SmackDown Live is absolutely dominating in its weekly show. The main event, the mid-card and especially the female talent have had a fantastic showing week in week out with Raw only beating them once in my opinion.
If you follow this series of articles (out every week #justsayin) then you’ll know that since I started doing them, SmackDown is 3-1 up. WWE Raw has a lot to live up to and quite a bit of catching up to do if it wants to even be on a level playing field with WWE SmackDown Live.
If the rumours of Paul Heyman joining the creative team are true, we can only hope he is assigned to Raw to improve the programming somewhat.
That being said, out of the two shows, Raw has had the better pay-per-view outing with Clash of Champions. They are doing certain things right but it’s becoming ever apparent that it is harder to keep consistency with a three-hour show compared to the two hours that SmackDown Live has to fill.
Can Raw take a point back this week? Did they keep our attention throughout the entire show? Without further ado, let’s analyse the best bits of both Raw and SmackDown Live and see who dominated this week right here…on Sportskeeda!
U.S. Brawl
I’ve been a fan of the Roman Reigns / Rusev rivalry. I do realise that I’m most likely in the minority here but please hear me out.
The United States title was losing its identity once again. When Rusev captured it, he made it great again while we were waiting for the top title on Raw to make its debut. He was main eventing the A-show and showing that he could actually carry the brand.
While Roman had the main event experience to help out with this. The feud has been amazing because it feels like there’s real anger and fury involve. The problem with WWE nowadays is that there aren’t enough brawls / fights especially as the refs are a lot more stringent when it comes to count-outs and disqualifications.
That’s why this feud is refreshing because it’s what we are getting. I wish WWE hadn’t turned the crowd against Roman as this would have made the feud that little more exciting with the right crowd reactions. Needless to say, WWE Raw made a strong start with a fantastic brawl from Rusev and Roman Reigns and the announcement of the Hell in a Cell match.
And let’s face it, it’s always nice to see Lana.
Bray is a caged animal
After causing a loss for Bray Wyatt due to distraction, Randy Orton would lay a trap for the Eater of Worlds which saw him locked in a shipping crate with his iconic rocking chair for the show. Randy even had the foresight to set a camera up in there so he could watch the habits of a self-proclaimed God.
Sister Abigail also made an appearance…er…return…well, Bray mentioned her again for the first time in a long time which sort of suggested reboot for the man who lost his family, identity and 90% of the matches he’s competed in since he debuted.
Naturally Randy found that Bray wasn’t there when it came to checking on him.
Bray Wyatt needs a win at No Mercy.
You know what??? JeriKO made the list!!
That’s right! What do you get if you cross The New Day with two best friends in Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens? If you said one of the best comedy segments on Raw in a long time then you’re correct!
Week in and week out, Chris Jericho has been impressing me with his catchphrases and his great addition to the comedic value of the show. This week was no different. They had a great rapport with The New Day and I fully look forward to seeing how this whole thing plays out.
I hope that Jericho stays for an extended run this time around. I have found him annoying over the past 10 years but I feel since he came back and found yet another persona to tap into, he’s back to his best and dare I say, back to Y2J? We even saw a LionTamer!
It wasn’t only The New Day that Jericho shined with but also Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson. I usually hate guest stars (I know, I’m miserable) but the gift of Jericho actually helped them to shine and even get over with the crowd.
Jericho can do no wrong for me at the moment and is one of the best parts of Raw. He actually has to be careful because he’s outshining Kevin Owens and unless they’re going to make Jericho champion, you don’t want him outshining what should be the top draw in the company…
A possible JeriKO feud incoming?
Beyond the Ring: Dolphumentary
Though I think this segment could have been a little better I still think it ranks up there for this week’s SmackDown’s best bits if only for the nostalgia of seeing half the Spirit Squad back together.
The look back at Ziggler’s career really did highlight how under-utilised he has been throughout his entire career. Miz and Ziggler really did knock it out of the park once again promo-wise. I am looking forward to this match more than the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at No Mercy.
Dolph ended up getting the better of his teammates in the end, which makes him look strong as we steam towards No Mercy. It’s obvious he’s going to win anyway as his career is on the line but I am enjoying the segments and the rivalry very much.
The Intercontinental title seems like the most important championship on SmackDown Live at the moment thanks to The Miz and Dolph Ziggler, they just need to be careful that they don’t lose sight of this with the career stipulation.
A new Champion? You can Banks on it…
For the first time in a very long time, the WWE Women’s Championship headlined the flagship show, WWE Raw. It is a real testament to both women to see how far they have come. I thought we would be waiting a lot longer until we saw them main event Raw or SmackDown for a title.
I don’t think anyone was disappointed with the match either. It was certainly a contender for match of the year. They showed that they could hang with the women who have been smashing it on WWE SmackDown Live and also showed that women are now strong enough / popular enough to main-event a show.
The athleticism that was shown was second to none, the crowd gave them the respect they deserved and they really did make the most of their opportunity. You just know an emotional Facebook post will come from Mick Foley as a result of this performance.
It would not surprise me if they let the women main event a PPV in the near future. I don’t think it will be one of the Big Four, but I think it could quite easily be on one of the lesser pay-per-view events to start off with.
It could even be at Hell in a Cell if they enter the steel structure for the first time in women’s history.
The one thing that stands out from this amazing match was the fact the Charlotte lost the title once again on WWE Raw. WWE really want to protect the PPV record that Charlotte has built up over the past year. To me, this will make any subsequent title matches much more exciting as it will not only be for the title but also to see if someone can break Charlotte’s very impressive 12-0 record.
Female dominance is running wild in WWE!
Raw is War!
Raw won this week, absolutely no questions asked. It was brilliant from start to finish, the two Cruiserweight matches were fantastic as per usual and the women stole the show in a massive way.
Enzo and Cass were the perfect choices to introduce the brave women who had survived cancer. They brought fun to it and got the crowd behind what is usually a bit of an awkward situation as these women should be cheered but can be met with silence. Just let Enzo and Cass do it every year! Daniel Bryan also got a YES chant against cancer and for the heroines that kicked its ass. Cancer sucks.
SmackDown wasn’t a particularly bad show but after the display of brilliance Raw put on the night before, it was just too much for SmackDown to catch up with. It was boring in places, I felt we’d seen most of the matches before and considering No Mercy is coming up fast, I don’t think the build up was really good enough, to be honest.
It’s 3-2 to Raw now, if it can keep this up it could tie next week! It’s not a best of seven series though, this rivalry will go on and on!
Were you Red or Blue this week? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!
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