5 Mistakes WWE made at Survivor Series 2021

WWE Survivor Series was the company's final pay-per-view of the year, and it needed to set up several storylines for December.

There were no titles on the line as part of the show; instead, the only reward was brand supremacy, which Monday Night RAW was able to secure quite convincingly.

The show featured the return of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon and planted the seeds for a feud between The Rock and Roman Reigns. While many positives came out of this year's show, several things could have been done differently to boost its overall quality.

The following list looks at just five mistakes that WWE made at this year's Survivor Series event.

---

#5. What was the point of the 25-man battle royal at Survivor Series?

Two days before Survivor Series, WWE official Sonya Deville announced that there would be a 25-man Battle Royal to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Rock's debut.

This is a recycled concept in WWE, as the company has honored the career of Andre The Giant with a battle royal at WrestleMania for the past several years.

That being said, unlike the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, there was no prize for the winner of this match. There wasn't a direct link to The Rock, either; none of his relatives competed in the match. Instead, the whole theme of the bout seemed to revolve around pizza.

Pizza Hut was seemingly sponsoring the show, and WWE decided against the subtle approach to this connection. The company allowed the competitors in the battle royal to fight with pizza, both in the squared circle and at ringside.

Omos was finally declared the winner, but much like Braun Strowman's Greatest Royal Rumble victory more than three years ago, it appears to be a completely pointless win.

Unless WWE follows up Omos' victory with the giant breaking away from AJ Styles and becoming a monster singles star, it's unclear what the point of this Survivor Series match actually was.

There were several tag teams in the match, and WWE had the opportunity to tease several splits that could have been meaingful. But by focusing on the pizza, the company gave fans a match that didn't feel important whatsoever.

#4. Both Survivor Series elimination matches saw someone turn on their own brand

The battle for brand supremacy at WWE Survivor Series has become a controversial concept in recent years, as Superstars regularly move from brand to brand.

It appears that the tradition could now be outdated, and proof of this development can be found in the way that both traditional elimination matches played out on Sunday.

The men's Survivor Series match saw Sheamus turn on Jeff Hardy following his elimination, despite the fact that they had been working in tandem moments before. This attack left Hardy in a vulnernable position and eventually led to the popular star losing the match for his team.

The women's match subsequently followed a similar storyline when Team SmackDown turned on Sasha Banks. When Banks' team pulled The Boss out of the ring and stopped her from getting back inside, they forced her to be eliminated via countout.

The former champion and Shotzi had their issues before the match, but Banks was SmackDown's best chance to win the bout. Her elimination made it easy to predict Team RAW's ultimate triumph.

Both of these decisions later led to Monday Night RAW picking up the win with two sole survivors.

#3. Is Survivor Series the start of the build for The Rock vs Roman Reigns?

Last night's Survivor Series was dominated by the return of Vince McMahon and the arrival of his $100 million egg.

The WWE Chairman made it clear to Roman Reigns that The Rock gave him the precious egg before the treasure went missing later in the night. It's unclear how someone was able to take the egg while McMahon was sitting in his office, but that's an argument for another day.

There's only one way to have the inclusion of the egg at Survivor Series make sense. If Roman Reigns took the prized possession, this outcome would likely lead to The Rock's return and set up a heated feud between the two stars.

While seeing a legitimate star like Reigns steal the egg would have been both hilarious and horrible, WWE could have set the stage for his feud with The Rock in a more exciting way.

The Great One simply could have appeared after Reigns' match via satellite and made it clear that he's the real Head of the Table. In doing so, fans would have left the show buzzing about this eventual clash. After all, The Rock is the much bigger star of the Anoa'i family, so he can easily challenge Reigns for his throne.

#2. Wasn't Survivor Series supposed to be about brand supremacy?

The whole build-up to Survivor Series focused on which WWE brand was considered to be the best. Traditionally, this theme is the motive for the Survivor Series elimination match, but it appears that the company completely forgot about it last night.

RAW won the night with a 5-2 victory overall after Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns were the only stars to pick up wins for SmackDown. It was clear that RAW were the victors before the women's Survivor Series match, but there was no comment made about this outcome on the show.

Considering the whole point of the show was supposed to be about which brand came out on top and earned "bragging rights," it was odd to see WWE's failure to officially keep score of the battle throughout the night.

It remains to be seen if tonight's episode of RAW will see the company highlight what was a pretty convincing win for the red brand, or if the traditional Survivor Series battle for supremacy is now a thing of the past.

#1. Did Damian Priest turn heel at Survivor Series?

Damian Priest's match was pushed to the Kickoff show at Survivor Series, where he seemingly teased a full heel turn.

During the United States Champion's bout with Shinsuke Nakamura, Priest attacked the Intercontinental Champion with a guitar. In doing so, he lost via disqualification and gave the first point of the night to SmackDown.

Priest stormed back up the ramp after the match at Survivor Series, and rumors are suggesting that this outcome was WWE's way of turning the star heel. Priest has been one of the biggest babyfaces on RAW for some time now, but he has been teasing a character change for the last few weeks.

The Archer of Infamy is also one of the only face champions in WWE at the moment, alongside Big E and RK-Bro, as all other champions are currently heels.

The end of the match and the reason for it will hopefully become clear on RAW later tonight, if Priest is now a heel. But this move would be a surprising turn of events for the former NXT star, as he has enjoyed a lot of success as a babyface.