The biggest winners and losers of Survivor Series

2018's edition of Survivor Series is now in the books and the pay per view was a bizarre one. And yet, despite its bizarre nature, where SmackDown as a brand was the blowout loser of the night, despite some things dragging, despite that terrible piss humor with Drake Maverick that was designed solely for an audience of one, was still WWE's best main roster pay per view of the year.

Every match was good at worst and some will be the match of the year contenders. The stacked card delivered and overperformed its booking, to say the least.

With this all in the books, let's take a look at the biggest winners and losers on the night as far as wrestlers, rather than brands, are concerned, anyway.

Winner: The Usos

It was the right thing to do. It's what should have been done. It's what I wanted to see happen. And it happened. The Usos emerged from the tag team elimination kickoff match as the sole survivors. This victory apparently didn't count for their brand on the main card, because SmackDown wasn't allowed to shine one iota on the night as a show (despite Fox executives being backstage, imagine that), but it did shine for The Usos.

This victory needs to put them in place as the number one contenders for The Bar's titles, especially since the champions took a loss on the night to the Authors of Pain.

Now the question becomes whether The Usos can sustain this momentum all the way to WrestleMania or if they'll flame out before then. When will their feud begin? How long will it last? Will The Usos be successful in capturing the championships before WrestleMania?

Either way, SmackDown's tag team division looks like it's about to get a needed shot in the arm.

Loser: Mustafa Ali

This was an excellent match, as we should expect by now with any match featuring Buddy Murphy or Mustafa Ali, let alone the two of them together. They have delivered all year.

That being said, Buddy Murphy retained his Cruiserweight Championship in a fairly straightforward fashion, with no hints that this rivalry will continue, as of now.

Hopefully, Mustafa Ali will come back from this loss and emerge into title contention on the road to WrestleMania, but there's no hint that this will take place at the moment. We'll just have to wait and see what happens on 205 Live.

In the interceding months, a rematch between Buddy Murphy and Cedric Alexander looks like it's going to be inevitable, so maybe that benefits Mustafa Ali at the moment.

205 Live should live up to its name as the most exciting hour on TV during Murphy's tenure, though, that's for sure.

Loser: Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe being eliminated very shortly after the men's elimination match started, to the hostile reaction of the crowd, tells you what you need to know about how Vince McMahon feels about him.

One thing is for sure - Samoa Joe is destined for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at MetLife Stadium. He won't even win that.

It's a shame that his talent is being wasted when he delivered so heavily during his main event feud with AJ Styles, but he's far from the only waste of talent that this company has had to offer over the years.

Granted, he was eliminated by Drew McIntyre, but that's hardly good news when it comes to his position in the company.

For a man that badly needed credibility after four straight failures to capture the WWE Championship, this match did him no favors.

Winner: Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre didn't quite have the monster night that I was expecting, but he nevertheless survived to the end for Raw's team and scored an elimination of his own against Samoa Joe. He looked like a beast throughout the entire match and his rivalry with Braun Strowman was heavily featured.

There was nothing that could be clearly discerned regarding what his WrestleMania plans might be, but it's very clear that Drew McIntyre is in a good spot heading into the biggest months on the WWE calendar. He'll feature heavily in WWE's WrestleMania plans, no matter where they might wind up putting him on the card on April 7th.

After his monster performance, we'll wait to see what happens concerning his alliance with Dolph Ziggler. Logic indicates that it can't last all the way to WrestleMania. It will break up before that point and perhaps imminently.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman came back from this and delivered a truly monster performance for his team. He scored four eliminations en route to remaining a survivor for Team Raw at the very end, despite his beef with Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre.

If Braun Strowman needed rebuilding after being embarrassed at Crown Jewel, this was just what the doctor ordered.

However, one does have to wonder if he'll ever get the job done against Brock Lesnar. If he does, hopefully, it comes before WrestleMania.

Drew McIntyre vs. Braun Strowman would be so much more exciting at this point and much better in delivering must-see action every week on Raw, in comparison to Brock Lesnar's part-time status. There's certainly a foundation to go in that direction in the unlikely event that WWE would actually want to.

Either way, Braun Strowman's chances of winning the Royal Rumble went up big time after last night.

Winner: Charlotte Flair

Wow, was this great.

It was on its way to being a match of the year candidate until the ending, but even the ending delivered.

Charlotte Flair finally turned heel and wrecked Ronda Rousey with a kendo stick and a chair. The crowd went bonkers. For Charlotte, this was sorely needed, and it should eliminate any doubts that we're going to see her against Ronda Rousey at WrestleMania 35.

The way this happened begs for a do-over. There is unfinished business between these two, to say the least.

And with how good this was, combined with the new direction in Charlotte's character, color me excited.

WWE made the best of a bad situation and actually made the potential Charlotte Flair vs. Ronda Rousey match a lot more exciting than it was before. Charlotte hasn't been at this temperature in ages. Pencil her in as the winner of the women's Royal Rumble match.