmackDown that a Dual-Brand Battle Royal would take place on the Kickoff Show. What would the winner get? Bragging rights. In order for this to mean something, it needed to offer up a title shot or something of value to the winner. If a shot at the mid-card title of the winner's brand was on the line, it would add some more intrigue.

Since the announcement was made two days before the actual pay-per-view, it's hard to have any type of build for it. Had WWE announced this a week or two ago, it could have booked some of the matches to mean something rather than randomly adding the contest to the event.

With so many people not in matches, the field could include almost anyone in WWE. We will likely get tag teams like Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler, and The Miz and John Morrison in this match. The likes of Jeff Hardy, Lars Sullivan, Elias, Ricochet, and members of The Hurt Business not named Lashley will also probably be a part of the match. Could we see some sort of party-crashing by RETRIBUTION? That could make it interesting.

#6 RAW Women's Champion Asuka vs. SmackDown Women's Champion Sasha Banks at WWE Survivor Series

WWE has already featured this match a few times in 2020, so even despite that, the build hasn't been the greatest. The two mentioned each other in passing during a promo from each, but for Sasha Banks, she's been dealing more with Carmella and a Bayley that won't move on.

Even last night, while Asuka and Banks had a face to face promo, the lasting image was a laid-out Banks after another attack from Carmella. While WWE should be applauded for setting things up post-Survivor Series, the build to the pay-per-view match could have been done much better. One woman could have attacked the other during a different week or one woman could have shown up on the opposing show to support an adversary of the other Champion. Or they could have done guest commentary. Almost anything more than a quick backstage promo and a go-home segment in-ring would have helped to sell the 'Best of the Best' angle better.

We know that the two women won't have a problem delivering a solid match at Survivor Series. It's just that for what should be the second most important match involving Champions in the WWE, the build has been lacking. Will we see the upcoming opponents for each woman play into the outcome of the match?

#5 United States Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn at WWE Survivor Series

While this match isn't very exciting on paper because of the expected outcome of WWE having Bobby Lashley win, it's build has been at least a little better than that of the match featuring the women's Champions.

Sami Zayn has cut a few promos over the last few weeks. In those, Zayn has claimed that as WWE's Intercontinental Champion, he represents the people of the world and not just one country like the United States Champion. He has a point and Lashley has just said the usual tough-guy responses that we've come to expect from him in WWE.

One strange difference, however, was that although both men defended their titles prior to the actual pay-per-view, the opponents were vastly different. Lashley put down a challenge from Titus O'Neil. While O'Neil looked good in his match with Lashley, the outcome was never in doubt. Zayn, on the other hand, had to defend the Intercontinental Championship against the former US Champion, Apollo Crews.

In terms of trajectory in WWE, those are two vastly different challenges for each man. Zayn had a chance to lose his title prior to the pay-per-view but since it would have been to the man Lashley beat for his title, it was a little less likely. Even on the go-home SmackDown, Zayn consistently reminded us that he has a match to worry about on Sunday instead of an impromptu tag team match. The Great Liberator did the best job selling this match, but he usually does just that for every WWE feud he's in.

#4 RAW Tag Team Champions The New Day vs. SmackDown Tag Team Champs The Street Profits at WWE Survivor Series

Which tag team will reign supreme at Survivor Series?

In terms of Champion vs. Champion matches for Survivor Series, WWE invested time each week in order to build this match. Both teams came out mimicking the other one week while each duo also had promo time almost every week leading up to Survivor Series.

On SmackDown, The Street Profits even tried to pick the brain of Big E because he was still a member of SmackDown after the WWE Draft. That provided some entertaining backstage segments and at least kept the match on our minds despite the two teams being on different shows.

Another reason why this build was better than the other title matches (except for Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre) was because WWE had each team defend their belts before the show. The New Day retained on the latest RAW by defeating The Hurt Business. The Street Profits defeated Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler.

Having the face vs. face dynamic is still a bit strange but both of these teams have such infectious energy that it doesn't matter. The New Day is the old/current guard of the tag team division whereas a victory over Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods would propel The Street Profits even higher.

