"It's two against one now," Cole announced after Alexa Bliss was eliminated from the match by Nikki Bella. "Nikki Bella and Bayley Martinez for Team Raw, against Becky Lynch for Team Smackdown. We're looking good, Byron."
"We're looking good, Byron," JBL responded instead, mocking his former colleague. "Don't rule Smackdown out until the bell rings. Becky Lynch won't go down without a fight."
"You mean like your tag teams did?" Saxton quipped back him.
"Team Raw did win the tag team elimination match earlier tonight," Mauro Ranallo admitted. "That means that if Team Raw win this match, they will take an unassailable two to nothing lead in the battle of the brands here at Survivor Series."
Nikki tagged Bayley into the match as Becky entered the ring on the opposite side. Before taking on her opponent, Bayley exchanged a few words of strategy with Nikki, which would later prove to be a key point in the finish.
Although she was enjoying the match as much as she always did, Bayley did feel disappointed that the finish had been changed. Originally, she was supposed to be the one who got the deciding pin to win the match and secure overall victory for Raw, but Vince McMahon had decided that would no longer be the case. It didn't take much to figure out that it was a punishment for what had happened that night in Glasgow. Hunter might have spared her the worst of the riot act and helped to rectify what she had done, but it hadn't been forgotten about. The message was clear: do something like that again, you lose your push.
As usual, Seth had been right with his advice, pointing out that while it was understandable that she felt both upset and guilty about being punished, what she needed to do was show her determination to improve. Letting her head drop was no good. She had to go out there and give her very best performance, which would send the right kind of message back to the Chairman. With that in mind, she consciously gave everything she had over the next few minutes as she and Becky took the action to another level, selling the fact that they were both desperate to get the win for their teams.
When they got the signal to go home from the referee, Bayley knew what she had to do next. Even the way she was going to be eliminated was a message from Vince. After delivering a running clothesline to Becky, who was in a sitting position on the canvas, she made a cover.
"Oh, I thought Martinez had it," Cole said. "That was close, but I think Becky did get her shoulder up in time, just before the three."
"Of course she did!" JBL said.
"Martinez isn't happy with the count," Saxton said. "Look at her arguing with the referee. Now really isn't the time though."
Even as he was finishing the sentence, he was proven to be correct. Becky grabbed her legs from behind and rolled her up into a pinning combination. The crowd joined in with the count, and even the Raw fans among them seemed to take some delight in Bayley getting beaten. Becky bounded up to her feet to celebrate, but Nikki had been getting into the ring even as the pin happened, and the remaining Smackdown member didn't know she was already being stalked. When she turned around, Nikki picked her straight up and got her in position for the Rack Attack.
"That's not fair!" JBL protested as the move connected, but the referee didn't seem to have a problem with it, getting down to make the count.
"One, two," Cole joined in with the fans.
"Yes!" Saxton finished the three count for him. "Raw wins! Raw wins!"
"I think Smackdown and Becky Lynch can feel unlucky there," Ranallo said with a hint of bitterness. "She pinned Bayley Martinez and then got ambushed by Nikki Bella."
"It was legal," Cole pointed out. "As soon as Martinez was pinned, Nikki became the legal woman. You might not like it, but it doesn't matter. Raw takes a two to nothing lead and has therefore won the battle of the brands. All Smackdown can do now is try to salvage some pride in the main event."
In the ring, as soon as Nikki got the three count, Bayley, who was sitting on the canvas, had raised a clenched fist in celebration. Her character hadn't gotten the decisive pinfall, but seemed intent on taking the credit for it nonetheless. She got to her feet and demanded that the referee raised her hand, even though Nikki's music was playing.
"What are you doing?" Nikki demanded of the commissioner. "I beat her, not you. I won the match."
"I gave you the idea," Bayley fired back at her. Although the crowd couldn't hear what was being said, they were both selling the disagreement well enough to give everyone a good enough idea. "I'm the commissioner, I'm the team captain, and Raw is my show. My team won. My show won."
"It doesn't exactly seem like there's much harmony on Team Raw," Ranallo said.
"Here come the rest of the team to celebrate," Cole said as Sasha, Charlotte and Dana Brooke came down the entrance ramp. "Don't worry about Raw, Mauro. You've got your own problems to sort out, judging by what I've seen so far tonight."
