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 = Match quality on Raw this week was great, with a good mix of impactful matches and contests that served a strong storyline purpose. Asuka once again exorcised her demons by defeating an injured Charlotte Flair, whilst The Street Profits convincingly defeated The Viking Raiders to draw a line under their feud.

Bayley and Sasha Banks once again defended their Women’s Tag Team Championship, this time against The IIconics. The match was quite competitive, with both teams putting on a great performance. Bayley and Banks have both stepped up recently, with this match evidencing just how hard they are working.

SmackDown = The repeat of the Boneyard match aside, matches felt rushed this week on SmackDown. The 8 man tag team match wasn’t bad at all, with Lucha House Party looking strong for once.

The women’s fatal 4 way match was a solid effort, with Nikki Cross winning to once again set her up as a viable threat to the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Each match on SmackDown this week was ok, but would have benefitted so much from additional time.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 2: PROMOS

Raw = Randy Orton and The Big Show shared a solid promo segment together, with Orton in particular standing out. He appears to have returned to the dark side, with his threat to The Big Show sending a chill down the spine.

SmackDown = Braun Strowman showed much improvement on the microphone as he detailed his previous dalliances with Bray Wyatt in such a compelling manner. This was quite simply Strowman’s best promo to date, and one that increased the anticipation for his upcoming match with his former mentor.

WINNER: SmackDown

FACTOR 3: STORYLINES

Raw = This was a show heavily driven by storylines, which was great to see considering we are close to locking in matches for SummerSlam. MVP continued his courtship of Apollo Crews, whilst Randy Orton slipped further into his darkest persona. Every aspect of Raw had solid storyline development, with the show benefitting so much from this.

SmackDown = SmackDown was lighter on storyline development, but this was not helped by the long tribute to The Undertaker. It was positive to see Braun Strowman further develop his feud with Bray Wyatt, with Strowman coming across as a dangerous opponent for the former WWE Universal Champion.

WINNER: Raw

FACTOR 4: SCHEDULING / PACING

Raw = Raw was a much improved show this week, featuring solid matches and even better promo segments. The pacing of the show was near perfect, which made the show feel better than normal.

SmackDown = SmackDown was a strange show as the tribute to The Undertaker took a large chunk of time out of the show for the current roster. This meant the included matches felt rushed and compromised.

WINNER: Raw

EXTRA CREDIT BONUS ROUND!!!

Raw gains points for attempting something new by pairing Natalya with Lana. With the right booking, they could be quite the intriguing force in the women’s division.

Raw also gains points for the positive impact that MVP has on the Raw product. His courtship of Apollo Crews has been interesting, whilst Bobby Lashley excels as a dominant force on Raw.

Raw loses points for Nia Jax taking out Charlotte Flair, as this means she will have the validity of taking The Queen out of commission for quite some time.

SmackDown gains points for Braun Strowman’s promo. It was evidence of The Monster Among Men stepping up confidently to the role of WWE Universal Champion.

SmackDown loses points for the focus on The Undertaker. He truly is a legend, but his tribute took vital time away from the current SmackDown roster.

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


With a score of 4 to 1, Raw easily wins this week’s Battle of the Brands. Raw was a well produced show with multiple storylines given enough time to develop further. SmackDown may have had their hand forced by putting on a tribute to The Undertaker, but this detracted from the overall quality of the show.