There’s more heat inside these teams than between them

Roman Reigns’ Team SmackDown vs. Team NXT vs. Seth Rollins’ Team Raw

Traditional Survivor Series elimination tag match

If only Jon Moxley had taken the Finn Bálor deal and gone to NXT instead of AEW, we could have a nice little “The Shield EXPLODES!” story going on here. Instead...

The Road to Survivor Series

There has been conflict. Attacks, confrontations, and fights have happened on each show, and taken the form of everything from one-on-one classics to complete chaos. But outside of NXT’s desire to prove they belong on the same level as the so-called “main roster” - unless you’re better at suspending disbelief than I am and have really bought into Michael Cole, Vic Joseph and Mauro Ranallo yelling about brands - there’s little tension between the three sides.

We can’t even even tell you about the black-and-gold brand’s specific approach to this three (or is that fifteen?) way dance, since none of their team’s been revealed. It’s a little bit of an unfair strategic advantage, but it’s a practical decision considering so much of their likely line-up is booked in matches tonight. Some of which involve a cage.

As for Team Raw, well... these dudes don’t get along. Team captain Seth Rollins seems to be at war with the world these days, so there’s no reason to think he’s on better terms with his team of Kevin Owens, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre or Randy Orton.

And just a few days ago, Owens and McIntyre battled to a standstill:

Meanwhile, Ricochet and Orton have tried to put their Team Hogan vs. Team Flair hostilities behind them, but you can tell the issues are lingering just below the surface:

On Roman Reigns’ blue squad, things are a little better. The Big Dog doesn’t have a problem with most of his mates, but Roman, Mustafa Ali & Shorty G all have beef with King Corbin:

We don’t need to remind you that Corbin ruins everything, right? Then there’s Braun Strowman. Reigns and The Monster Among Men have been co-existing these days, but there’s gotta be some bad blood from past incidents like, oh, that time at Great Balls of Fire Romey tried to murder Braun...

Allegiance to a brand some of these guys were just assigned to last month might be enough to get them to set their issues with one another aside for a night. But I wouldn’t count on it.

What’s at stake

In story, of course, it’s that precious and coveted Brand Supremacy™.

In reality, it’s how well what plays out during this match serves future stories on each show. Will this make us more interested in a Reigns/Corbin feud? Does it set-up anything for Ali or Gable? How will it elevate Owens or McIntyre into the main event?

There’s always fun to be had in traditional Survivor Series tag matches. It’s whether or not WWE follows up on what happens ( cough Dolph Ziggler in 2014 cough) where things get a little tricky.

Pull up WWE Network, and join us here at Cageside Seats for our coverage, Sun., Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. Eastern and we’ll see how they do with the men in 2019.