Last week, Raw put out a better show and won the ongoing brand battle. This made it 3-3 in my series of articles showing that it’s closer than we think. The great thing about this brand split is the new sense of competition that comes with it. It has made each brand raise the stakes.
As I said last week, I have backdated the scores to the start of the brand split to make this a little fairer too. Here’s a quick rundown of the dates:
July 25, 26 | Raw wins 1-0
August 01, 02 | Raw wins 2-0
August 08, 09 | SmackDown wins 2-1
August 15, 16 | SmackDown wins 2-2
August 22, 23 | Raw wins 3-2
August 29, 30 | SmackDown Wins 3-3
Add that to the 3-3 we have since I started the articles and that leaves us at 6-6 since the brand split started. You may have it scored a little different but I’ve gone off pure entertainment and segments that stand out and will continue to do so throughout these articles as the weeks go by. I hope you enjoy the rivalry!
Now that the scores are up to date, let’s take a look at the best bits of WWE programming from the two live shows and figure out who won this week!
Bo-lieve in a full heel turn
Bo Dallas has been beating jobbers week in week out. It just doesn’t feel right watching him do this when Braun Strowman and Nia Jax are doing exactly the same thing. It was good to see him get a win over the former NXT Champion Neville.
Thankfully, following the match, he attacked Curtis Axel, his only supporter, to make things more interesting. A quick feud with the experienced third generation superstar could quickly catapult Bo Dallas into the mid card so he can start to build his career again after previously getting lost in the shuffle.
Something tells me WWE officials are high on Bo at the moment. Some might even say they Bo-lieve, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out and how much of a push Bo receives. He really suits being a heel and this attack solidified this status.
Casket match imminent?
Bray Wyatt upped the creepy stakes this week by taking a leaf out of the Undertaker’s book and taking a catnap in a casket surrounded by creepy…let’s call them druids, in black sheep masks.
It started with a promo on the big screen and then half way through a match between the unsettling Luke Harper and the Viper Randy Orton, the classic Wyatt vignette aired and he made his appearance in the casket.
It was rolled down to the ring and as Wyatt attacked Orton and tried to place him in said casket, Kane appeared after going missing last week and wreaked havoc with Orton.
This was a cool segment that made me feel like a kid watching the Undertaker’s mind games again. It would be a fantastic decision to extend the rivalry between Orton and Wyatt to Survivor Series so we can have a casket match for the first time in ages. That’s something I’d love to see and could even lead to a Wyatt rebirth.
You stu…!
Oh dear. This could signal the beginning of the end for JeriKO. I was hoping that they would keep this friendship going until the Royal Rumble, setting up a WrestleMania match between the two. However, it looks like they’re going about this a bit faster as Kevin Owens cost Jericho a match.
Jericho is fully aware he’s been on the losing end of this friendship for the past three weeks. He almost lost it with Kevin Owens and it would seem that the rivalry between the two at the latest at Survivor Series.
The triple threat match next week would be the earliest time for the Jericho face turn. I actually can’t wait to see Jericho’s promos on Kevin Owens. The only problem with this rivalry is that it doesn’t need the title, but of course, Seth Rollins may win at Hell in a Cell which could also set up the feud.
Either way, exciting times are ahead for the current best friends.
No chin music
I didn’t expect the WWE World Championship pitting AJ Styles against the new Gillberg, James Ellsworth to be any good. I didn’t think it would be entertaining, I thought it would be an absolute shamble, quite frankly.
For the most part, it was as expected. James Ellsworth took a hell of a beating despite the continued distractions from Dean Ambrose at ringside. James Ellsworth actually managed to pick up his second win against the phenomenal one but we don’t have a new WWE World Champion. Aj Styles got a bit overzealous and got himself disqualified.
However, before all this went down, Ellsworth pulled off one of the best superkicks you could hope to see from a jobber and got a really close two count. This made the match because it showed J Styles was vulnerable and it got the crowd on their feet.
My heart actually stopped for a moment as I thought this nobody was going to be on top of the WWE SmackDown brand. I have to give credit where credit is due, it’s not often WWE can draw these emotions out of me after years of analysis, and the only thing I can liken it to is when the streak ended.
I would have been more shocked than I was at that moment if Ellsworth had won.
Thankfully he didn’t, but it was certainly a massive positive point in what was a lacklustre SmackDown for the most part.
You’re last
Goldberg returned and what a mark out moment it was. It was slightly strange that everyone clapped for him on the way out like it was the last time we’d see him when in fact he answered Brock Lesnar’s challenge with an emphatic yes.
That wasn’t before teasing us by suggesting he keep the rivalry in the video game. It was a great promo to be fair and I’m actually excited for the impending match. This is the match we should have had all those years ago when the crowd destroyed any hope of an epic encounter between the two.
Goldberg hasn’t missed a beat promo wise so along with Paul Heyman, this should be a great rivalry and a fantastic main event for Survivor Series should they decide to do it that fast. If they go for a slow build, they need to make sure the two men don’t touch each other before they meet.
Can Goldberg pull off the seemingly impossible? He’s beaten him before and Lesnar has been beaten in his current WWE run, so never say never.
Goldberg wins already
Raw edged it this week but let’s face it, Goldberg won it for them. The two shows were not of the high standard we’ve become used to over recent weeks and it was more than obvious, unfortunately.
I’m hoping that they both up their games next week and with Brock Lesnar returning to answer Goldberg, this will at least make for an entertaining segment. Raw will be building up to Hell in a Cell and SmackDown should be looking to compete with this so hopefully, this will result in a little more interesting programming.
It was quite hard to pick out the most positive points with most of it being mediocre, but we got there and Raw wins this week to put the total score to 7-6. I’ve got a feeling this will be a controversial score, with many people marking SmackDown ahead of Raw but for pure entertainment value. At the moment I feel Raw is ahead in the race.
Were you Red or Blue this week? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!
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