At 7-6 in Raw’s favour, things couldn’t be closer in terms of who is pumping out a better product each week. The general consensus is that SmackDown has obliterated Raw, but after analysing every week, I feel this is a fair score, and Raw has been getting a bad rap.
With this Raw being the go-home show for Hell in a Cell, you would expect it to blow SmackDown out of the water so that people are excited for the triple main event on Sunday.
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However, after SmackDown posted a loss last week in my book, they have some catching up to do. Hopefully, they can get back even, and make up for what can only be described as a bit of an abomination last week.
Without further ado, let’s find out who had the best show this week:
Randy-Wyatt
Okay, that title is a bit misleading, but has Randy Orton joined the Wyatt family? He RKO’d Kane, seemingly to give Wyatt the win, then slithered out of the ring without explanation or without pledging full allegiance to the self-proclaimed God.
It was a great way to end the no DQ match and left us with many more questions, which will make us tune in next week and that’s definitely what it’s all about.
I just hope that if they are going down this route, they go whole hog with it. They shouldn’t turn Randy face within two weeks and back to his old persona. They did the same when Cena joined Nexus (could have been a great time to turn him heel) and they did the same when Daniel Bryan joined the Wyatts (where was his goat mask?).
Only time will tell here, but it’s a really cool storyline so far.
The List of Jericho
What a great way to start off the show. I think it was clear to everyone that Jericho wasn’t going to retire or anything like that, but it was a great bit of acting. The tensions between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho ramped up a little as the Universal Champion tried to get Jericho’s head in the game.
Even Stephanie McMahon came down and promised to find the list. It didn’t take long, however, as Seth Rollins appeared with the list, and used it as a great excuse to cut a promo for this Sunday. I thought it was a fantastic promo from Seth who delivers week in week out.
Seth needs to win this Sunday to make the Universal title saga interesting unless they launch straight into a JeriKO feud.
Honourable mention: The crowdophone…
How cool was it when Enzo Amore got the whole arena to do his entire promo set? Absolutely awesome stuff.
It just shows how over these two guys are. Could their popularity be even bigger than the New Age Outlaws? I’d say they have a pretty good shot at that!
Miz Squad
The Miz has always been able to cut a decent promo, but his work is top notch lately and last night was no different. For me, he should be in the main event very soon, and if he isn’t it will be a travesty.
You can tell when a superstar is over; when a superstar is at the top of his game and when he doesn’t need to wrestle to stay relevant. The Miz could go three or even four weeks without lacing up his boots, and it would just make me want to see him wrestle more.
He continued oozing charisma on commentary, and he just produced gold. Especially when he said, Ellsworth had more coverage than Dolph had, since becoming champion.
A brilliant superstar that deserves more recognition for SmackDown being where it is now.
Not afraid? You should be
The contract signing was an amazing segment that I really enjoyed. The passion the Mick Foley had, when talking about the structure, the pain you could feel in his words, made it sound like the most dangerous thing someone could ever step into.
This is what it needed, because with a plethora of cell matches coming this Sunday, and the saturation of cell matches in the past; it no longer has that mystique about it. It no longer has that sense of danger. It’s even harder to do on PG programming though some have managed it.
What Mick Foley did was bring the Queen and the Boss crashing down to reality. It was an emotional segment and promo that literally gave me goosebumps. Huge shout out to Foley here.
Ellsworth snaps
Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles had a fantastic match, to finish off a really solid SmackDown Live. It was almost a shame that it didn’t have a true finish. You would have thought it was for the championship itself, rather than the right to be the number one contender.
I felt that recently, this storyline had become a bit far-fetched and the focus had been lost. However, with Ellsworth out of the ring, we managed to regain some momentum and the fantastic match by both men, meant that it had my attention again.
It was a fantastic superkick as well. With Ellsworth looking to get a WWE contract, he may well have to suffer the consequences of No Chin Music next week. Yet another reason to tune in!
A clear winner
Raw had some good moments this week, but it was a poor show overall. With the Lesnar segment being cut down, due to the incorrect crowd reaction, and the matches not being as good as they usually are, it wasn’t a great week for the Red brand.
SmackDown Live, on the other hand, gave so many reasons to tune in next week and not only that, it was a solid show from start to finish. SmackDown Live beat Raw like Negan beat his first victim on the Walking Dead this week. Not a pretty sight, but they regained momentum in a big way, and that makes it 7-7 now!
I look forward to next week. The aftermath of Hell in a Cell and the ramifications of an amazing SmackDown Live!
Were you Red or Blue this week? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!
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