Brand Split: After almost a year, which brand is more interesting

[Psykohurricane55]

It'S been almost a year since the brand split started and i'm started to think, which brand as been the most consistent in entertaining me on a regular bases.

While Raw had it'S moment, especially when all the big stars started to show up, i have to say that i've enjoyed smackdown more on a regular bases.

For most week, it'S the same thing for me, i watch raw mostly because it's their but it feel old and un-inspired. I would compare it to the simpsons at this point in the sense that at first, the concept was original and fresh and you didn'T want to miss and episode, but after over 20 years of seeing the same stuff over and over again, you just watch for the sake of it. On raw, i feel like the three hours of the show hurt the performers instead of helping them, nobody really move foward and everybody feels like mid card guys and the show as gotten even worst since the superstar shake up.

While smackdown feel like something fresh again, it's where the guys that didn'T get a chance on raw goes to make a name for themselves and prove they can be main eventers. They don'T need to bring in part timers to make the show exciting every weeks and unlike raw, the matches don'T seem repetitive all the times. I can easily go on and tell my top 5 favorite smackdown superstars but for Raw i've got all the problem in the world of finding 5 that really attract me to the product.

Even the brand only ppv are more attractive to me for the smackdown brand, probably because Raw is already 3 hour every week so seeing a special episode of raw on sunday once a month isn't really appealing.

In the end, for me, i think smackdown is the better show right now after almost a year of the brand split. So now let me know your opinion about the brand split. which brand is better

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In my mind, and I'm certainly not the only one with this opinion, SmackDown has been kicking Raw's ass week in and week out when it comes to quality. Raw still outdraws SmackDown Live each week, but I'd be willing to bet that'd change if they switched nights.

A key reason why SmackDown has been the better show is because of Ryan Ward being the booker. Ward has demonstrated an ability to do more with less that was first shown during his years in NXT. Ward & Triple H built NXT into what it's ultimately become and a big part of that is knowing what to do with talent, whether those talents have been big stars elsewhere or are unknown. SmackDown is the brand that tends to have the fresher feel about it partially due to "the land of opportunity" schtick as it does feature wrestlers in prominent positions that haven't been given the time of day on Raw and it gives more of an "anything can happen" sort of feeling about it in terms of fresh feuds and stories. The booking is more concise, the storytelling is better and continuity is striven to be maintained. Raw is generally the show where the "big moments" take place, it's where many of the bigger matches, in terms of established stars, and that's to be expected to a certain degree because it's been a big part of the formula for Raw for so many years. SmackDown was a taped show up until about 10 months ago and while it could be an entertaining show, you never got the sense that it was particularly important and a lot of the show's format was carryover from Raw. As a result, SmackDown Live doesn't have as many big moments as Raw has because now SmackDown is establishing its own identity now that it's live as well.

What's surprised me is that SmackDown has generally been treated on an equal footing with Raw since the draft and I didn't figure that Vince would have the discipline to allow that to happen. Probably the one solidified exception I saw to that was how the Raw matches were given more prominence than the SmackDown Live matches for WrestleMania. The two "main events" of WrestleMania were Goldberg vs. Lesnar and Taker vs. Reigns. Also, the Raw Women's Championship match, while rushed, was still featured more prominently while the Raw Tag Team Championship was defended and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship wasn't and the Intercontinental Championship match took place on the kickoff show while the US Championship match was on the primary show. As I expected to happen, however, Vince sacrificed continuity during WrestleMania season to some degree as Taker and Reigns are on the blue and red brands respectively; Vince had his master plan to set in motion and it involved Reigns beating the Undertaker, quite probably retiring him, and the fact that Taker was supposed to be a member of the SmackDown roster exclusively was just quietly never mentioned or brought up on WWE television.

I mean, it's still obvious that Vince views Raw as the "flagship" show of the WWE and probably always will. Raw is more of the spectacle while SmackDown is more of the traditional wrestling show, you tend to get a lot more "sports entertainment" themed moments on Raw than you do with SmackDown Live.

