WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Analyzing Who Won the Week of August 22

Both Raw and SmackDown were in "reset" mode after an eventful SummerSlam pay-per-view—for very different reasons.

The red brand was forced into creative upheaval as new WWE universal champion Finn Balor suffered a severe shoulder injury that forced him to relinquish the gold just 24 hours after making history by becoming the first Superstar to hold it.

The blue brand, on the other hand, moved on from Dolph Ziggler as the lead challenger to Dean Ambrose's WWE Championship, established AJ Styles as the No. 1 contender and introduced two new championships for its women and tag team competitors to do battle over.

Raw underwent rewrites late in the day, the injury to Balor undoubtedly throwing several plans for the night's broadcast out the proverbial window and hampering its ability to win this week's competition between brands.

Was the flagship's creative team able to put together a show that helped nudge it past SmackDown, or did the Tuesday brand surge to a dominant win?

Match Quality

For the first time since the brand extension took effect in July, SmackDown emerged as the better wrestling show.

Ziggler and Styles tore the house down with an outstanding pay-per-view quality match that saw The Phenomenal One score the pinfall win and cash his ticket to Backlash, where he will challenge Ambrose for the WWE World Championship.

Moments earlier, American Alpha and Breezango delivered a highly competitive, surprisingly dramatic match that had fans wondering whether Tyler Breeze and Fandango could pull the upset victory. That did not happen, but the fact the WWE Universe was left to contemplate the possibility demonstrates just how effective the competitors were in telling their story.

One night earlier, Raw featured solid matchups between Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and Neville and Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn, but none lived up to the quality of Ziggler vs. Styles.

1. Dolph Ziggler vs. AJ Styles	SmackDown Live
2. Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins	Raw
3. American Alpha vs. Breezango	SmackDown Live
4. Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho	Raw

While Raw featured more action, thanks in large part to its three-hour run time, it was SmackDown that maximized its moments and left a greater impression from an in-ring perspective.

Creative Direction

The injury to Finn Balor severely hurt the overall quality of Monday's Raw.

One of the biggest feuds on the entire brand, that pitting Reigns against United States champion Rusev, was not featured. Titus O'Neil and Darren Young continued a rivalry that no one is champing at the bit to see and The New Day established further dominance over Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.

Bayley's debut did spice up the women's division and provide Raw with an alternative to Sasha Banks when it comes to babyface challengers to Charlotte's WWE Women's Championship, while Anderson and Gallows' assault on the retiring Dudley Boyz did more to create interest in a feud between the duos than anything the company did throughout Bubba Ray and D-Von's latest run.

Over on SmackDown, the brand not only introduced championships, but it set up the feuds that will culminate on September 11 at Backlash.

Carmella turned heel on Nikki Bella, Bray Wyatt ignited his program with Randy Orton and Heath Slater's path to a SmackDown Live contract was revealed. Tightly written and featuring stars fans can invest in rather than directionless wrestlers whose main character trait is an ability to wrestle well, SmackDown won this week's battle handily, without much competition to speak of.

Booking Decisions

Regardless of how poorly they were used during the last 12 months, The Dudley Boyz will always have a connection with fans. Using them to get Anderson and Gallows over to an extent they had not yet experienced in WWE was a great choice and one for which Raw's booking committee deserves props.

The decision to focus on Reigns and Rollins as the favorites to emerge with the vacant WWE Universal Championship was also a wise move. While this would seemingly be the time to take someone such as Kevin Owens and put him front and center, Raw needs stability. That stability could be achieved with Reigns and Rollins, who are mostly over thanks to the two years WWE Creative spent building them to that point.

Over on SmackDown, Styles' rise is absolutely the right choice. The Phenomenal One has spent 2016 exceeding even the loftiest of expectations, leaping to the main event and remaining there despite the fact he is not one of Vince McMahon's homegrown projects.

He has beaten top stars and most recently pinned franchise performer John Cena clean in the center of the ring. There is nothing else to do but to put him in championship contention and let him win the title. 

The Nikki Bella-Carmella feud may be an unexpected gem if the latter's performance Tuesday was any indication, and tournaments are always fun, so the tag titles story should be entertaining on the journey to Backlash.

All of this was accomplished while simultaneously hanging Ziggler out to dry without any clear direction. That is a significant issue given how much television time was put into establishing him as one of the brand's elite stars.

SmackDown created new stories, but Raw's use of its stars, at least at the top of the card, helped it secure the win in this category, even though it was ever so slightly.

Winner

Had it not been for some of the solid booking decisions on Raw, SmackDown would have completed a clean sweep this week.

The blue brand has carved out a direction for itself while Raw remains in a holding pattern. While it has more talent at its disposal, and some of the best wrestlers in the world on its roster, Creative does not appear to know what to do with it.

SmackDown knows what it wants and has put its competitors in position to accomplish that. As long as it can stay the course and continue to elevate performers such as Ziggler, Carmella, Becky Lynch and American Alpha, the brand has the opportunity to create separation between it and Raw.

If that happens, the rout could be on—at least until the red brand figures out how to time its shows better and utilize the wealth of talent at its disposal much more effectively than it has to this point.

Scorecard

SmackDown 3, Raw 1