This weekend, WWE had their 2021 ‘Survivor Series” pay-per-view from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was panned as a boring show by most, and for me, the only thing worth watching was the opening match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

The “Survivor Series” used to be one of the biggest, most-anticipated shows of the year, but it hasn’t been that in a long, long time. WWE didn’t dedicate much time building up this PPV as they’ve been hot-shotting title matches in hopes of keeping their ratings above all-time record lows. They really only focused on the upcoming PPV over the last two weeks, and it wasn’t a successful build.

WWE tends to lean on ‘traditions’ as a crutch for their laziness. The entire idea of this pay-per-view is lame and needs to be improved/updated. I wouldn’t even put it among the top-six yearly PPVs and has slipped below “Money In the Bank” and “Hell In A Cell”. I know those PPVs also needs a gimmick match to headline the show, but at least those gimmick matches are exciting with something at-stake.

Here are five ways WWE should improve future “Survivor Series” pay-per-view.

Don’t Have This Show So Close to the WWE Draft

One of the biggest reasons why this show is such a tough one is because they always have the WWE Draft right before this show. Most of the teams have feuded with someone on the other team just weeks before this show. By the time WWE ends feuds, they have already wrestled a dozen or so times on television.

The WWE Draft is meant to freshen up the rosters and make new feuds. It’s also a way to show someone in a new light, like what they are doing with Shotzi right now. It’s rough to get someone going as a big heel if they do a job in their first PPV on the brand, like she did on Sunday. There are only so may ways people can be eliminated without getting pinned or submitted, and doing too many count-outs is uncreative and cheap.

End Brand vs Brand Traditional Survivor Series Matches

The RAW vs Smackdown tradition isn’t very old and should be scrapped. Nothing in these brand vs. brand traditional Survivor Series matches have had any lasting storyline implications. After the RAW and Smackdown following the show, nothing ever gets brought up again. Hell, Smackdown lost every match one year and it was never even mentioned again. There was no storyline continuation about that, at all.

I hate seeing wrestlers in blue Smackdown and red RAW t-shirts fighting in the ring. It’s one of my all-time, most annoying pet peeves. No wrestler looks a star in jobber-like t-shirts. It makes them look like worker bees. I would end them for that reason alone.

WWE can build up a women’s traditional match on one show and the men’s traditional match on the other. They can make teams of heels vs. faces and end all the in-fighting and bickering. It’s not entertaining and ‘teammates that don’t get along’ is another lame crutch WWE leans on when they can’t think of anything creative.

End Champion vs Champion Matches

I’ve never seen a benefit to having champions face each other. We will either get a fuck finish or one of the champions will be seen as the lesser champ. It’s one thing if this builds to a storyline, but it never does at all. I also doubt that media companies who own each television show loves to see their champion lose to the other brand. I’m sure NBC Universal was thrilled to see Big E lose to Roman Reigns on Sunday.

We Need Compelling Championship Matches

WWE can use television building storylines that will continue, rather than throw away stuff that will be forgotten the day after “Survivor Series”. They can have matches like Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan and Big E vs. Seth Rollins, which people want to see now.

WWE basically used two weeks to build matches for Sunday that doesn’t mean anything in the long run. It’s currently their modus operandi, since they are just a content farm at this point.

We Need Something At Stake

A lot of my points could be moot if WWE just puts something at stake for the winner of these brand vs. brand matches. The winners of the traditional Survivor Series matches could have better spots in the Royal Rumble or winners of the champ vs champ matches could pick their next challenger. If you don’t like those options, just pick anything. Hell, maybe the winners will get first-class seating on the plane on their next European tour, I really don’t care, anything is better than nothing.

I grew up a big fan of “Survivor Series” pay-per-views with Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior teams looking larger than life. I hope we can one day update this idea into something that works today, because what I saw on Sunday wasn’t it.

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About the Author…

Bobby Roberts (otherwise known as Sweetbob) is the creator of ‘America’s White Boy’ and contributor at Project Shanks. His writing has been featured on ESPN’s ‘SportsNation’, Sports Illustrated’s Hot Clicks, Guyspeed, and various other sites. You can follow him on Twitter at @Sweetbob.