Which is the better brand RAW or Smackdown Live?

[Terry Gyimah]

Which brand is the better brand? Well if anything ever since this brand split has happened I will say in terms of talent/star power Smackdown Live has the better brand on paper and as far as quality of matches definitely Smackdown by a mile long

RAW may be the flagship but ever since the brand split has happened RAW has more or less sucked

 

[stingray11214]

It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a Wrestling show, SmackDown is for you. If you are looking for more Soap Opera, you watch Raw. In my case, SmackDown has done a great job. Picking up WrestlePro's Brian Myers, aka Curt Hawkins, is a big plus. He can seriously help the newer guys. But, in reality, it is all in what you are looking for.

 

[The Samoan Heritage]

Smackdown all the way!

Women division:
Raw:
Summer, Alicia, and Dana(Charlotte's human shield) are pretty much irrelevant, and its evident they have no idea what they are doing with Charlotte, Bayley, and Sasha.

Smackdown:
Everyone has something going for them, and are actually used!
The only bad thing about Smackdown's women division was Carmella on the mic as a face , but they quickly fixed that by having a double turn with Nikki.

Tag division:
Raw:
New day are losing steam and the only heel team for them to lose to, fans don't seem to care about. And their most over team just lost to Epico and Primo!

Smackdown:
With Slater and Rhyno winning the championships, the Ascension and Vaudeillian will be joining the title picture soon. American Alpha and the Usos have their thing going on. Breezango and Hype Bros are fun teams that can be used when ever needed.

Mid-card(u.s/ic championship)
Raw:
pretty much none existence. Cesaro and Sheamus are feuding, but last I heard the winner get a shot at the universal championship, not the U.s championship. While guys like Zayn and Neville have nothing to do.

Smackdown:
Miz may not have much competition, but they are making it work. He's the top 3 most talked about guy on the roster(with Slater and Styles). AND he stepped up his in-ring game at Backlash! Kalisto and Corbin are feuding and Crews seem to be used as the "go to guy" whenever they need someone to have a good match.


Don't have much time to talk about Raw and Smackdown's main event, but that is the one thing were Raw is winning, so I will keep it short.
Owens/Jericho are great and tripleH/Rollins/Steph are great. Smakdown on the other hand Styles is holding down the main event single handily. (Ambrose was great in the match, but the build up was the same boring "lunatic" Ambrose we've always seen)

 

[AttitudeChild]

It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for a Wrestling show, SmackDown is for you. If you are looking for more Soap Opera, you watch Raw.

This is the old method of thinking. Yes, years ago SmackDown was used as the show for great wrestling matches. That's because WWE knew that there's a large group of people that just refuses to watch SmackDown for some reason, so the couldn't really put storylines on it. Now with the debut of SmackDown Live they've stepped up the soap opera. AJ Styles/John Cena, Ziggler/Ambrose, Heath Slater/Tag Title Tournament, Miz/Bryan, The Usos/American Alpha, Orton/Wyatt and the entire Womens Divisions.

To say that RAW has more storylines just isn't correct anymore. Not only is SmackDown Live as much of a soap opera as RAW, but I feel their stories are a lot more interesting. But like I've said many, MANY times before on countless threads on this site, it doesn't matter. SDLive could literally be the greatest show on all of TV and people would still say RAW is better. They could move the entire roster to SDLive except for Eva Marie and Alicia Fox and just have the two of them wrestle for 3 hours every Monday and people would STILL say RAW was better. Jesus Christ himself could come down to Earth and say, "SmackDown is the better show. If you don't agree, you can't get into Heaven." You can bet your ASS the majority of wrestling fans will be chillin' down in Hell like,"Pfff, I'm not watching that B Show."

SmackDown is the better show, has been for the most part since it debuted. Most want admit that because they're not actual wrestling fans, they're just Marks for RAW.

 

[Wald]

Smackdown for me and the reason is simple. The show is booked entirely around people wanting to win titles and prove themselves and on top of that the wrestlers have really brought their A game to the show.

Have a look at last night's PPV. The women's six-pack challenge was as over a women's match I've heard since Wrestlemania's triple threat and all six brought it. That division is looking great at the moment simply because you have six individuals who all want to be champion. Switch to the tag titles and you have the story built around Heath Slater needing to win the belts to provide for his family. It's something we all can buy in and it showed in the crowd reaction. The four guys involved made the match work, a perfect example of how good tag wrestling can be. The Miz, then, is on a quest to prove the likes of Daniel Bryan wrong by becoming one of the best Intercontinental champions of all time. In the world title picture you had AJ Styles trying to climb the only mountain left for him to climb and he, and Ambrose, delivered a big time match.