"I have to admit, Bayley Martinez has a huge ego, and she was trying to steal Nikki's limelight," Cole said diplomatically. "But you can't deny the fact that she put in a great performance, and she did lead from the front."
Back in the ring, Charlotte had taken Nikki aside and said a few words to her, apparently trying to calm her down. Nikki nodded her agreement and smiled. The reason would soon become apparent.
"That's more like it," Saxton said happily as Bayley was picked up by the other four members of her team, who began to carry her around the ring in celebration. "That's Team Raw right there." The fans booed though, not liking the fact that Martinez was being given all of the credit for the victory.
"This is making me sick now," JBL complained. "You can't honestly tell me you're proud to have someone like Bayley..." He was cut off by someone else's entrance music hitting, and the crowd went wild.
"Oh, here comes another woman from Raw!" Cole yelled. "It's Ronda Rousey! And I don't think she's coming to celebrate with Bayley Martinez, the woman she will face in two months at the Royal Rumble."
Now the real reason that the other four women had picked Bayley up became apparent. Seeing Ronda walking down the entrance ramp, she was demanding to be put down, obviously intending to make herself scarce, but her teammates were having none of it.
"It was a setup," Saxton realised. "They're not letting Martinez escape. They're going to feed her to Ronda Rousey. This could be bad. We've already seen Ronda put Bayley through a table."
Only when Ronda got into the ring did the four women lower Bayley back to her feet, setting her down right in front of her nemesis, who had a height advantage in addition to the obvious difference in their builds. Gulping, Bayley started saying something to Ronda, plainly trying to cry off from the beating that she feared was incoming. Charlotte lead the way as the other women left the ring. Ronda averted her glare from Bayley and glanced at the crowd when some of them began to chant, "Kick her ass!"
"Oh my," Cole said quietly.
Turning back to Bayley, Ronda said a few words of her own, then turned to leave the ring, much to the dissatisfaction of the fans, who booed loudly. Seeing an opportunity for herself, Bayley rushed her soon-to-be opponent and smashed her in the back of the head with a double axe handle. Rousey went down, and Bayley took advantage by laying some kicks into her, before quickly rolling out under the bottom rope and making her way up the entrance ramp before Ronda could get back up and make her pay for it.
"I'm not sure that might have been the smartest thing for Martinez to do," Cole said. "Whatever Ronda Rousey came out here to say, I have to believe that Bayley just made things a whole lot worse for herself at the Royal Rumble."
"Judging by the look on Ronda's face, I'd say you're right," Saxton said. "And I've just been told that Ronda will be on Raw tomorrow night, so hopefully we'll find out how she responds."
"I might even tune in to see that," JBL admitted. "Martinez is going to get her ass kicked, and that's long overdue. We can all agree on that."
"I'm going to enjoy this," Bayley said the next night. She and Seth were sitting in their locker room, ready to watch Raw's next segment on their monitor.
"Now that I can believe," Seth chuckled. "I think it was a good idea for them to do this, too. It gives the fans who don't know about Ronda an idea of what she can do. That's good for building your match with her."
"And Dana Brooke gets wrecked in the process," Bayley said, not bothering to try and suppress her grin. "I don't think Ronda's had any of her training in Florida yet, so she'll be working as stiff as hell. It couldn't happen to a more deserving person to be on the receiving end."
"I should have bought you some popcorn," Seth said, with a grin. On the screen, Ronda's entrance music started to play.
"Here comes Ronda Rousey," Cole said on commentary. "She represented our country at the 2008 Olympics, and almost singled handedly created women's MMA. She is also the woman who will be facing Commissioner Martinez at the Royal Rumble, and after what we saw last night after the women's elimination match at Survivor Series, I don't think that night can come soon enough for Ronda."
"I don't know what Ronda said to Bayley Martinez when she came out last night, but Bayley decided to attack her from behind as she was leaving the ring. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that I don't think Ronda Rousey likes being attacked from behind."
Ronda climbed into the ring and her music faded out. Some of the fans began to chant her name as she fetched a microphone, but it didn't really catch on. The opening couple of matches on the show hadn't been that great, and had drained the atmosphere in the arena. Some weeks, that was just the way it went. "Last night," Ronda began. "I came out after Team Raw won the women's elimination match because I had something that I wanted to say to Bayley Martinez."
