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

Really, both shows had a good crowd especially being in smaller cities. I'm partial to the Raw crowd since I'm an Indiana guy, but it's really hard to choose this week. With the break up of Enzo & Cass and the return of Strowman the Raw crowd had chances to pop and they certainly did.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

Corey Graves playing a bigger part in shows returned this week as he put Big Cass on the spot for staging his own attack, and attacking Enzo all along. Which is something I'll get to later on. But, I love Corey Graves and the bigger part he plays, the better in my opinion. As an actual commentary group, Raw did well.

SmackDown's group is still okay, but really felt lacking this week much like the entire show. The on screen product plays a big role in the commentary, storylines, and so forth and the onscreen product was lacking so the surrounding roles were as well.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

Well.. This may be the first time ever in BOTB that Raw gets the first three sections. SmackDown didn't have anything that stood out to me at all including in matches. Chad Gable got a roundabout title shot, and the main event was Jinder Mahal vs. Luke Harper..

Raw had some really good stuff though. Really every match had a reason, every match had a point. Anderson & Gallows put up a good match against a face team in The Hardy's. The Titus Brand got some great heat with two appearances with Arika Towzawa and a tag match. Then, man, that Reigns vs. Samoa Joe match was great and that Strowman return put it over the top.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

SmackDown: *Insert someone complaining about the Women's Money in the Bank ladder match*.

Raw had one great over the top fun promo and that ended the show. Cass's heal turn was done beautifully in my opinion and they hit the landing for it just as well too. I wish they had more time as a tag team and at least a title run, but I'll take this too because Cass has a future as a singles star.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

SmackDown was surrounded by controversy over the women's ladder match, and thats all it was. No Mike and Maria, not even Baron Corbin.. Mr. Money In The Bank. It was all complaining about one match.

Raw moved forward with a lot. Roman and Strowman is back on. Joe is proving himself every single week, and Big Cass is finally out on his own and I hope he decimates everyone on his way to a great singles push.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

A two hour show is still far better, and no matter how good that three hour show is it is still too long. Three hours should be for pay-per-view and four hours should be for the big four.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

The visual presentation award for their work the last few weeks with the Big Cass angle is Raw. They never slipped up on anything in this angle, which is expected from the likes of WWE, but I'm still very impressed regardless.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

I absolutely loved this Big Cass turn. It built up over weeks, and they executed it perfectly.

POINT ADJUSTMENTS: Raw (+1 / -0) / SmackDown (+0 / -0)


Raw wins with a 7-1 tally. The highest win Raw has ever had. At the end of the SmackDown Live coverage, our fearless leader Tony wrote, "Who the f**k wrote this episode?" and I couldn't have said it better. They absolutely crapped the bed with this show. Raw had a great week in comparison, but even if SmackDown had a decent show Raw still would've won with the way they moved feuds forward this week. Good stuff.