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

One of the only good things about Raw this week was the crowd. They were hot for Raw and had some good moments. But, as you'll see later, this was the only thing Raw had that was good for me.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

For whatever reason, I feel like the commentary teams have been off the last couple weeks. I'm glad Corey Graves is a thing because without him I wouldn't really like anyone on the commentary teams. Also, thank goodness he is on both shows.

I think, and have always thought, that he works best with Tom Phillips ever since there NXT days. And that is why I like that SmackDown team so much more. Also, Booker T is completely hit or miss 99% of the time.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

Raw did have a couple good matches despite my previous remarks in the show earlier. Seth Rollins & Cesaro is a great duo. Two of the best pure workers in my opinion. Roman & Elias was also pretty fun. A totally different match as those two should just be pure brawlers and out to hurt one another and that match had a little bit of that feeling.

The New Day vs. Shelton & Gable was fun. Shelton & Gable are both tag team specialist and I'd love to see them take the belts at some point. I thought that AJ vs. The Singh Brothers would be just a blow-off match that didn't matter, but AJ made it pretty fun. He made the two brothers look like a million bucks, not that they're bad workers in the slightest, and that Styles Clash from the second rope onto the other brother was pretty awesome. Randy Orton vs. KO was as good as it should be. Those two guys are top tier and proved it here.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

Jason Jordan has bad promos. Really bad. His voice annoys me, and he just gets on my nerves. His segment with Kurt and his promo in the ring sucked so much Raw can't rebound.

Shane on the mic is hit and miss... But he had a nice one this week. And Fashion Files can never end because I think it is incredibly funny.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

I was so excited when they did the Jason Jordan/ Kurt Angle father and son thing, but it is a total dud. I love Benjamin & Gable, but American Alpha should not have been broken up if this is how it was going to go. It is just plain awful and needs to end sooner rather than later. I'm interested to see how Roman loses this IC Belt, and how Kane is going to go out as this is clearly his last top run. Paige coming back was exciting, but the way they're handling her seems to be sort of a let down so far. But there is plenty of time to fix this. Also, hopefully, The Miz comes back soonish because a show without him just wasn't nearly as entertaining. Oh yeah... Braun Strowman is awesome too.

AJ Styles should stay WWE Champion until he retires. Plain and simple. He's that damn good. KO & Sami together has been everything I wanted it to be, and I can only imagine that when they split up will be even more fun. Especially if Sami comes out as the heel and KO is somehow the face. I'm digging this Riott Squad act that these formers NXT ladies are doing, and I think it has a real chance to catch some serious fire. Harper & Rowan are back, and their entrance is kinda cool, but how many times can they do this? I wanted to see Harper have a great singles run delving into his own story, but here he is in a tag team that I believe is bound to fail yet again.

All in all, this section is tough because each brand has stories I like and hate. At the end of the day, I'm choosing SmackDown for the Phenomenal One.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

SmackDown is always better here.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

AJ Styles hitting that Styles Clash from the second rope from one brother onto another easily wins here.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Nada.

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


It is hard to defend that episode of Raw. Not that it was the worst I've ever seen, but it certainly wasn't good or partially entertaining in my eyes. AJ Styles is the MVP for WWE since he came in. He is the one keeping SmackDown on top with his crazy good performances both on the mic and in the ring. He singlehandedly won two categories for the brand this week. SmackDown wins 6-1 after an impressive week from them.