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

That Dean Ambrose pop though. Raw wins.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: COMMENTARY

To me, Renee Young absolutely smashed her debut in the commentary seat for Raw on Monday night. Did she pander to the women a bit? Sure. However, that was kind of expected because everyone in WWE is doing that right now because the women are doing some big time stuff. Raw shakes it up, it works out, and they win here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: MATCHES

Raw didn't have many matches that impressed me. The only one of any note was The B-Team retaining their titles over The Revival and the Deleters of Worlds. Ruby Riott got a big victory over Sasha Banks while Strowman and Balor teamed up to take out Mahal and Owens.

Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin headlined SmackDown as the last match of the night, and I enjoyed the flashback feeling there. It was nice see Charlotte back in action teaming with Becky Lynch taking out Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose. The New Day took down SAnity, and Andrade "Cien" Almas takes out Aiden English. That SD Live card is way better to me, and I enjoyed those matches much more.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: PROMOS

That opening promo of SmackDown between the women was really good in my opinion. The "diva living in the women's era" stuff was a lot of fun and a great line that a lot of people probably agree with. The ending promo was.. Unique. Not bad, not great. But definitely unique.

The opening promo on Raw was a heartfelt moment at first covering the death of Jim Neidhart, and then turned kind of awkward in my opinion. However, that ending promo with Dean was top notch. So I'll give Raw the win here.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 5: STORYLINES

Ronda vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship. Strowman vs. Kevin Owens. Ziggler vs. Rollins with Ambrose in the mix now for the Intercontinental Championship. The B-Team vs. The Revival for the tag titles. I love these matches and stories for Raw. I truly hope The Revival end up getting a better shake than what they've gotten so far, but I'm glad they have a title shot at the least. Reigns vs. Lesnar and Corbin vs. Balor also head to SummerSlam for Raw. Corbin and Balor could never ever happen and I'd be super happy. It deserves to be a four second pre-show match for all I care. I feel the same way everyone else does for Reigns and Lesnar. It'll be fun just to see how the crowd reacts to the two guys. The best thing Raw is doing is their IC Title feud. Ziggler and Rollins have been carrying this show, and now Ambrose gets to jump in and make it even better.

Joe vs. AJ for the WWE Championship. Becky vs. Charlotte vs. Carmella for the SD Live Women's Championship. Nak and Hardy for the US Championship (Orton will show up somewhere). Miz vs. Daniel Bryan. I love all this too. Especially Miz vs. Bryan. I don't so much care about The Bludgeon Brothers anymore. I think they're fun and all, but maybe I just haven't seen them with the right opponents yet? I would've liked to see SAnity against them here over New Day, but New Day isn't bad by any stretch. Oh, I couldn't care less about a mixed tag match. At all.

This is a hard choice for me because both shows have some good stuff going on. I think Raw is my choice. Ronda and Alexa had been way more fun than I thought it'd be, KO vs. Strowman for the briefcase has been great, and you could put together a legit case for Rollins and Ziggler to main event SummerSlam it has been that good.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 6: SCHEDULING / PACING

You guys know that the two hour show is much better paced.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 7: VISUAL PRESENTATION

Dean Ambrose is finally back! He isn't one of my favorites, but the roster needs him and the fans love him. Win-win.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Nada.

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


I truly didn't expect Raw to win this week. I thought SD Live had been on a roll, but they seemed to have pulled back this week for whatever reason. They could have done more whereas Raw had Dean involved, Renee on the commentary team, and Ronda along with Brock on the show. To decide who truly wins the SummerSlam feuds, we have to see the matches first. As for this week, Raw wins 5-2.