WWE Survivor Series 2018: Ranking all of the matches 

On the whole, Survivor Series 2018 was a great show
On the whole, Survivor Series 2018 was a great show

WWE Survivor Series 2018 is now in the history books and despite the occasional blip, it was one hell of a show.

While some of the traditional Survivor Series matches failed to deliver, a lot of the night's other big matches certainly didn't, and WWE creative also had a few surprises up their sleeves to make things really interesting.

The biggest story of the night will be Raw's total destruction of SmackDown, with the red brand picking up all five victories on the main card, and SmackDown's only victory coming in a bit of a messy pre-show encounter.

Let's take a look back at exactly what went down at Survivor Series 2018, and rank all of the main-show matches from worst to best.


#7 The Bar vs The Authors of Pain

Drake Maverick wet himself. Nuff said.
Drake Maverick wet himself. Nuff said.

This match had all of the potential in the world heading into the show, but the WWE squandered it by having the finish revolve around Drake Maverick wetting his pants.

The two teams themselves weren't on their best form either, and a lot of the in-ring action was slow and clunky.

As expected, The Big Show and Drake Maverick ended up having an altercation on the outside which led to the match's finish and kind of just made the whole thing feel a little bit silly.

AOP winning the match was definitely the right decision, but this could have been booked a whole lot better than it was.

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#6 Team Raw vs Team SmackDown, Men's Traditional Survivor Series Match

Shane McMahon once again dominated proceedings
Shane McMahon once again dominated proceedings

The traditional Survivor Series match between the male superstars of SmackDown and Raw is often one of the best matches on the Survivor Series card but this year's match just felt kinda lifeless.

The whole thing was based around two things- the conflicts between the Raw team-mates, and Shane McMahon.

Seeing some of the Raw team-mates square off made a lot of sense, but Shane McMahon being inserted into all of the matches big spots was tiresome and meant that the rest of the SmackDown team just looked like supporting cast.

Strowman decimated the whole of the SmackDown team at the end made him look strong, and Corbin attacking him after the match made sense, but the whole thing was just lacking in the kind of drama that makes these matches so interesting.

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#5 Team Raw vs Team SmackDown, Women's Traditional Survivor Series Match

The match underwent some last minute changes
The match underwent some last minute changes

The women's Survivor Series match opened the show and it did a good job of setting a fun tone for the rest of the night.

While the opening stretch of the match felt a little bit rushed, things really began to get good once we got down to the final 4 or 5, and the finish did a good job of protecting Asuka in defeat, for once.

Sonya Deville put in her most impressive performance yet against Bayley, while the exchange between Sasha Banks and Asuka was excellent. These two women are dynamite together in the ring and I'd love to see one of them switch brand so that they can have a proper feud.

Nia Jax picking up the victory made sense, but the crowd were quick to let her know how they feel about her after the Becky Lynch incident on Monday.

On the whole, this was very much a match of two halves, with the latter half being considerably stronger than the first.

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#4 Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Rollins and Nakamura didn't disappoint
Rollins and Nakamura didn't disappoint

As expected, these two men put on an excellent show against one another and also providing one of the most surprising results of the night when Rollins got the victory.

There were some beautiful exchanges in this match, especially towards the end, and it was nice to see Nakamura finally being given some time to do what he does best and not just kicking people where it hurts.

Rollins continues his hot streak in 2018 and he will now head on to a match with Dean Ambrose at TLC next month. Hopefully, this can be the start of a decent run from Nakamura, though, given the way he has been booked for the last 18 months, I wouldn't get your hopes up.

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#3 Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan

Bryan took Lesnar to his best match in quite some time
Bryan took Lesnar to his best match in quite some time

Just like he did at last year's Survivor Series, Brock Lesnar once again showed that, when he wants to, he is capable of putting on a great wrestling match.

This match pretty much followed the same formula as Lesnar's match with AJ Styles, and while it didn't quite hit the heights of that match, it was easily Lesnar's best outing in 2018.

The match started with Lesnar throwing Bryan around like a rag-doll, only for the WWE Champion to capitalise on a ref-bump, hit Lesnar with a low blow and level the playing field somewhat.

From there on in, this match was excellent, with Bryan very nearly picking up the victory for SmackDown when he locked Lesnar in the Yes! Lock. Of course, Lesnar rallied back and kept Bryan down with an F5, but this was still a very strong encounter.

Bryan's heel work throughout the match was excellent as well, and his run with the WWE title shows plenty of promise.

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#2 Buddy Murphy vs Mustafa Ali

Murphy and Ali did 205 Live proud
Murphy and Ali did 205 Live proud

Once again, the Cruiserweights, and Buddy Murphy, in particular, showed the WWE Universe exactly why they should be turning into 205 Live every week.

These two men put on an exceptional match and managed to get an originally sceptical crowd fully invested very quickly.

Mustafa Ali's Spanish fly from the announce table was one of the nicest spots of the night, while Buddy Murphy continues to make his case as to why he is the most improved superstar of 2018.

The Australian continues to put on exceptional matches, and hopefully, Cruiserweight encounters can continue to be featured on main-roster PPVs going forward.

In terms of direction, Mustafa Ali has consistently come up short in 2018, so having him win the Cruiserweight title at WrestleMania would be a nice way to round off his character arc.

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#1 Ronda Rousey vs Charlotte Flair

Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey stole the show at Survivor Series
Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey stole the show at Survivor Series

Well, this was really quite something, wasn't it? While I'm not usually a fan of a DQ finish, this one made a lot of sense from a booking perspective and also gave the WWE Universe the Charlotte Flair heel turn that they have been wanting for some time now.

Ronda Rousey deserves so much credit for her performance here. Not only did she go toe to toe with one of the best female wrestlers on the planet and put on an exceptional match, but she also managed that with just a few days of planning.

The crowd were red hot for this and it easily felt like the biggest match of the night. The two women worked a great match and Rousey's unique in-ring style makes all of her matches intriguing, and that was only amplified against one of the best performers in the WWE.

The action itself was thrilling, and the finish also sets up a potentially mouthwatering triple threat match at WrestleMania between Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey.

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