Asuka Dominates as Raw Wins WWE Survivor Series Elimination Women's Match

Team Raw beat Team SmackDown in the women's five-on-five traditional elimination match Sunday night at Survivor Series for the second year in a row.

Asuka was able to overcome a two-on-one deficit to apply the Asuka Lock to Natalya and clinch the win.

The general consensus of the match was that the outcome was the right choice, but the match itself was quite sloppy: 

"

Good for Asuka, but that match was genuinely awful! #SurvivorSeries

— Jonathan Snowden (@JESnowden) November 20, 2017"

While there isn't a long history of quality women's elimination matches at Survivor Series, it was clear entering the pay-per-view that this year's bout had a chance to be special.

Raw boasted a stacked team with Alicia Fox leading Asuka, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Bayley. SmackDown countered with Becky Lynch, Naomi, Carmella, Tamina and Natalya, who replaced Charlotte Flair after Charlotte defeated Natalya for the SmackDown Women's Championship on the go-home show before Survivor Series.

The red brand saw Fox beat Banks and Bayley in a Triple Threat for the right to captain the team. Her first choice was Jax before choosing Sasha and Asuka as well due to their impressive performances on Raw.

The final slot was filled on the go-home episode of Raw when Bayley beat Mickie James and Dana Brooke in a Triple Threat to complete the strong squad.

SmackDown didn't have many choices to make since it has fewer female competitors than Raw, but it did have a match to determine the captain with Becky prevailing.

Lynch led the way when SmackDown put Raw under siege, resulting in many of Raw's women's division Superstars getting attacked.

Raw did get its revenge on the go-home edition of SmackDown Live prior to Survivor Series, though, when it busted in to Team Blue's locker room and counterattacked.

That ensured there would be plenty of heat between the two sides entering Survivor Series, and that fact manifested itself during what was a chaotic and entertaining match.

One of the greatest positives regarding Survivor Series is the opportunity to see first-time matchups, bitter rivals against each other and even friends mixing it up.

The possibility of Becky and Asuka going at it for the first time or even Lynch competing against her fellow Four Horsewomen in Sasha and Bayley added an element of intrigue to the contest.

It is difficult to argue against the notion that WWE has more talent in its women's division currently than at any time in its history.

It wasn't long ago that it would have been difficult to fill two Survivor Series teams with capable talent, but it has now gotten to the point that some deserving female Superstars had to be left out of the match due to the impressive amount of depth.

Sunday's match may not have a long-lasting impact on what happens in the women's division moving forward; however, it was a great showcase for all 10 competitors involved.

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