This may have been the debate Donald Trump wanted, but it wasn't the one he needed.
With one last chance to make a pitch to the American public that he should be trusted with the presidency, the Republican nominee had to make efforts to expand his base of support.
He had to find a way to distance himself from the allegation that he has a history of sexual harassment.
He had to position himself as the change candidate - just days after a Fox poll showed that Hillary Clinton, whose party has held the presidency for eight years, was beating him on the question of who would "change the country for the better".
Instead, after roughly half an hour of something resembling an actual policy debate about the Supreme Court, gun rights, abortion and even immigration, the old Donald Trump - the one who constantly interrupted his opponent, sparred with the moderator and lashed out at enemies real and perceived - emerged.
He called Mrs Clinton a liar and a "nasty woman".
He said the women accusing him of sexual harassment bordering on assault were either attention-seekers or Clinton campaign stooges.
He said the media were "poisoning the minds" of the public. And, most notably, he refused to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he loses.
Mrs Clinton had her own moments where she was put on the defensive - on her emails, on the Clinton Foundation and on embarrassing details revealed in the Wikileaks hack.
The difference, however, is that Mrs Clinton largely kept her poise and successfully changed the topic back to subjects where she was more comfortable. It was, in fact, a master class in parry-and-strike debate strategy.
The key takeaway from this debate, however - the headline that Americans will wake up to read in the morning - will certainly be Mr Trump's refusal to back way from his "rigged" election claims.
That was what Mr Trump wanted to say, but it isn't something the American people - or American democracy - needed to hear.
Just thought everyone should get a whiff of the post-debate 2016 flava to temper the feeling that anything at all is "in the bag". Also - it's amazing, isn't it.
Photo: Getty Images The NAACP is calling on the University of South Carolina to cancel a scheduled event where right-wing figures will “roast” Vice President Kamala Harris. According to The Hill, the NAACP sent a letter to University of South Carolina President Michael Amiridis, urging him to cancel the event because of its “blatant sexist … 
Well, that was a really long way to go around leaving them alone. I appreciate the effort not to just wipe them out absentmindedly.