Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Battle of the Brands from Smark Out Moment, where we compare this week's episodes of Raw and SmackDown and determine which one of the two was the better show.

BATTLE OF THE BRANDS:

RAW vs. SMACKDOWN

FACTOR 1: CROWD

Both audiences were about on par with each other this week with nothing really standing out to me to single them out. Since Raw had more in-ring promos, the audience could have turned on segments like the one including Roman Reigns, but even he didn't get as bad of a response as normal. Of course, he didn't get a good crowd reaction, but that's a different story. Since people ate up the Goldberg promo and suffered through Charlotte and Bayley struggling with their segment, I'll give Raw the victory out of pity.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

I considered giving SmackDown the win just due to Byron Saxton's Halloween outfit, but week in and week out, I can't stand listening to David Otunga. For all the time he's had on the Raw Pre-Show and now on the commentary desk, I don't see any real improvements. JBL and Mauro Ranallo continue to not feel like a cohesive unit, too. Raw has its problems, but when SmackDown basically consists of Ranallo doing his own thing, JBL yelling sporadically and Otunga mumbling some pointless nonsense, Raw takes it by default.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

I'm a big fan of how SmackDown is doing qualifying matches for the Tag Team Elimination Match at Survivor Series and I also chuckled a bit at Dolph Ziggler immediately pinning Curt Hawkins with a superkick. Some of the Raw matches were forgettable, even though I enjoyed the battle royal above all else. SmackDown still overall has the most bang for its buck.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

As mentioned above, I struggled to get through Charlotte and Bayley yammering on, but holy hell was it annoying to see maybe five promos about James Ellsworth apologizing to Dean Ambrose. It felt tiresome during the first one when they just kept repeating the same things, but when they kept going back to the well, it just got flat out annoying.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

Outside of James Ellsworth and Dean Ambrose and the Dolph Ziggler situation with The Miz, there wasn't many storyline developments on SmackDown. The qualifying matches were just about who won and the stuff surrounding Natalya talking about her cats was painful. Raw addressed a few topics like the Cruiserweight Championship feud, Enzo/Cass vs. Gallows/Anderson program, Braun Strowman's quest for competition and more.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

Nine times out of ten, I think SmackDown has the better layout to keep the show from feeling stale, but this week's incessant Ellsworth/Ambrose repeats destroyed that. I like both of those guys to an extent, but it was overkill and by the third time it happened, it made me feel like the episode was going too long. Raw's three hours can be insufferable most of the time, and I didn't enjoy a good portion of this week's episode either when I break it down minute by minute, but nothing stood out as badly to me as what happened on SmackDown's booking.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

Both sets are about even to me, so it's hard to choose. Call it a cop out, but since I've given a lot of wins to Raw so far, I'll give this one to SmackDown. It's really a flip of the coin scenario.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

No bonus points this week.

POINT ADJUSTMENTS: Raw (+0 / -0) / SmackDown (+0 / -0)


With a score of 5 to 2, Raw takes this week, but while the scale might be more heavily in its favor, it's not a blowout. There are issues with both shows and at the same time, both programs had some positives to help counteract the negatives. It's a shame WWE doesn't figure out a way to take all the good stuff and put that on one show while the other one can have all the bad and I can just skip it!