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 a number of matches to determine who would feature on Raw's Survivor Series team. Each match was successful, with Keith Lee in particular looking strong.

The best match of the night was Matt Riddle vs Sheamus, which completely eclipsed every other match on the show. Sheamus looked revitalised, whilst Riddle displayed the talent that will make him an absolute star on the red brand.

SmackDown = SmackDown had a number of successful matches this week, with the women's Triple Threat allowing Bianca Belair to once again shine. This was also the case with The Street Profits vs Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura, which highlighted just how talented the SmackDown Tag Team Champions are.

Jey Uso defeated Daniel Bryan in the main event, and it is quite simply an understatement to say Uso has improved tenfold. His match action is strong, but his attention to detail with storyline elements made this match.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Alexa Bliss once again featured on Firefly Fun House, bringing a new element of crazy to the segment. She immediately felt at home, contributing to a delectably wacky segment.

SmackDown = Roman Reigns and Jey Uso delivered a great promo segment to kick off the show, and although neither of them said much, it was highly effective and gripping to watch. The beauty of heel Reigns is that his body language is absolutely deafening, therefore he can speak less.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = RETRIBUTION once again failed to back up their words this week, with The Hurt Business once again overpowering them. This feud is doing nothing beneficial for the upstart group, which is a shame as Mustafa Ali deserves so much better.

SmackDown = The show was dominated by Jey Uso's choice to either fall in line or refuse to join Roman Reigns. SmackDown was bookended by both of them, and this made the storyline feel more satisfying and effective when Uso eventually succumbed to the whims of The Tribal Chief.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = Raw was a decent show, but it lacked in solid pacing. The show dragged at points, but it was a better offering than last week.

SmackDown = This week's episode of SmackDown was quite satisfying, with the pacing and scheduling showing improvement from last week. It was also a great decision to end the show as Jey Uso was still attacking Daniel Bryan, which was more effective than if the attack had simply stopped.

WINNER: SmackDown

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for how fun this week's Firefly Fun House was. Bray Wyatt's contact lenses were amazing!

Raw also gains points for making callbacks to the previous feud between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. They made sense, making me feel extremely excited for their inevitable collision.

Raw loses points for the farce that was the reveal of the Raw women's Survivor Series team.

SmackDown gains points for ending the show with such a fabulous storyline development.

SmackDown also gains points for maintaining Sasha Banks' burgeoning momentum.

SmackDown loses points for how annoying Natalya is. She has go away heat, not that all elusive genuine heel heat.

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


With a score of 4 to 2, SmackDown wins this week's Battle of the Brands. Raw was a better show this week, but SmackDown remains a relatively tight and entertaining two hours of wrestling.