Team Raw beat Team SmackDown in the women's five-on-five elimination match at WWE Survivor Series on Sunday night, with Lana emerging as the unlikely hero for the red brand.

She had been sidelined by teammates Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler before the match and was left on the outside of the ring for almost the entire contest. 

However, Jax and Bianca Belair—the only remaining SmackDown competitor—were left battling on the outside as the referee was making his 10-count following the disqualification of Baszler.

The EST of WWE dumped Jax over the ringside barricade but was unable to return to the ring before the count ended. That left Lana as the only combatant despite barely featuring in the match.

It had to feel good after her Raw teammates relegated her to the role of bystander before the contest.

As part of the "best of the best" tagline, 10 of the best female Superstars in WWE went into battle with an eye on establishing brand supremacy and putting themselves on the map individually.

The Raw team was announced on Oct. 26 with Jax, Baszler, Mandy Rose and Dana Brooke being the original four members. Lana then beat Lacey Evans, Peyton Royce and Nikki Cross in a Fatal 4-Way to earn the final spot on the team.

Jax and Baszler were none too pleased with Lana winning that match since they had been bullying her for weeks before that. The Irresistible Force had put Lana through the announce table multiple times and continued to do so even after she became a teammate.

Additionally, Jax and Baszler had issues with Rose and Brooke, who had been attempting to vie for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships. It came to a head on the go-home episode of Raw prior to Survivor Series when Rose and Brooke teamed with Raw women's champion Asuka against Jax, Baszler and Lana.

During the match, Jax and Baszler injured Rose, and she had to be removed and taken backstage. While The Golden Goddess was getting tended to after the match, Brooke was attacked by Reckoning of Retribution.

With neither Rose nor Brooke able to compete at Survivor Series, they were replaced by Evans and Royce, thus finalizing the team.

On the SmackDown side, Belair won a Triple Threat match against Zelina Vega and Natalya to become the first member of the team. She was followed by Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan, who won qualifying bouts in subsequent weeks.

There were still two spots that needed to be filled entering the go-home episode of SmackDown, and the team was rounded out by Bayley and Natalya.

Fans were treated to an amazing collection of talent Sunday, but nobody is better positioned than Lana to receive a nice push coming out of the match after outlasting every other Superstar—even if it was basically by default.

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