The biggest winners and losers of last night's RAW (November 4)

(Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are of author's own)

There was a lot going on last night, making this week's RAW perhaps the most notable of the year. The fallout from Crown Jewel and the build to Survivor Series were in full effect as NXT once again invaded the main roster, while Brock Lesnar looked for Rey Mysterio.

Survivor Series in recent years has come under criticism for the "meaningless" brand vs. brand format and this year in particular, it seems even more so because of the "wild card" nonsense that reigned for six months. Yet, who can deny that it's probably the most fun show of the year? Episodes like this make that case. Survivor Series, at least on paper, always serves up the most entertaining card in WWE, and this year's looks like it will be no exception. We saw previews of that last night.

Nevertheless, this time of year also means that WrestleMania plans are starting to take shape, so who got the most and least out of last night's RAW?

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Loser: All of WWE

As Seth Rollins would mention later on, it feels like the entire year was for nothing. Make that closing in on three years. Brock Lesnar is back on RAW, absentee champion once again, and the show once again is trapped in this never-ending nightmare. The same Brock Lesnar matches, the same Paul Heyman promos, the same waiting for months for the red brand's top title to show up again, as will surely happen when Rey Mysterio inevitably falls at Survivor Series.

At least WWE could have done a fun match by giving us Brock Lesnar vs. The Fiend, but because of this obsessive need to make Brock Lesnar look strong, it won't happen.

Same old, same old, year in, year out.

And they wonder why the audience is declining.

Loser: Asuka

This was a good match, and the Women's Tag Team Titles finally feel like they mean something when in the hands of Asuka and Kairi Sane, but why in the world did Natalya of all people manage to escape an Asuka Lock and tap out the former undefeated champion to the Sharpshooter?

On its own, this loss means little, as the champions will probably get their win back in some form. That's how these non-title matches almost always work, but still, Asuka rarely lost clean, even after the end of her streak. Doing so now, to Natalya, is a bad move.

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Winner: Buddy Murphy

Once again, Buddy Murphy displays why he truly is a secret that needs to be less of one. His victory over Cedric Alexander was a repetition of what happened only a few weeks ago, but it was still an electric match despite its short time limit.

Murphy displaying his potential on the red brand is a win for now. We just need to see if he'll get to do any more of it. Hopefully he can be in a prominent spot on RAW's Survivor Series team, where he could easily be the best part of the traditional elimination match.

And I think everyone would like to see him take on AJ Styles for the US title down the line.

Loser: RAW

As mentioned before, Seth Rollins lamented that everything that happened over the past year seems meaningless. Triple H told him he had to retrace his roots. We got a good match between him and Adam Cole later in the evening, but that wasn't the important thing for the long term.

Could Rollins get built up to take on Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania yet again? As of now, that looks like the only obvious WWE title match in Tampa Bay next April. That would be a huge mistake. I don't think there's a single WWE fan left that wants to see yet another rehash of the Brock Lesnar vs. a Shield member feud. It's sucked up all the attention in the company since 2014, much to its own detriment.

It's still very early, but the potential outcome of this is so bad that it has to be considered an early loss for everyone on the red brand and its fans in advance, if it continues as it may.

Winner: The women's division

This was a long time coming. It should have happened a long time ago, anyway. There's no reason for Shayna Baszler to continue reigning as NXT Women's Champion when her run got more than stale since at least TakeOver: New York. For at least a few weeks, there will be something to look forward to from her.

And with the triple threat stipulation and Bayley's involvement, it teases a future one on one confrontation between these two reserved for the future.

Maybe WrestleMania 36? Unless Ronda Rousey suddenly reappears to try and get revenge, there's no better opponent for Becky Lynch in Tampa Bay. Let's see how well this match is received at Survivor Series, and for the betterment of both NXT and the main roster, we can, at least for now, hope that it will be set up on the road to WrestleMania in 2020.