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

There were times where if you weren’t actually watching Raw to see that there was a crowd there then you’d think they were wrestling in some closed up warehouse. Seriously moments where thousands of people were not making a single sound, and for that reason SmackDown gets the win.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

I’m still so confused as to why Otunga isn’t on Raw yet, but he’s doing the PPV pre-show kickoff panel. I’m okay with it because I’d rather see Booker T anyway. Seeing Corey Graves so deeply embedded into this Kurt Angle storyline that has so many fans speculating what is going to happen. But we’ll touch on that later.

I could spew the same thing I say every week about Tom Phillps being my favorite commentator in the business at the moment, but you guys know how I feel about all that. This week, I’m taking the Raw crew.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

In terms of matches SmackDown was weak minus their main event tag team match with Cena & Styles defeating Owens & Rusev.

Raw had a fun Elias Sampson vs. Finn Balor match who are both future champs in my book. Seth and Bray also had what I thought was a killer match for the main event. Raw runs away with it here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

Raw had two absolutely killer promos. I thought that the Mizzies were fantastic. The Miz is a Hall of Famer without question and he just continues to add to it. He is an incredible heel, and adding a stable behind him with the Miztourage is genius. From one great heel to two others, Lesnar and Samoa Joe. They had a promo that made you feel like you could actually feel the hatred between the two men. It was heated between the two with Roman being an odd third wheel in the trio, but all eyes were on Lesnar & Joe and they delivered. Angle ended the show in his office saying he had a blockbuster announcement for next week while on the phone with someone. Reassuring them that people will accept them and ends the call with “I love you.”.

SmackDown didn’t even come anywhere close to these. Not that the AJ & Cena stuff wasa bad, because it absolutely was not. The Mike and Maria Kanellis stuff with Sami was pretty good too. But it just couldn’t hold a candle to what we saw on Raw.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

Monday Night Raw is flurried with great storylines. Kurt Angles big announcement next week will start up yet another one too. We have Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar that’s on fire. They threw in Roman last week, but I have a feeling that means Braun is on his way into the mix as well since Roman and Braun have been in a feud for a while now. The women’s division could be a little better, but it isn’t bad. I love what Miz has been doing with Intercontinental Championship. The only thing I can complain about is Finn not being in a more prominent thought.

SmackDown isn’t in such a good spot right now. Cena and Rusev going at it again should be good, but not exactly what everyone wants. AJ and KO ar leading the charge while the WWE Championship seems lost in the woods with Jinder Mahal.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

Update: Raw still has WAY too many commercials.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

This is still such a tough category. But I’m giving the points to Raw for what happened at Great Balls of Fire in that ambulance match. When Roman drove the ambulance anc wrecked it with Braun inside. That was good stuff.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Nothing.

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


Raw wins with a 5-2 tally this week, and its all because of The Miz, Brock Lesnar, and Samoa Joe. Others are pulling their weight, but those have by far been the most impressive to me. SmackDown needs to make the WWE Championship more prominent again, and they need to do that with it being on Jinder Mahal.