Raw, on the other hand, is about what's going on between Triple H and Steph with Foley the one thrown in to the mix for now. The rest of it is just paint by numbers stuff too. I have high hopes in Owens as champion if they let him be a dominant one but I severely doubt they'll let him overshadow the Steph and Trips show. For that reason I don't bother watching anything that isn't a Kevin Owens segment on re-run.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

Smackdown in every single aspect.

Women division
All we see on RAW is Sasha, Charlotte, Dana Brooke and Bayley in some sort of storyline. Nia Jax just squashes. Are there any more women on RAW?
Over on Smackdown, every girl has something to work with, some story.

Tag Division
Smackdown just made freaking Heath Slater and freaking Rhyno their tag team champions and the best part about it is that it makes sense and seems legit. Why? Great storytelling. They also have Amercian Alpha, Hype Bros and the fresh Usos, plus they will definately work on the Ascension and the Vaudevillains and make them solid tag teams.
RAW? New Day, Enzo & Cass and The Club. That's it really.

Midcard
Midcard is the only place SD hurts due to lack of talent. There's The Miz and Ziggler, who are not really fresh. Then Crews who seems to be in trouble and Corbin who's comin up, but needs better faces to work with and there's also Kalisto and Rowan. Again, not so great, but SD tries to make it work.
RAW? Let me laugh. Rusev has been a complete mess ever since the draft. For some reason Roman went for the US title and we got a filler storyline between the two. Zayn is greatly underutilized as he's been floating for months now. Neville is nowhere. Cesaro and Sheamus are RAW's whole midcard at the moment.

Main Event
RAW sure has the fresh faces like Roman, Rollins and Owens and the introduction of Y2J in there, but for some reason once again it feels underwhelming.
SD is doing a great job with Styles and Ambrose. Cena will return at some point and Orton and Bray will get at it real soon.

My point?
Smackdown seems like a whole new show. It seems like it's under a different company actually. That former NXT writer that SD got really knows his deal. I'm guessing he is also responsible for the good storylines we got after Wrestlemania up until the draft.

RAW? RAW is like 2015 RAW all over again. Poor storytelling and they just rely on star power alone to carry the show. I've been telling for weeks that RAW has to step up their game, or we're in for some very weak looking programms and cards.

EDIT: Cesaro was right in his shoot. The show needs to be about the wrestlers, not the management. Yeah, Shane and Bryan get involved in the stories, but they do so as a managing order. When Steph and Mick get involved, they make it look personal and that takes away from the talent in the ring.

EDIT #2: That's why I think they should trade Cesaro for Bray Wyatt. Bray Wyatt won't do anything with Styles, Cena, Ambrose and Oron ahead of him, however he will be a top star in an instant on RAW. He deserves to be in the class of NXT, that runs RAW. Cesaro on SD will turn into gold. He can feud with Styles, Orton, Cena, Ambrose, Ziggler, Miz. We haven't see those feuds. And Bray can feud with Zayn, Rollins, Owens and heck maybe Roman again for the belt, why not?

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The way I see it, if you like watching guys getting hotshotted to the main event picture, gettig feuds that nobody cares about and watching the same guys getting opportunity after opportunity when others get pass over, then you watch raw. Because raw feel like the show that is all about the guys that are friends with hhh and vince.

Smackdown on the other hand feel more lile an organic show, the stories are well told, he guys and girls have a chance to shine and get over with the crowd organically. Plus with talkin smack playing after smackdown, it help them show more personality and get their characters over which is really needed on raw.

 

[N!CKALAS CAGE]

It's actually amazing how Smackdown is doing more with less.

The women's match at Backlash was great and everyone had their moment to shine. It established Becky Lynch as the face of the division and everyone else as credible threats.

The Miz managed to get much needed heat and feels much more valuable compared to just a few months ago. Heath Slater of all people is getting a good push and is one of the most entertaining guys since being booked properly and Rhyno is being used in a featured angle. The Usos feel fresh since turning heel and the tag division overall is great on both shows.
.
And AJ Styles is the man. He is the perfect guy to carry Smackdown's main event scene.

Raw's main event is definitely their strong point. The Triple H-Owens and Roliins angle is hot at the moment and can really establish Rollins as the top face of Raw. And Owens is gold and even more so with Jericho. Reigns is a wildcard in all of this, which makes him unpredictable and interesting for once. However, the midcard scene is pretty scattered, and Baylee is a great addition for the women, but confuses things at the moment with Charlotte and Sasha.

Better show is Smackdown overall. Raw might feature more big, established names and a deeper roster on paper, but the show other than the tag teams and main event doesn't have a clear direction. Smackdown is succeeding at giving everyone a chance to shine. The show is establishing younger talent like American Alpha, Corbin, Alexa Bliss, and Carmella. While underused veterans like Ziggler, Usos, Natalya, Miz, Slater and Rhyno feel more than relevant again. Hell, even Kane feels important again. And Wyatt is being used consistently and still looking strong despite losing.

Raw has more bigger names and more established talent, but Smackdown is actually using everyone properly.

