NXT topples SmackDown & Raw’s midcards in a lackluster brand brawl

The battle for brand supremacy is well past its expiration date.

Tonight’s (Nov. 18) main event of Raw confirmed that WWE brands battling for pride, with no stakes involved, really does not make for interesting television. Last year, other than the pre-show, Raw beat SmackDown in every single match and nothing came from it.

This year, the addition of NXT provided some hope, and one spectacular episode of SmackDown, but not enough juice to carry Monday Night Raw’s go-home show to great heights.

On the final Raw before Survivor Series, all three brands limped to the finish line because they were fighting for nothing in particular.

It was a bad sign when SmackDown sent over Heavy Machinery and Lucha House Party to lead their attack on Raw this year.

Joined by Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode, and Cesaro, Team Blue interrupted a nothing match between Randy Orton and Ricochet versus The Viking Raiders.

Team Raw became overwhelmed, then some of NXT’s best showed up to attack some of SmackDown’s worst. The tide would turn one more time when Seth Rollins and The OC rushed the ring to save Orton, Ricochet, Erik and Ivar.

Even more of the NXT roster would come up, and Raw ended with Triple H daring the main roster to show up to Full Sail on Wednesday night.

WWE has had some cool roster versus roster moments during the last two years, but tonight was not it.

Get complete Raw results and coverage of the entire show here.