Monday 19 November 2018 12:19, UK
Survivor Series was a one-sided affair in terms of the battle between Raw and SmackDown but two competitors regained an enormous surge of momentum.
Charlotte Flair and Daniel Bryan, though beaten on the night, delivered first-rate performances to energise themselves and their popularity at a curious event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Raw won all six head-to-head contests to give them a clean sweep of wins, although SmackDown did collect a victory in the pre-show match.
The most eye-catching bout of the evening came in the battle between red brand women's champion Rousey and Flair, who was substituting for the injured Tuesday night champ Becky Lynch.
Flair seemed inspired by her late-notice entry into the match and an intense and physical battle which saw Rousey bleed from the mouth was only ended when she attacked the ex-UFC title-holder with a kendo stick.
That moment forced the disqualification and there was further brutality after the bell as Flair ran wild with the kendo stick and stamped on Rousey's head when she had a steel chair placed on her throat.
It was a thrilling first half of what was effectively a double main event, with the latter half providing a near shock upset for Daniel Bryan against Brock Lesnar.
Bryan had Lesnar in his Yes Lock and in deep trouble after an intriguing clash, only for the Beast to dig deep to hit a final F5 and claim a hard-fought win.
The groundwork for the Raw victory had been laid by a win by a big margin in the men's elimination match, where Drew McIntyre, Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley were all left standing, and a narrower triumph in the women's match, where only Nia Jax prevailed.
AoP went over The Bar in the tag-team showdown - where there was a unique moment which involved manager Drake Maverick losing control of his bladder - and Seth Rollins got the better of Shinsuke Nakamura in a clean contest in which the anticipated interference by Dean Ambrose did not materialise.
SmackDown's only victory came on the pre-show, where they won the 10-against-10 tag team collision with The Usos the last team standing.
But while Raw took the bragging rights it was two SmackDown competitors - Flair and Bryan - who left the event with their reputations enhanced and, arguably, the true Survivor Series winners.
