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 = Raw often feature squash matches, but too often they litter a single show with them so they lose their meaning. Unfortunately, this week featured multiple squash matches, with no single wrestler truly benefitting from their victory. Akira Tozawa was sacrificed to allow AJ Styles to look unnecessarily strong, whilst Erick Rowan defeated a nobody. Squash matches are certainly a detriment to Raw at the moment, as they are simply not used in the correct manner.

Fortunately, Andrade vs Rey Mysterio was a television classic, with both men putting on a lucha masterpiece. Once again, Zelina Vega was Andrade's x-factor, which is the right decision as it suits his character perfectly. The main event match between Seth Rollins and The Authors of Pain against Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe and The Big Show was a fun contest, with the faces winning to send the fans home happy. Overall the match quality was good, but the number of squash matches detracted from the overall quality.

SmackDown = SmackDown was yet again consistent with the high quality of the matches on offer, with each contest offering exciting and interesting action. The Miz vs Kofi Kingston was the highlight of the night, as it featured a blend of high octane action and intriguing interference to allow The Miz's new heel character to shine. In picking up the victory, The Miz has restored his reputation as one of the better wrestlers on the SmackDown roster.

An intriguing aspect to this week's matches was Alexa Bliss vs Mandy Rose, which featured Rose's best performance in a WWE ring to date. Bliss put on a great performance as she always does, but interference from Otis allowed Rose to steal the victory. This victory highlighted the strength in depth of the SmackDown women's division, and it was heartening to see Rose put in an improved performance.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Paul Heyman delivered a warning to all WWE wrestlers as he announced Brock Lesnar will be the number 1 entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble. Heyman delivered his typical pro-Lesnar promo, whilst also delivering a warning that resonated throughout the main roster. It was an intriguing twist on the typical promo he would usually deliver on Lesnar's behalf, therefore the impact of it lasted much longer.

Becky Lynch delivered a heartfelt promo, noting how she is worried she won't be able to defeat Asuka. This was a different side to Lynch, which made the promo feel genuine. This led to Asuka coming out to respond angrily in Japanese, and whilst people couldn't understand what Asuka was saying, the tone of her words was clear. This was a great promo segment that built anticipation for their Royal Rumble encounter.

SmackDown = Bray Wyatt delivered 2 promos this week, both of which were aimed at Daniel Bryan. By explaining how he loves everyone but Bryan, in addition to his assertion that The Fiend has not forgotten about Bryan's previous betrayal of The Wyatt Family, this feud became even better. Bryan's self confidence in his new and improved character only added to the anticipation for their eventual encounter, therefore both promos served their purpose well.

Miz TV featured a discussion with John Morrison, which allowed Morrison to reaffirm his heel character. He sounded justified in what he was saying, with the promo itself highlighting how Morrison has improved on the microphone since he left WWE. The New Day interrupted Miz TV to argue with The Miz, which led to an interesting war of words between Kofi Kingston and The Miz. In terms of recent Miz TV segments, this was one of the better offerings.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = Brock Lesnar declared through Paul Heyman that no-one on the Raw roster was worthy of facing him at the Royal Rumble in a match for his WWE Championship, therefore he would be entering the Royal Rumble as the number 1 entrant. This is a fascinating storyline as it is unclear what would happen if Lesnar was to win, but the threat from everyone ganging up on him in the match is a real possibility, especially as Heyman denounced the Raw roster as unworthy.

Seth Rollins continued to use his alliance with The Authors of Pain to take on Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe, only for the faces to be flanked by The Big Show this week. Unfortunately, his return to the ring didn't add much to the storyline, which is starting to become uninteresting as Rollins doesn't appear any more dangerous than he was as a face.

SmackDown = Bray Wyatt vs Daniel Bryan continued this week, with the spectre of The Fiend hanging over Bryan. Wyatt warned Bryan that The Fiend has not forgotten how he betrayed Wyatt previously, however Bryan's new found self confidence allowed him to share that he believes he can defeat The Fiend. This is an extremely intriguing storyline, as Bryan has joined Wyatt in employing mind games to gain the upper hand.

Robert Roode returned to help King Corbin put Roman Reigns and The Usos away. Fresh off his return from a wellness suspension, Roode attacked Reigns and slammed him onto the announce table, with Dolph Ziggler delivering an elbow to finally send Reigns through the table. Corbin has re-established his advantage over Reigns, which will make for compelling viewing over the next few weeks. That is, as long as they keep dog food as far away from the storyline as possible.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = Raw was a good show that was unfortunately blighted by poor squash matches. Without these matches, the show overall would have been a much more enjoyable experience.

SmackDown = SmackDown was once again a vibrant and dynamic show, with no glaring issues whatsoever. The matches all delivered, whilst the promo segments added to the quality of the show rather than detract from it. It was a genuinely pleasant 2 hours of wrestling to watch.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for taking Brock Lesnar's return in an unexpected direction. Fans assumed his opponent would be announced, only for Paul Heyman to throw the rulebook out of the ring by installing Lesnar as the number 1 entrant in the Royal Rumble. This was exciting, and a great change of pace.

Raw loses points for having no real follow up to Liv Morgan's return to Raw last week. The Lana love triangle storyline was there to be taken advantage of, but it felt like a mere afterthought.

SmackDown gains points for yet another Ramblin' Rabbit death. He has more lives than Marty Jannetty had second chances in WWE!

SmackDown also gains points for allowing Bayley to gain a level of revenge over Lacey Evans, which makes their ongoing storyline more interesting.

SmackDown loses points for Otis tongue waggling towards Mandy Rose after she was victorious against Alexa Bliss. It was slightly creepy, but it seemed appropriate for his ongoing storyline with Rose.

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


With a landslide score of 5 to 0, SmackDown easily wins this week's Battle of the Brands. The show was overall more exciting and interesting, whilst featuring better matches. Raw still struggles to adequately advance their storylines, which is something they urgently need to address as we start the road to WrestleMania 36.