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

Neither crowd was bad, but Raw was in Philly. Philly always shows up, and this week was no different.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

No Mauro Ranallo put SmackDown back since he is their top guy, but not to worry because Tom Phillips is here to save the day. The guy is good. Real good. Soon enough I think he is the one that takes the place of Michael Cole, and Cole will take a permanent backstage role. Phillips deserves it as he is very good at what he does.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

SmackDown only had three matches, two of which were subpar. But their main event held up as Wyatt & Harper should have been a much bigger feud than its being built up to be right now.

Raw had two great cruiserweight matches, and a good no DQ match with Zayn and Owens. Raw picks up another win here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

SmackDown had yet another contract signing that was basically the same as its always been, and then MizTV which was a copy of what they did the week before. It was good, but its running its course.

HHH and Seth Rollins tore it up in their contract signing segment. Also Paul Heyman was doing Paul Heyman things yet again and helps Raw pick up the W here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

Raw is still in the shitter. Goldberg is still the champ, and he is still headlining Mania with another part timer in Brock Lesnar. The women's division is still in the tank, and the tag team stuff is subpar. But the cruiserweights and United States Championship stuff is good. I still hate Roman vs. Taker too.

I love SmackDown's main event scene. I love the idea of Corbin as Intercontinental Champion. Their tag division is meh, but more interesting. And the return of Naomi brings some life back to the women's division. Not a fan of Shane vs, AJ, but it still has potential to be pretty decent. Easy win here.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

Two hours > three hours. You know how it goes.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

Its so hard to tell here. Between the cool stuff Raw did with Undertaker, and the cool stuff SmackDown has done with Bray and Randy with vignettes. Its a rough choice, but I'm going with SmackDown.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Nothing.

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


SmackDown wins a close one with a 4-3 tally. I think both shows struggled since it was a go home show for the "Ultimate Thrill Ride"(yes.. I'm super tired of that), but SmackDown was much more down than usual. With that being said, how rough is Raw having it that they still get beat on an off week for SmackDown?