WWE has been making the new brand extension seem like it’s a weekly life-and-death situation for the GMs and Commissioners. Both shows are trying to prove supremacy, but both of them have reasons why one is better than the other.
Here are 5 things that RAW does better than SmackDown.
#5 Featuring the same talent every week to further along storylines
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One thing that RAW has done since the shows were split up is making sure that all of their storylines are featured every week.
Bo Dallas has received a bit of a revival as of late, playing a more vicious version of his “BO-lieve” character. As he has started to gain some footing with his development and crowd reactions, RAW keeps him on TV on a consistent basis. He gets to gain momentum every week.
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The same goes for Braun Strowman, whose storyline has developed from beating up single “local wrestlers”, to two, to three. Now Sami Zayn has stepped up, and the storyline has advanced each week.
SmackDown has not done the same. The American Alpha feud with The Usos was gaining some momentum once the Tag Team Title tournament ended, but suddenly both teams were off TV.
The same goes for Baron Corbin, who destroyed Jack Swagger two weeks ago and told off Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack, but didn’t appear on SmackDown at all this week to follow up on the story.
#4 More good matches each week
Of course RAW has extra time, with the benefit of having 3 consecutive hours on the air, which translates to 45 more minutes of programming time than SmackDown. But with their lack of following up on stories, SmackDown could wisely use their time to have an extra match take a little more time.
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Some stories can be told differently if the matches are given 4-5 minutes longer. Smackdown can probably use the extra time.
#3 Commentary
This is a somewhat close one, but the problem is JBL. He was dominating RAW when he was there, talking over everybody else and interrupting everything. And he was spewing the same few sentences over and over about each wrestler. That doesn’t happen with the Graves/Cole/Saxton team.
Graves is the mean one who brings the wrestling knowledge. Saxton is the excited one who just wants to have a great time and call some good wrestling matches. Cole is the straight man, calling everything down the middle but skewing more toward Byron’s happy-go-lucky face characteristics.
Even though it looked like JBL was going to calm down at his new home, it was a short-lived fantasy. After a few weeks, he went right back to his old ways. It’s still toned down a bit from RAW and he’s less repetitive, but he’s still annoying and distracting. Gets in some funny lines at Mauro, though. That was rare on RAW with Cole and Saxton.
The ideal team for SmackDown would be Mauro Ranallo and David Otunga. Two hours, two commentators! Otunga has gotten better in his role every week and benefits from Mauro’s exceptionally professional demeanour. Alas, that is not the direction WWE is going, so RAW still takes the victory.
#2 Different types of segments
SmackDown Live does have Talking Smack, which is very unique, but that’s after the show is already over. RAW does things like the segments with Rusev and Reigns standing in front of the black screen and talking to the people as well as pre-taped interviews, like the ones with Sasha and Charlotte as well as Seth Rollins a few weeks ago.
This is the kind of thing SmackDown could really use in order to maximize their content within the two hour window they have. The roster is weak only because the “opportunity” that Shane McMahon promised has not been delivered.
#1 Strong Field Of Title Contenders
SmackDown’s WWE World Title has one champion and one contender.
With John Cena out of the picture, it’s just Champion AJ Styles and Challenger Dean Ambrose. Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, and even Kane would be worthy contenders, but they have their own magical side story and it’s far too involved in its own little universe for them to worry about the World Title right now.
The Tag Titles have Champions Rhyno & Slater and Challengers The Spirit Squad. There are some good teams bumming around like the Hype Bros and The Ascension, even though there’s a lot of work to do to make the latter team credible again.
The problem with tag teams is that the two previous top title contenders, American Alpha and The Usos, are feuding with each other (or at least were) and now they have been off TV for multiple weeks.
The IC Title has only The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Thankfully there are guys like Baron Corbin in the wings, but there’s nobody else around after him. All of the other singles guys have no credibility with the exception of Luke Harper.
The Women’s Title is the only one with a lengthy list of women who are contenders. In fact, all 5 of the active women on SmackDown (not counting Champion Becky Lynch) could win the SD Women’s Title tomorrow and it would be believable.
With RAW, the opposite goes for the women, pretty much. You have Charlotte and Sasha, and then there’s Bayley who could also potentially take the belt. Nia Jax has been persona-non-grata for weeks, not appearing on RAW (the exception to the consistent development rule) and nobody else has any kind of claim to stake.
The Universal Title has Champion Kevin Owens and Challenger Seth Rollins, but also has Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns who could realistically win the title tomorrow. There are other guys who would only need the slightest boost, as well. Rusev, Sheamus, Cesaro and Sami Zayn are all right on the cusp.
Brock Lesnar doesn’t make the cut right now due to his part-time status and involvement with Goldberg.
The US Title has tonnes of guys who could believably win the belt tomorrow. The Champion is Reigns currently with Challenger Rusev on his tail. Behind them are Cesaro and Sheamus, who are both former champs, Sami Zayn also fits in that slot, and Bo Dallas would need a couple of good wins to get his name into the hat.
The Tag Titles have a few of teams that are regularly on RAW and could be champs tomorrow. There are the Champions The New Day, Challengers Sheamus & Cesaro, Gallows & Anderson and Enzo & Cass.
They have a larger roster and some more time, sure, but SmackDown has plenty of wrestlers who can be given some love that can get the title divisions on track quickly.
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