5 Biggest backstage rumors following Survivor Series: Locker room divided over issue, Reason behind top name's surprising absence, Vince McMahon not happy

Survivor Series is done and dusted, and it would be safe to say that the show was a great success. Not only did we get great in-ring action, but WWE also managed to put NXT over in a big way.

From an unhappy main roster to Vince McMahon being displeased with a major match at the show, a lot of backstage rumors have emerged coming out of the brand war PPV.

As per reports from Wrestlingnews.co, Vince McMahon is impressed with Keith Lee and we could expect a major push for the Limitless Superstar in the days to come, including a potential shot at the WWE Championship.

Let's take a look at other big backstage rumors coming out of Survivor Series:

#5 Main roster stand divided on WWE's decision to push the NXT stars

WWE has truly gone all guns blazing to promote NXT ever since it debuted on the USA Network. A big example of this push came during the build-up to Survivor Series which saw the NXT talent best main roster Superstars on multiple occasions on all 3 shows.

Even at Survivor Series, NXT emerged the clear victors of the brand war, gaining 4 victories over RAW and SmackDown on the show. As per Sportskeeda's Tom Colohue, the roster seems split over the favours shown to NXT.

Here is what Tom Colohue stated:

I have been told that Survivor Series was a particular low for some members of the roster. NXT having won the night on double the score of their nearest competitor and four times the score of RAW does paint RAW in a negative light, as was addressed this week on RAW.

A quote from Colohue's article:

“I’m not angry at NXT or any of those guys. I’m angry at the guys who made the decisions. Triple H got handed everything again.”

#4 Vince McMahon unhappy with the main-event

Even though Survivor Series has received positive reviews from fans and critics alike, the same cannot be said of the main event of the show featuring Becky Lynch, Shayna Baszler and Bayley.

The triple threat match between the Women's Champions of all three brands failed to live up to the hype, and while it wasn't a bad match, it is being seen as a major disappointment. Unfortunately for the three women involved, even chairman Vince McMahon was reportedly unhappy with the match.

WrestleVotes tweeted: Heard even Vince himself didn’t like the main event last night. Major disappointment.

Heard even Vince himself didn’t like the main event last night. Major disappointment.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) November 25, 2019

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#3 Reason why Matt Riddle pinned Randy Orton

In one of the biggest shockers of the evening, The Original Bro was able to get a clean pin of Randy Orton during the men's Survivor Series match, thus eliminating the RKO King.

Dave Meltzer and Brian Alvarez explained on WOR that Riddle eliminating Orton was essentially a setup for Baron Corbin to get major heat when he eliminated Riddle:

The whole thing is, is like if you noticed, the guys who they expected the people would like the most were the guys Baron Corbin beat because the idea of that, we can guarantee we’re going to get lots of boos because they are not going to want to see Matt Riddle pinned right there, so we’ll get Baron Corbin pin him. That was a part of the strategy of the match. They booed when Riddle got beat. (H/T: Sportskeeda)

#2 Mauro Ranallo's future with WWE

One of the biggest stories coming out of Survivor Series was the absence of NXT commentator Mauro Ranallo at the big PPV. While his partners on the NXT booth Beth Phoenix and Nigel McGuiness were both part of the show, Ranallo was conspicuous in his absence.

Rumors stated that his absence had to do with Corey Graves' harsh criticism of his announcing before the show. Dave Meltzer revealed on the Observer that things were fine between WWE and Ranallo.

Mauro Ranallo and Frank Shamrock went to the building, I guess, I mean I guess the gist of everything is that they left and they were very, very upset. And Corey Graves, I believe, he did take down the tweet at some point and Frank Shamrock wrote, 'Social media has made too many of you comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the mouth for it and he sent that to Corey Graves. This is not some random thing where you are trying to, 'oh you're connecting the dots', I mean that's exactly what it is.

"And it was the tweet and that's why he didn't do the show. He did not quit, obviously, everything is fine, everything seems to be fine between Mauro Ranallo and WWE, I was told tonight that he absolutely is expected to be there Wednesday commentating on NXT and that, from his side, he absolutely expects to be there, and that, I think they were not happy with Graves although Graves did do the show tonight.

"I guess we are going to watch this thing play out or maybe it's just over, again, it didn't feel like, umm, you know I was hearing about it, and it's not like this was a blowup, It's not anything bad but he did leave and you're not supoosed to do that and they understood and they are going to have sympathy or, I don't even know if sympathy is the right word, but there is going to be leeway. They don't want him leaving for a number of different reasons." (H/t: Sportskeeda)

#1 Original plans for the Universal Championship match

While Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt managed to put forth a spectacular match at Survivor Series, a match between the two former WWE Champions was not always the plan.

As per Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer, the original Universal Championship match planned for Survivor Series was The Miz vs The Fiend. However, it is a good thing that WWE decided to change the plans as reports state that said match between the A-Lister and The Fiend would have been a squash match with Wyatt walking out victorious without much effort.

While The Miz certainly wouldn't have posed much of a challenge to Bray Wyatt, the fans would not have taken kindly to a complete burial of the former WWE Champion. While The Miz was not part of any match at Survivor Series, his backstage segment with Daniel Bryan leads fans to believe that the Must-See Superstar will somehow get himself entangled in the on-going feud between Daniel Bryan and The Fiend.

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