 

[ISkye]

A few of my friends who absolutely hated WWE, but liked some form of pro-wrestling started watching because of Smackdown last year. People in person would talk about what a guy like Baron Corbin or Mojo Rawley said on Talking smack more than 90% of what happened on Raw. RAW overall isn't very entertaining and honestly if Miz wasn't on there and a few others I probably wouldn't be even attempting to acknowledge it. I haven't been into Smackdown recently, but they've been struggling after the "Superstar shakeup". A few weeks and 4? 5? guys that carried RAW prior to Wrestlemania can't erase months on end of consistent content and classic matches. I like pro-wrestling, and Smackdown has a lot more of that than pure sports-entertainment. The only thing that was absolute trash was American Alpha and how they handled Orton a lot of the time. Despise it, but it was such a good overall show it was still watchable. Raw at it's best is untouchable though. So I will say that.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The blue brand is the better of the two, and it's not even close. Virtually every single week since the brand extension returned Smackdown has destroyed Raw in terms of quality in weekly television. Smackdown's PPV events have also been better during every month that had each brand presenting an event, with the exception of October 2016 which was the only one of these months where Raw had a stronger event. Smackdown before the brand split returned was in all honesty a waste of time. Pointless rematches from Raw and recaps of things that already happened on Raw. I watched it out of boredom. Then the brand split came back and suddenly Smackdown went from being what you watched if you had nothing else going on, to being at "must-see" quality level. The blue brand hasn't been this strong since before Wrestlemania 25 during the 2008-2009 schoolyear when it genuinely was the "A" Show. The new title structure gave great opportunities to wrestlers like AJ Styles, Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, American Alpha, and more.

The red brand has had its moments too, in all seriousness. With a significantly less clogged up roster they can allow more focus on a smaller amount of main eventers and a smaller group of women on Raw. Everything was a cluster mess before the brand split returned. The new title designs are cool, yes including the Universal Championship (as if my signature didn't give my fandom of it away). The new theme music is cool too. Raw's booking can be a bit of a headscratcher at times which is the main issue I have with it. Well, that and the whole "not having a World Champion" thing. I won't even get started on that. I like having the two different rosters again. It's been an extremely refreshing year for both brands. Overall, Smackdown is MUCH better. I still give Raw credit as well for being better than it was before last summer at least.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

A few of my friends who absolutely hated WWE, but liked some form of pro-wrestling started watching because of Smackdown last year.

It probably also helps that Smackdown Live is only 2 hours long. Even for WWE fans 3 hours for one show it a bit much especially if it just leads to more filler.

I think WWE really needs to reconsider bring RAW back to 2 hours. I know they get more from USA by making it 3 hours and it's making investors happy but, in a wrestling product perspective, it's preventing them from potential new fans and turning away some current ones.

 

[ShinChan]

Smackdown easily.

It hasn't been the same since Superstar Shake-up though. But you can't expect too much when a jobber is suddenly hotshot to the title scene. We all know what's wrong when Kevin Owens and AJ Styles are fighting for United States Championship while Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton are fighting for WWE Championship.

Still, Smackdown has been better. The time being 2/3 of Raw indeed helps a lot. You don't require much fillers for 2 hours but you do for 3 hours.

For me, most interesting and entertaining out of Raw is Braun Strowman's dominance and Alexa Bliss' arrival in the Women Division. I'm all in for increasing the credibility and legitimacy of both InterContinental Championship and United States Championship. But you shouldn't do this while decreasing the same of WWE Championship and WWE Universal Championship. One champion is totally free sitting home regardless of his show being the longer one and requiring the champion. Other's feuding with ummm... an upgraded jobber. Even NXT's main event scene is more interesting at this moment.

