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: MATCHES

Raw = 4 matches in 3 hours worth of content. Four. This is a professional wrestling show with less professional wrestling on it than commercials, most likely. Why are people watching? I guess that explains the ratings, right?

SmackDown = WWE really doesn't like matches these days. Just look at how the match between Andrade and Apollo Crews went down. Andrade attacks Apollo at the start of it and Finn Balor comes down for a couple of seconds to fight. Next segment. But hey, at least they had R-Truth pin Elias under the ring. That was neat.

WINNER: No winner necessary

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Talk talk talk talk talk talk talk. The only good promo was Triple H. Everything else was mediocre at best, if not outright boring. But again, Triple H was good.

SmackDown = It's weird when the best promo of the night was Lars Sullivan, even more so than Goldberg.

WINNER: Tie

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = I wish I liked this Brock Lesnar cash-in more and could enjoy it, but knowing the end result is something I don't want to happen just spoils it for me. If I could separate myself from that more, I'm sure I'd give them at least some credit for it, but I hate the teasing of something that I don't think will happen that particular night, but I also just want to get it over with.

Cesaro and Ricochet have developed a feud that was pushed aside. No points there.

Becky Lynch and Lacey Evans are feuding still because they are. But hey, at least Charlotte Flair and Lacey are fighting and it's not just the two heels against the babyface with another babyface backing her up. That's a little interesting.

Firefly Fun House is where it's at, though. I loved the whole Huskus the Pig Boy thing.

SmackDown = No real character work done on this episode.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = No.

SmackDown = Nope.

WINNER: No winner necessary

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for actually having a finish for the arm wrestling match (instead of doing the normal DQ conclusion) and for Rey Mysterio relinquishing the title back to Samoa Joe, rather than vacating it and having Joe win it from someone else. The pinfall for that win was so bad as it was, so this was the proper way to go to course-correct that and make up for it. Another point for R-Truth hanging out under the ring. I liked that moment.

Raw loses points for doing the bait and switch thing again with Brock Lesnar's cash-in, because you know that they think that they can keep fooling everyone, yet I ran a poll on The Mega Maniacs and most of you agreed that you didn't think he'd cash in.

SmackDown gains a point for the booking of the lumberjack match and the title change that followed it.

SmackDown loses points for how they can't stick to Alexa Bliss being any particular type of character and how rough the Shane McMahon segment was.

POINT ADJUSTMENTS: Raw (+2 / -1) / SmackDown (+1 / -2)