#3 Women's WWE Survivor Series five-on-five Elimination match - Team SmackDown vs. Team RAW

RAW's team got two different members on the go-home show.

The two elimination matches have seen different types of builds than the Championship matches. Instead of downright addressing their opponents, WWE has done a good job of testing the chemistry of each team on both shows.

RAW's entire build saw friction between the members every week following Hell in a Cell. Instead of having qualifying matches, WWE simply had Adam Pearce announce four of the five members of the team. We had Mandy Rose, Dana Brooke, Nia Jax, and Shayna Baszler. Lana got the last spot by winning a fatal four-way.

Each week saw Lana go through a table after a match or segment featuring the members of the RAW team. Sometimes Rose and Brooke stopped the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions from further assaulting Lana. The other times saw Rose and Brooke get attacked for their actions. On the go-home RAW, they were both assaulted in different segments that saw each woman taken off of the team. WWE later replaced them with Lacey Evans and Peyton Royce.

On SmackDown, Bianca Belair, Ruby Riott, and Liv Morgan all had to win matches in order to qualify. Chelsea Green was supposed to be a part of the team but she was hurt in her debut match. Instead, we had Pearce rightfully name Bayley to the team and Natalya defeat Tamina to become the fifth member. Belair and Bayley were also on commentary on SmackDown. The teams might not have traded barbs in promos but there were many segments of team building leading up to the actual pay-per-view.

#2 WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Universal Champion Roman Reigns at Survivor Series

Over the last two weeks, WWE has made this match seem like one of the biggest deals outside of WrestleMania or SummerSlam. Drew McIntyre's entire build to Survivor Series was opposed by Randy Orton. Orton had won the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell and was slated to face The Big Dog at the upcoming pay-per-view.

McIntyre wasn't having it as the two men continued their feud until the go-home RAW. On that show, The Scottish Psychopath regained the WWE title. It set up a more favorable contest against Reigns. Had the Survivor Series match gone on as planned, then it would have been another strange instance of a heel vs. a heel.

On SmackDown, Roman Reigns mostly continued playing his Tribal Chief role instead of defending the title or worrying about Survivor Series. That all changed on last week's SmackDown when McIntyre made a surprise appearance on the Blue brand. It shook both Reigns and Jey Uso a bit and foreshadowed a McIntyre win over Orton on RAW. McIntyre fought and defeated Jey Uso who was doing the bidding of Reigns.

The go-home SmackDown made things seem even bigger as we had an in-ring contract signing for the match. It made the stakes seem even bigger and the promos from each men really sold the new characters they've become since their showdown at WrestleMania 35.

#1 Men's WWE Survivor Series five-on-five Elimination match - Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown

While the build for McIntyre vs. Reigns could very well be the best build for Survivor Series, WWE's actions to build RAW's men's team for the pay-per-view has been better.

WWE featured it every week from Hell in a Cell to the following pay-per-view. While performers like Keith Lee, Sheamus, and AJ Styles qualified the first week, we had Lee, Sheamus, and Braun Strowman fight each other with a spot for Strowman on the line. He won and was added to the team. Once Riddle became the final member, Team RAW looked like one of the more formidable squads in WWE history.

Throughout the whole build, WWE has booked Styles to play team captain and peacemaker. He might have been the self-appointed captain but he was at least trying to build team chemistry every week. Booking matches that pit members against each other could have gone either way, but it went to cause further friction amongst the members of Team RAW.

On the Blue brand, Kevin Owens, Jey Uso, King Corbin, and Seth Rollins all qualified for their spots on Team SmackDown. Owens and Uso had tension that turned into a beatdown at the behest of Reigns. Corbin beat Rey Mysterio for his spot while Rollins defeated Otis with the help of Murphy. Otis was simply named to the team on the go-home SmackDown despite Big E being a much more suitable name to lead the blue brand's squad.

While each team didn't really focus on the other during the build, it was the team chemistry exercises that mattered more. RAW's team is stacked with bruisers and they should defeat SmackDown on paper. But because of all of the inner turmoil and huge egos, they could very well implode on Sunday. Because of that, WWE has done well to highlight one of the non-title matches at the pay-per-view.