Smackdown is still better because something is better than nothing.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Smackdown is waaay better than RAW. Always has been ever since the brand split begun. Why? Because they're trying to do something, they're trying to build stars or they at least, legitimize some wrestlers. RAW simply relies on star power to carry their show. However it's close. Smackdown suffered in the women's division and especially the tag division. However they're bringing better stories and usually get a bang here and there, but they fail to carry the wave. Why? The answer is Vince. For example, Miz never really got anywhere. SD was pushed in the back for Wrestlemania and RAW got all the action. Mickie's return didn't lead anywhere. Bray Wyatt didn't lead anywhere.
But if they combined Smackdown's creative team and if Vince were to give SD some more credit, they would do wonders. It's a shame Vince only cares for RAW.

Smackdown makes them, RAW takes them.

 

[Navi]

I have to pick SD over RAW since the brand split. SD might not have the depth in the roster that RAW has, but when it comes to booking they are far more effective. Wrestler's like Jinder Mahal and tag teams like Breezedango would never have got title shots on RAW, who still only focuses on a certain few. SD gives their wrestlers much more leeway than the wrestler's on the flagship show get.

Also taking into account SD is only 2 hours and it seems to fly by. RAW on the other hand can be like being on the Bataan Death March some Monday nights. This week in particular was almost scary it was so bad. SD didn't do much better, but it did win the weekly war for me. SD's main event clearly outshone RAW's.

Part of the issue is that RAW has an absent champion and how many times can Samoa Joe and Rollins wrestle before it gets tiresome. Reigns isn't even wrestling lately and now Strowman is out with an injury, so you have the top of the roster either MIA or boring the crap out of us.

At least on SD everyone seems to be relatively healthy and new guys are getting pushes. Another bonus is Rusev, New Day and Lana haven't even debuted and Nakamura hasn't had a TV match yet, it will get even better. SD won the superstar shakeup in my opinion. So I will continue to tune in each week for SD, RAW well another couple of shows like this week's and I will start DVRing it and just fast forward to the good parts.

 

[The Perfect Max]

Well in comparison to how both shows were before the brand split, then I would say that Raw and SmackDown are both much better shows than they were before. SmackDown actually means something and Raw isn't so cluttered, which on many occasions can actually be its downfall because of the three-hour episodes. Having said that though, I don't believe that WWE can't do a better job with the three-hour format. Sometimes I sit there and watch the show and wonder who the hell actually said "yes, let's do that", because someone must.

Anyway, that makes SmackDown better by default since it doesn't really have those moments. Occasionally, from time-to-time, there is the odd match that makes me wonder what it is that I'm watching, but on a constant basis, SmackDown are progressing storylines, slowly building up stars, and really getting the fans invested in EVERY talent on the roster. I wouldn't necessarily say that SmackDown is perfect, but it is consistently "good", if not "great", most weeks. The SmackDown pay-per-views are generally better quality than the Raw ones, though when Raw does it well, it does it very well (I'm thinking Hell in a Cell and Payback as two examples).

The annoying thing with Raw is that it has the potential to be really good, but often it falls flat. I tend to find at least SOMETHING good about each episode, though it typically involved Chris Jericho. As most have already said, reducing the show to 2 hours means that the writers have to streamline the show, and suddenly, they will be scrambling to fit guys on the show, rather than try to figure out how to stretch it out.

SmackDown wins Year 1 I'd say.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

I enjoyed Raw much more than Smackdown during the fall. Mostly because of the god awful Ellsworth stuff along with the Miz/Ziggler storyline. I can't stand Ziggler at all and when the storyline is him trying to win or not lose his job, I really can't get invested at all. Over on Raw the Jericho/Owens stuff entertained me on a weekly basis.

I'm still not into the brand split as much as other people. I see the potential in it, but all I have seen since it's return are repetitive matches and laughable split divisions with the two tag team and women's division. Although I did enjoy the Jericho/Owens stuff on Raw, I could only take so much of Owens/Jericho vs Rollins/Reigns. Pretty sure there was a combination of them roughly about 100 times during the fall.

 

[kadroan]

SDL. They are more innovative and take more risks like the Jinder title win. Meanwhile RAW is more traditional WWE.