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 featured only one truly entertaining match this week, with Drew McIntyre defeating Andrade in an extremely fun contest. Andrade once again stood up to the plate and hit a home run with McIntyre, which allows everyone involved in their mini feud to look strong. Despite losing, Andrade is clearly a strong aspect of Raw.

The IIconics returned to Raw this week and surprisingly defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. This was rather disappointing as they have very little in ring credibility. Bliss and Cross are great Women’s Tag Team Champions, therefore it feels foolish to have them lose so easily to such poor competitors.

SmackDown = The match quality on SmackDown was better this week, with the show featuring a strong mix of entertaining matches. Drew Gulak vs Daniel Bryan was well received, whilst Elias vs King Corbin was surprisingly well played out. Both of these matches seemed to have extra urgency as they were a part of the Intercontinental Championship tournament.

Otis teamed up with Braun Strowman to take on The Miz and John Morrison, which was a great way to close out the show. The action wasn’t off the hook, but it was more entertaining than what we were treated to to on Raw.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Simply put, Becky Lynch’s promo was one of the most emotional moments on the microphone in many years. Lynch announced she was leaving wrestling for a while, which sounded gravely serious. Despite the concerning undertones, the reveal of her pregnancy was a joyous and wonderful moment, which was made even better by Asuka’s character break. It was heart warming and wonderful to see.

SmackDown = Charlotte Flair delivered a strong promo as she stirred the pot with Bayley and Sasha Banks. This was a great example of how strong Flair is on the microphone, whilst allowing Bayley to continue her subtle poor treatment of Banks.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = Storylines were suitably advanced this week, with Seth Rollins continuing to descend deeper into his Monday Night Messiah gimmick. He looked as if he had been on a week long bender, which was appropriate considering he proceeded to take out Rey Mysterio in a senseless and barbaric attack. This darker side of Rollins is great to see, and it is refreshing to see his heel status remain intact following the pregnancy announcement of his fiancée.

SmackDown = SmackDown continued to slowly advance their storylines, with Bayley once again pushing Sasha Banks to the side, whilst Otis teased cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase. The SmackDown Hacker delivered another warning, which was another in a series of intriguing vignettes.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = Raw was not a great show to watch this week, and much of this can be attributed to the pacing of the show. It was a chore to watch, feeling much longer than the actual 3 hour runtime.

SmackDown = SmackDown was a fun show to watch. The 2 hour runtime was palatable, whilst there was a good mix of solid matches and interesting promos.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for handling the Becky Lynch pregnancy announcement well. It was superbly handled, which is what Lynch deserved following her hard work over the last few years.

Raw also gains points for MVP seemingly adding wrestlers to his long rumoured stable. I hope this works out as he has the potential to create a truly impactful stable.

Raw loses points for failing to capitalise on the buzz surrounding Money in the Bank. Raw felt like a typical show, which should not be the case as we start the road to SummerSlam.

SmackDown gains points for continuing the Mandy Rose vs Sonya Deville storyline. It would have been easy to move on, but the writers are doing the feud justice by keeping it interesting.

SmackDown also gains points for continuing to push Dana Brooke. She has clear potential, so it is great to see her receiving a strong push.

SmackDown loses points for The Miz TV segment. It did nothing but make Otis look bad, which is a crying shame.

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


With a score of 4 to 2, SmackDown wins this week's Battle of the Brands. SmackDown was a good show, whilst Raw seemed to collapse under the weight of it’s own runtime. Storylines have been advanced better on the blue brand, but hopefully this will be addressed by Raw soon.