Beginning with the 2017 event, the champions of Raw faced their SmackDown counterparts in non-title matches, but with the addition of NXT for the 2019 event, the matches became triple threat matches between the three brands' champions. With the exception of the men's top champions—as each brand's top championship was defended at the event—the 2019 Survivor Series featured the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT Women's Champions facing off, Raw's United States Champion, SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion, and NXT's North American Champion going against each other, and the Raw, SmackDown, and NXT Tag Team Champions in a triple threat tag team match. As the NXT Cruiserweight Championship is the only title of its kind in WWE, it was defended in a triple threat match against challengers of the opposing brands. During a media call for , WWE Chief Operating Officer and NXT head Triple H said that there were talks of doing a triple threat match between Raw's WWE Champion, SmackDown's Universal Champion, and the NXT Champion, but because of the storyline between WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and Rey Mysterio, they felt that their match needed to happen at this event. He also said that Universal Champion "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt worked better in his own storyline.