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 crowds seemed out of it for Philly. Not that they were bad, but for Philly they weren't great. There wasn't a huge difference between the two, but I'll go with SmackDowns crowd. Rusev winning got a decent pop, and Shinsuke got a nice ovation as well.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

The commentary team got a much needed shape-up, and they made a great choice. Jonathan Coachman is back, and on Monday Night Raw! I have always loved Coach, and he garners so much respect in anything he does. Raw gets the win here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

I think it was a pretty good week for matches on both shows. We'll start with SmackDown. They had a fun fatal four way seeing Rusev get a United States Championship opportunity. I think Corbin and Dillinger had a fun match and Dillinger is vastly underrated as a performer. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin are a great heel team, and I'd really like to see them gain the titles. AJ & Shinsuke vs. KO & Sami was also fun since each team will end up being a WrestleMania match. AJ & Shinsuke has already been confirmed as THE match, and we will eventually see the demise of KO & Sami but Zayn will be the heel this time. It'll be a lot of fun.

Raw is up next! Strowman demolishes Kane, and I think we have seen the end of Kane as his retirement has to be coming soon. Elias defeats Matt Hardy to join Strowman in the Chamber, and they'll be joined by John Cena who defeated Finn Balor to qualify. Which I completely disagree with. The Revival get that old school heat by trashing ECW in Philly after beating Slater & Rhyno. The Miz thankfully retains his IC Championship from Roman Reigns, and I love that. I fear he'll drop the belt before WrestleMania as his first child is due right around the time of the big show, but I guess that is a pretty legit reason! Asuka continues her streak by rolling right through Sasha Banks. The Bar retains their belts over Titus Worldwide.

I think Raw had the better matches this week. The Miz & Roman was great, Asuka and Sasha will always be good, seeing Elias qualify for the Chamber is awesome along with Strowman, but I'm disagreeing with Cena over Balor.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

This SmackDown top 10 list is silly to me, just for the record. But SmackDown had a ton of talking, and nothing really happened. Outside of DB making Sami vs. KO for next week to see who takes on AJ at Fastlane. The top 10 list thing,

Raw had nothing to note. Literally nothing to offer. So SmackDown gets this just because Raw didn't have much of anything. Outside of the old school cheap heat from Revival.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

No Rey Mysterio or Rhonda Rousey confused me. I figured they'd capitalize on those returns/debuts but nothing. Now, I have no clue if Rey is full time or even part of the roster. But Rhonda is rumored to be full time and not part time, however she should've been on this show anyway.

Shinsuke vs. AJ is enough to keep me invested in SmackDown until 'Mania easily. Add in what seems to be a Sami as heel vs. KO as face feud then it just gets better. Rusev is money no matter what he is doing. I like The Usos but I'm ready for some fresh faces in the tag scene, and Shelton & Gable are just the team.

Raw needs to either ship Finn to SmackDown or just do something different with him. I hope that he somehow finds a way to get into the Chamber anyway even though Cena beat him. I think we said goodbye to Kane for the last time on Monday night getting destroyed by Strowman unless this is some bad WrestleMania angle. Lesnar needs to drop the belt soon, but it won't happen until 'Mania sadly.

SmackDown has more going for it currently. AJ & Shinsuke, KO & Sami are headliners there, and they're proving their worth.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

The usual. SmackDown wins here.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

Seeing Elias and Strowman both get to the Chamber in dominating fashion was really cool as I love both guys.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Nada.

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


SmackDown took advantage of its post Rumble buzz with Shinsuke winning. They had a fun show with maybe a little too much talking. They win with a 5-2 tally, and if Raw keeps going the way it is this might be a trend in the foreseeable future.