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Last week we brought you the first ever Sportskeeda WWE Raw vs WWE SmackDown, proving that Survivor Series isn't the only place you'll see the red brand take on the blue brand, as they'll be doing it every week here. And this week it's a special Christmas edition!
Last week, Monday Night RAW comfortably beat SmackDown LIVE to become the most entertaining show, but could RAW triumph over SmackDown LIVE with its first ever live show on Christmas Day?
In case you're not familiar with the format yet, We'll be looking at the best match of the night for both shows, the opening segment, the mid-card, the tag-team division, the main event and any surprises or shocks that may have happened on either show.
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Then, at the end of it all, we'll be able to tell you whether RAW or SmackDown LIVE was the best show for that week.
The Opening Segment
RAW
Monday Night RAW decided to kick off its first ever live show on Christmas Day with a bang, by opening with the return of John Cena to an utterly raucous ovation from the Chicago crowd.
Cena cuts a promo about Christmas and handed out merchandise to a child with disabilities, leading to a 'Merry Christmas' chant. However, the festive merriment was cut short by Elias who told Cena that WWE stands for 'Walk With Elias.'
Elias then said that for weeks he's been interrupted, leading to 'CM Punk' chants. Elias responded by saying that CM Punk won't be interrupting him and that he's going to sing a derogatory song about Chicago, leading to Cena calling him a jerk. Elias feigned a change of heart before attacking Cena and challenging him to a match.
The match itself wasn't a particularly great one, even though it hit all the narrative beats of a typical Cena match, with Elias dominating for almost fifteen uninterrupted minutes before Cena rallied, hitting his Attitude Adjustment for the win.
SmackDown LIVE
SmackDown LIVE opened with General Manager Daniel Bryan addressing the events of last week where Dolph Ziggler abandoned the United States Title in the middle of the ring and walked out. Bryan announced there would be a tournament to crown a new United States Champion.
Bryan was then interrupted by Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, Rusev Day and The New Day, who all want a shot at the SmackDown LIVE Tag-Team Titles. Bryan then announced an impromptu Triple Threat match, with the winners becoming the new #1 contenders for The Usos' titles.
Rusev Day received a HUGE reaction from the crowd but alas it wasn't to be a Rusev Day on SmackDown LIVE as American Beta managed to retain their #1 contendership status when Chad Gable pinned Big E with a Bulldog from the top rope.
Who was better?
I feel the same as last week, whilst SmackDown LIVE's opening segment was practical and expected and not at all a disappointment, the Monday Night RAW opening segment just felt a little more upbeat and energetic. Plus, there isn't much that can compete with John Cena making his WWE return.
Winner: Monday Night RAW
The Mid-Card
RAW
Monday Night RAW boasted a decent Intercontinental match between Samoa Joe and an angry Roman Reigns following the former's brutal attack on the latter's fellow Shield partner, Dean Ambrose. Reigns got disqualified, but continued his assault on Joe in an attempt to get some retribution, in a move that made Reigns look great.
The Cruiserweight Champion was also in action in a Miracle on 34th Street Fight, dressed as Santa Claus. Amore, alongside Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari, took on Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander and Akira Tozawa, with the #1 Contender, Alexander, getting a strong win leading up to his title match against Amore.
SmackDown LIVE
The blue brand seems to be committing to Dolph Ziggler's walk-out from last week with Daniel Bryan announcing a tournament to crown the new United States champion, with two matches from that tournament taking place this week.
First, we had a continuation of the feud between former US Champion Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode who were both in the match when Dolph Ziggler claimed the title for himself. The match wasn't too bad with Roode picking up the win.
The second saw the return of Tye Dillinger, who has been conspicuously absent in recent weeks, in a losing effort against 'The Modern Day Maharaja' Jinder Mahal, who seems to be stepping away from the main event.
Who was better?
Both shows had strong showings from their mid-card this week, so I'm going to have to go ahead and call it a draw.
Winner: Draw
The Tag-Team Division
RAW
Monday Night RAW pulled off a Christmas Day shock when it crowned the unlikely duo of Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins as new RAW Tag-Team Champions just a week after Dean Ambrose was injured.
This was the main event of the night and actually had a ton of story-work involved with Jordan finally proving that he can hang with the top guys, and proving his worth by picking up the win against Sheamus and Cesaro.