The mention of the commissioner's name drew some boos. Then Dana Brookes music hit, interrupting Ronda almost before she had gotten started, to another round of boos.
"What is Dana Brooke coming out here now for?" Saxton groaned.
"I don't know, but I'm glad she did," Graves shot back. "I didn't want to sit here and listen to Rousey run her mouth about our commissioner. It's time people had more respect around here, and it can start with Ronda. She only just signed for Raw, yet she thinks she can walk around doing whatever she wants?"
"Martinez can come out and try and stop her," Cole suggested, implying that there was no way it was going to happen.
"Right now, I want to know what Dana is doing out here," Saxton said, getting them back on track.
Dana got into the ring and fetched herself a microphone. Ronda studied her with the same kind of look she might give to annoying fly that needed swatting. Her expression didn't seem to register with Dana, who launched into what she had to say.
"Ronda, I wanted to come out and let you know how we do things around here. If we want to make a statement in WWE, we don't come out after a match and talk to the person we have a problem with, and we certainly don't turn our back on that person and let them embarrass us by attacking us from behind. I mean, Bayley Martinez made you look pretty stupid last night to be honest."
"Look at Ronda's face," Cole muttered. "Is Dana Brooke insane?"
"What you need to do, Ronda, is make a real statement. Prove to people that you're not stupid, and you're not going to let people push you around in WWE. Now, I know that Commissioner Martinez isn't here yet, but that doesn't mean you can't make a statement that she will understand loud and clear. What I would do, if I was you, is go back there and find Charlotte Flair. She's the Raw Women's Champion, in case you didn't know. What better way to make a statement than to beat the hell out of the Women's Champion?"
And with that, Dana's intentions had become clear. This wasn't about Ronda's match with Bayley Martinez at all, it was about having someone do her dirty work for her, given that she had so far failed to get the upper hand on Charlotte in any of their encounters. Although the idea of a fight between Charlotte and Ronda was appealing in some ways, the fans booed Dana's idea, mainly for its cowardice.
"What I was trying to say," Ronda began irritably, "was that last night I had something to say to Bayley Martinez. I told her that she had better focus all of her attention on the Royal Rumble, because those two months are going to go by faster than she realises, and she's going to be standing across the ring from me. And when she looks into my eyes at that moment, she will see that I'm about to beat her within an inch of her life. But, after what Bayley did to me last night, and after what you've just said, whatever your name is, I have made a realisation."
The crowd laughed at the insult, but Dana ignored it. "What realisation is that?"
"I realised that there is at least one thing I can respect about Bayley Martinez. She fights her own battles."
Before Dana could react, Ronda dropped her microphone and started swinging punches that looked very convincing, largely because some of them were connecting. Dana was forced back into the corner of the ring by the blows, then dropped down to the mat and tried to escape under the bottom rope, but Ronda came right after her.
"Rousey and Brooke on the outside now!" Cole yelled. "Rousey is beating the hell out of the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship!"
Ronda grabbed Dana by the arm and whipped the towards the ring steps, sending her flying into them shoulder first with a tremendous crash. The top half of the steps flew nearly all the way to the barricade in front of the fans, who roared their satisfaction at the impact.
"Christ," Bayley said, flinching away from the screen a little. "She really is destroying her."
"Yeah, and you're next," Seth joked, only to realise as soon as he said it that the prospect actually wasn't funny. "Well, I'm sure they'll have shown her how to look after you a bit better by then."
As she watched the next three minutes of action, Bayley sure hoped that he was right. The beat down was finally ended when Ronda gave Dana a powerbomb, thankfully back in the ring. After delivering the powerbomb, Ronda picked up her microphone again, glaring down at the remains of Dan Brooke. "There's at least one thing I can respect about Bayley Martinez, she fights her own battles." She then looked up and faced the camera. "Martinez, take a look at your future."
"That really was an ass kicking," Bayley said quietly as the segment came to an end. "I can't say Dana didn't need one, but she's going to be feeling that for a while. And Dana's bigger than I am, too. If Ronda throws me around like that, I'm going to be in for a long night."
"Hunter will make sure that Ronda's managed to tone it down by the Rumble. You'll be fine," Seth assured her.
They both hoped he was right.