 

[Darkshadow1234]

Let me get my 2 cent in:

Smackdown for me is the better show for these reasons:
1) wrestling is so much better. Actually great psychology. Good matches.
2) Mid card is pretty good. You got baron, kane, ziggler, apollo, miz,bray and others. Everyone has something to do.
3) Main event is a breath of fresh air: New talent like ambrose, aj, cena, orton and others. And some of the midcarders could actually challenge for wwe title.
4) Storylines are much better. Less is always more. They worked with what they have. Everyone has something to do.
People have a purpose which is to win titles or to be the best.
5) Number of young stars on the show.

Raw just feels very lackluster and boring. There seems to be one or two major storylines going on. One with rusev and the authority.
Most of the time, it feels like the mick and stephanie show.
Wrestling isnt that good.

My take

 

[Terry Gyimah]

I know right RAW to me just bores me I guess because of the lack of variety in their mid card but also the lack of variety in their main event scene too because who do they realistically have in their main event scene other than Rollins, Reigns, Owens, Jericho, Lesnar and Balor? No one really

Whereas Smackdown's mid card their main event scene trumps RAWs in every way possible

 

[deesee5]

I think Raw has the better talent. Smackdown has the better storylines, better usage of the wrestlers, and at times better telling matches.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Smackdown is destroying Raw right now. Both brands have benefited from the new brand split, but while Raw became slightly more interesting, Smackdown increased exponentially in quality. In a matter of weeks it went from a show that has been slowly dying to being at the must-see level. It hasn't been this good since 2008 when Smackdown was genuinely the "A show" for a summer and a schoolyear, from about June 2008 until Wrestlemania 25. Now with a complete title structure all its own, a roster that guarantees no pointless Raw rematches each week, and better authority figures, the better brand right now is the blue one. That's not to say that I'm not enjoying Raw too, because I am. The new Universal Championship and Raw's respective exclusivities are keeping it exciting too even though watching Raw on mondays is a 20+ year old tradition at this point. Both brands are good. It's a great time to be a WWE fan. If I had to pick though, I would not hesitate to pick Smackdown so far.

 

[adam]

Talent wise Raw has the much deeper roster, especially if the cruiser weight division gets established and if the smaller guys like Neville, Balor, etc end up there.

Raw with three of the four horsewomen and others like Nia Jax and Paige listed on their roster is much deeper than Smackdown.

Raw has Owens as champ, with Rollins, Reigns, Rusev, Cesaro, etc
and their tag champs (New Day) and Gallows and Anderson are simply more talented than their SD equivalents.

One can argue SD Live creatively as a show is better than RAW but ultimately talent wins out for there really is nobody else on the level of AJ Styles on SD Live. I'd like to see Nakamura go to SD Live as a worthy challenger to AJ if Cena is gone for any period of time for his TV show.

 

[ShinChan]

Smackdown is way better.

Smackdown made me care about Heath Slater of all people. I have never cared about him in his whole career but this "free agent" storyline made me care about him. I have favorites on both shows but nothing seems filler on Smackdown unlike Raw where we have to suffer Darren Young Vs Titus.

 

[ISkye]

At first glance and at this current point in time Smackdown is better for sure. That is about as much as I would give it as opposed to Raw as an overall show.

Sure RAW has more people and Smackdown apparently does more with less, etc.

Smackdown has also had a PPV with their single roster a go home show to that PPV, and a build. Also with less options it was pretty easy to look at the main event talent and space it out more properly to have people like Randy and Bray have these side feuds that are still big seeming and not so mid-card, but also not for a title.

Raw does have a lot of people you'd immediately think of as champion material, sure. That makes it pretty hard to make someone a valued competitor who can shoot for a title out of the blue. You can't just shelf them and squash matches really don't make you look any better or the opponent.

Raw more than likely had a plan coming off of Summerslam considering Smackdown seems to be doing well despite a lackluster PPV over all to many. That could be due to the fact Finn Balor took the belt off Rollins, and the following night he had an injury and relinquished his title. So we have a big main event scene, and it seems like they did a good job at setting up a Fatal 4 way.

That match engaged the crowd, and had someone new shine despite being the first eliminated. Roman Reigns was the 2nd eliminated with a swerve of Triple H. Then the turn on Rollins leading to Kevin Owens as the new champion. So the first week of material sucked with it, and it wasn't entertaining. They did set up possible development which allows them to make more compelling storylines.

So the week and the next going into the first RAW roster only PPV would be fair to add judgement, but it's kind of hard to hate when nothing awful has happened. Following that PPV is when I think we'll be able to tell more of which direction we're going in for it.

 

[kadroan]

Smackdown Live > RAW. Better women's division, fresher characters, it reminds me of the old SD during the original roster split. It just sucks their roster depth is so bad. They could use Zayn, Cesaro, Sheamus.