WWE Gone Wild: Logical Storytelling Goes out the Window as SmackDown Invades Raw

The WWE Raw Superstars weren't the only victims of SmackDown's overwhelming infiltration on Monday. Basic narrative principles were attacked, as well.

The blue brand's babyfaces and heels, hosses and high-flyers stormed into Raw on the first night after the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view, clobbering wrestlers and smashing equipment. The moment was rich with adrenaline. It was striking and unexpected.

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But it was a storytelling mess.

SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon appeared early in the show to tell Raw general manager Kurt Angle his squad would take down Team Raw. The two brands are set to meet in various matches at Survivor Series on Nov. 19, and this felt like merely some tense-but-friendly banter beforehand.

Then, as Angle tried to announce who would represent Raw on its Survivor Series teams, a drove of blue-shirted Superstars marched toward him. 

Soon, the invasion turned violent, a wave of destruction crashing backstage, the locker room, the entrance ramp. The New Day sucker-punched Titus O'Neil. Becky Lynch blasted the Raw women. Baron Corbin and Rusev held Angle still to force him to watch it all.  

The level of aggression felt out of place. Some of SmackDown's upstanding citizens were going berzerk. A brand rivalry had turned into a blood feud in an instant.

Announcer Corey Graves spoke for the confused members of the audience when he said: "I don't understand what this is about."

The simple answer is brand loyalty. But that's a cop-out. It's hard to swallow that the SmackDown roster members feel so passionately about the show they represent that they would start whaling on unsuspecting peers to that degree.

We're supposed to believe Corbin, who has long been a lone wolf, cares so much about the SmackDown brand that he's willing to follow orders from McMahon, that he wants to be a team player all of a sudden? We're supposed to buy that The New Day, who was on Raw only months ago, is amped up enough to go to war for the blue brand?

The WWE could have built toward this collision with rising tension over time. SmackDown's sudden anger makes this an unearned development in the tale.

Tim Fiorvanti of ESPN.com questioned the SmackDown stars' motivation:

And while it makes sense that these wrestlers would want to represent their show and have a natural competitive rivalry with the other brand, the WWE can't have characters abandon who they are.

Those blue shirts apparently have transformative powers because so many folks weren't acting like themselves.

Babyfaces Mojo Rawley, The New Day and Lynch suddenly started acting like Shane-O-Mac's goons. Chad Gable, a good egg and guy who does things the right way, was kicking down lighting equipment. McMahon rapidly went from righteous, order-seeking authority figure to merciless gang leader.

Credit: WWE.com

It was odd to see Tye Dillinger and Baron Corbin working side-by-side with as much as they have fought over the past few weeks. Lynch and Carmella's issues with each other were forgotten. AJ Styles attacked the men he partnered with earlier in the night.

Again, brand loyalty, right?

That's just such a weak motivation. If their livelihoods were on the line or a championship opportunity was up for grabs, maybe the hero would turn hoodlum overnight. But for the sake of being called the superior show? That's quite the underwhelming catalyst for a character.

The attack felt forced. The moment felt contrived.

UPROXX writer Brandon Stroud joked about the WWE's process in coming up with all of this:

Wade Keller of PWTorch was harsher in his assessment. He wrote of the scene: "Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb." 

But this disregard of narrative logic isn't surprising. WWE fans are familiar with this type of trade-off. The company has a history of valuing moments over logic, shock value over storytelling. The WWE wants to create buzz and have people talk about its product, even if that means doing so with gaping plot holes.

As much as pro wrestling can be Shakespeare in spandex, at times like this, it becomes a more superficial entity.