HEYDORN’S TAKE: Why must WWE ruin November?

This revolting, nauseating, and repulsive year aside, November is a month I typically look forward to.

Think about it. Football is in full swing, leaves turn all sorts of pretty colors on the trees, families get together for wondrous Thanksgiving feasts, and the holiday season ignites. Sure, the weather is a bit colder and the days a bit shorter, but it’s a refreshing time of year nonetheless.

Must WWE ruin that for us? For the love of god, can we just eat our turkey in peace!

WWE ruins November because they force Survivor Series on their fans like grandma forces carrots on children during Thanksgiving dinner. Yep, November is Survivor Series month in WWE. A month in which WWE obnoxiously destroys its own narrative environment in an effort to present yawn-inducing and fake storylines surrounding brand supremacy between Raw and Smackdown.

Here comes the rant.

Let’s call a spade a spade. Survivor Series simply is not the interest driver it once was. The original concept was rooted in big stars teaming with each other against other big stars in all-star matches. It’s 2020, though, and as the years wore on since the first Survivor Series event, fans have been conditioned and are now used to getting those all-star level matches on a weekly basis. Hell, sometimes on a nightly basis. It’s not out of the question for WWE to present multi-person tag team matches with big stars throughout its seven hours of weekly television programming. WWE likes to parade Survivor Series around as a “big four” PPV event, but with those matches consistently rooted in regular programming, the event is nothing more than a B-level holdover show. So, sorry Survivor Series. You just aren’t what you once were.

Now, owning that particular stipulation and one that is easy to reason your way through, why does WWE sacrifice so much for a show that has lost that much equity and meaning with fans over the years? At the time of this writing, WWE has had one Monday Night Raw show to build to Survivor Series. On that show, the brand supremacy traditional Survivor Series matches were announced, as well as the Raw vs. Smackdown champion vs. champion matches. Typically for WWE’s November, both announcements were riddled with pointless inconsistencies that only show themselves during this time of year.

Inconsistency number one? The WWE Draft just took place three weeks ago. Many of the talent that switched brands are the same talent fighting on behalf of their new brand in the big brand supremacy battles. Are we supposed to believe that A.J. Styles all of a sudden has deep affinity for Raw after being a Smackdown guy for so long? Same goes for Elias and Sheamus? Nobody buys that nonsense.

Inconsistency number two? WWE’s booking of Drew McIntyre. At Hell In A Cell, when the referee’s hand hit the canvas for a third time to give Randy Orton the victory over McIntyre and therefore the WWE Championship, my brow furrowed in an effort to figure out why that occurred. With all the momentum that McIntyre built this year and the new heel talent on the Raw roster for him to work with, why would WWE pull the trigger on him dropping the championship now? Enter November. Enter Survivor Series.

WWE wants to have a world champion vs. world champion match on the Survivor Series card, but they don’t want that match to be Drew McIntyre against Roman Reigns. Look, a smart call – but the answer isn’t taking the belt off McIntyre. The answer is not doing the match. In losing the belt, McIntyre has already lost momentum. The story of his character has been centered around the title and now he’s searching for his center. Sacrificing his character, momentum, and his shine as a star for Survivor Series? C’mon.

Which brings me to inconsistency number three: Roman Reigns as a heel. Since his return to Smackdown from his smart, self-imposed COVID-19 absence, Reigns has turned heads as a dark bad guy on the show. He’s confident in the new role and pumping Smackdown with renewed interest and intrigue. With it being Survivor Series month, WWE has essentially given Reigns a bucket of cold water and asked him to pour it on himself. The forced nature of the event puts Reigns on a collision course with Raw’s new champion, Randy Orton. Just like Reigns, Orton is a dastardly, evil heel too. Umm. That’s a problem.

How can Roman Reigns build on his heel momentum when half of the heat in the match will be going toward Randy Orton. The success Reigns has had as a heel is in part due to the fact that his opponent was the uber sympathetic babyface, Jey Uso. Uso as an opponent helped Reigns transition to the dark side of the Smackdown depth chart. Facing Orton slows the Reigns momentum and could set Reigns back if he comes across more likable than Orton, who the audience has been instructed to hate for nearly a year now. As a heel, Reigns has giant dollar signs all around him with a super match against The Rock potentially on the horizon. WWE is really risking that potential for Survivor Series?

I guess so. None of it makes sense and a lot hangs in the balance to pull it off.

Such is life in WWE’s November. Look away.

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NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK’S TAKE: HEYDORN’S TAKE: Don’t hold me to this – WWE Hell In A Cell 2020

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