Slater and Rhyno also got some more development with Rhyno trying to toughen Slater up by putting him in a match against Kane, which obviously doesn't end well for them. The recently returned Revival didn't feature
SmackDown LIVE
SmackDown LIVE gave The Usos the night off with the other three main tag-teams of the division, The New Day, Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin, and Rusev and Aiden English competed for the right to face The Usos for the titles. Gable and Benjamin came out on top again, leading to a title rematch between the two teams.
The Bludgeon Brothers also continued to dominate, but with a twist! As they were beating the Fashion Police to a pulp, Ascension ran in to make the save, continuing the Fashion Files storyline.
Who was better?
This is another close one, but I'm going to have to give it to Monday Night RAW for the shock title-change whilst SmackDown LIVE is continuing to play it a bit safe and give us more of the same, even if I do kind of want Gable and Benjamin to win the belts.
Winner: Monday Night RAW
The Women's Division
RAW
Monday Night RAW saw a rematch of the 3 vs 3 Tag-Team match that Stephanie McMahon so rudely interrupted with her historic Women's Royal Rumble announcement from last week. This time Paige and Absolution got the job done and picked up the victory.
Alexa Bliss also took to the ring to address the Royal Rumble, but was interrupted by Asuka who announced that she'd be entering.
SmackDown LIVE
Ruby Riott took on Naomi one vs one on SmackDown LIVE and picked up a big victory with a little help from the Riott Squad. The trio of women then started attacking Naomi before Charlotte Flair ran in to help, however, the numbers were too much, and it wasn't until Natalya, Tamina, Lana and Carmella joined the fray that the Riott Squad were forced to retreat.
Who was better?
I'll be honest and say I'm not too thrilled with the booking of the women's division on either show at the moment because it really does just feel generic and derivative of each other.
I've got my fingers crossed that at some point, the fact that two identical heel trios of women's debuting on each brand will make sense, but I digress. SmackDown LIVE was better thanks to the fact it was a singles match and the pops from the run-ins.
Winner: SmackDown LIVE
The Main Event
RAW
Raw's main event was the tag-team title match that we've already covered, with Jason Jordan and Seth Rollins beating The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) to claim the Raw Tag-Team Titles in a huge shock on Christmas Day.
SmackDown LIVE
The storyline between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon continues with Kevin Owens being put in a main event non-title match with AJ Styles. During the match, Styles leapt out of the ring and took out Sami Zayn at ringside, leading to Zayn jumping on the apron and having a go at the referee.
This then causes Shane McMahon to come out and instruct the referee to expel Zayn from ringside, which he does. However, the distraction allowed Owens to steal a victory over the WWE Champion with a roll-up pin.
Who was better?
I'm a sucker for consistent storyline progression as well as main events that have that hook that makes you want to see what happens next. Both RAW and SmackDown delivered that when they closed the show this week, but I have to give it to SmackDown for that intriguing stare-down between Styles and Shane.
Winner: SmackDown LIVE
Shocks and Surprises
RAW
It's been mentioned a lot, but the first-time pairing together of entitled whiny heel Jason Jordan and experienced babyface Shield member Seth Rollins winning the tag-titles was a big shock to close out RAW.
SmackDown LIVE
Unless you can consider AJ Styles losing semi-cleanish in the main event as something that was truly shocking or surprising, the blue brand was fairly devoid in anything too unexpected or jaw-dropping.
Who was better?
This is a fairly obvious decision, with the winner in the shocks and surprises category clearly going to Monday Night RAW.
Winner: Monday Night RAW
The Best Match
RAW
The more I think about it, the more I think that RAW was carried by its main event this week. RAW had a ton of matches, with Kane and Strowman both destroying undercard tag-teams, Finn Balor literally beating Curt Hawkins for no reason, Cena and Elias in a fairly disappointing affair and the Samoa Joe vs Roman Reigns match that finished too soon.
So the best match of the night was the tag-team title match main event.
SmackDown LIVE
SmackDown fared a little better with the tag-team Triple Threat match and the two United States tournament qualifying matches all pretty decent watches.
However the main event with Owens vs Styles was the best match of the night by far, with tons of great touches like Owens dropping an elbow during a Vader Bomb, and Styles hitting Owens with a huge dropkick right off the bat.
Who was better?
I don't want to do the RAW main event a disservice as it was more about getting Jason Jordan's wrestling ability over with the multiple breakouts of submission attempts and eventually getting the win. But AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens was also to further the storyline feud with Owens, Zayn and Shane McMahon but managed to showcase some excellent in-ring stuff that made it better.
Winner: SmackDown LIVE
That makes it 3 for Raw and 3 for SmackDown LIVE with a draw in the Mid-Card meaning that for Christmas week it's a draw!
