Survivor Series 2023: Brand warfare coming back at WWE PLE?

Bengaluru, June 30: Concluding the "bragging rights" theme for the final pay-per-view of the year, Survivor Series appeared to be a welcoming move on WWE's part since it never came with any additional prizes for the winners.

After Triple H took over the creative team of the WWE, the Raw vs. Smackdown theme was thought to be outdated and thus the WarGames concept was launched last year. However, WarGames could be put to rest without any follow-up.

According to news breaker BWE, WWE is reportedly bringing back the brand warfare idea between Raw and Smackdown for Survivor Series 2023. The NXT brand will also be added to the mix to produce a three-way battle.

The main idea behind the Raw vs. SmackDown vs. NXT themed brand war at Survivor Series 2023 is that WWE will be putting efforts behind establishing the latter show as the legitimate third brand of the company.

WWE CEO Nick Khan pushing the idea to erase the developmental territory tag from NXT and make it a standalone brand that should have the capability to compete against the two main roster shows.

As a result, some of the top WWE superstars from Raw and Smackdown are appearing on Tuesday nights and even a vice-versa process could also be seen. Such cross-brand appearances should be regular by the time Survivor Series appears.

It should be noted that back in 2019, WWE did host a similar themed Survivor Series where NXT got to participate. They had not only gone toe-to-toe with the mainstay names but also defeated Raw and Smackdown by a long margin.

Triple H was then trying to push NXT as a third brand of WWE but the efforts didn't materialize. Now he is looking over Raw and Smackdown and expectedly wants to give more shots to the white-and-gold brand.

Following WWE Draft in 2016, the brand split returned to WWE programming and since that year, Survivor Series was converted into a Raw vs. Smackdown themed event. Last year, Triple H changed the concept and made it a gimmick-based show.

For the very first time, WarGames was introduced to the main roster and the belief was that it will stick due to its popularity. But the latest reports wipe out those possibilities.

WWE is yet to officially announce details regarding Survivor Series 2023 edition. Being a Big-Four event, it has its own timeslot in November and it should also be the final premium live event of this year. The confirmed PLE schedule goes as follows:

- WWE Money in the Bank 2023 (July 1 from the O2 Arena in London, England)

- WWE SummerSlam 2023 (August 5 from the Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan)

- WWE NXT Great American Bash 2023 (July 30 at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas)

- WWE Payback 2023 (September 2 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

- WWE Fastlane 2023 (October 7 at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana)

- WWE Survivor Series 2023 (TBD)

- WWE WrestleMania 40 (April 6/7 from the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)