WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Winner, Top Highlights and Botches for Week of January 2

Erik BeastonJan 5, 2017

The new year brought with it strong episodes of both Raw and SmackDown. Perhaps it was the focused build to one of WWE's most prestigious events, Royal Rumble. Maybe it has to do with the beginning of the march to WrestleMania 33. Or maybe the new year brought with it an air of freshness and possibility that motivated WWE Creative enough to pen two strong shows.

Whatever the case may be, this week in WWE TV was a compelling one for fans.

Raw featured the continuation of the saga involving Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Seth Rollins, and Smackdown countered with a big contract signing between AJ Styles and John Cena and an Intercontinental Championship match between Dean Ambrose and The Miz.

Why Raw?

The flagship show did not suffer from the sloppy, disjointedness of recent episodes. There was less filler, more segments felt meaningful and the matches pitting Rollins against Owens and Reigns against Jericho were above average.

This week, though, segments of the show outside of the main event storyline helped strengthen Raw's overall quality.

The Last Man Standing match between Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman was great fun, even if it did little to help the former in the eyes of fans. Karl Anderson and Cesaro wrestled a strong singles bout to help set up what is likely to be a tag team feud between The Club and Cesaro and Sheamus.

Bayley and Nia Jax battled in a match that not only saw Bayley deal Jax her first singles loss, but also set Bayley up for a big showdown with Charlotte Flair—all courtesy of Sasha Banks, who is embroiled in an ongoing program with Jax.

Even small, seemingly insignificant backstage vignettes—such as the interaction between Bayley and Stephanie McMahon and Noam Dar's continued interjection into Alicia Fox and Cedric Alexander's relationship—added to the show.

While the three-hour run time is still entirely too long, the show was more focused than usual. More importantly, things happened—such as the impressive face-to-face between Reigns and Goldberg and the double spear that capped off the show.

Why SmackDown?

The blue brand continues to produce a show that is wholly intriguing and entertaining from start to finish.

Not only did the show produce the aforementioned contract signing and Intercontinental Championship bout, but it also featured a heel turn from Dolph Ziggler, the injection of Baron Corbin into the main event picture and the continued mystery surrounding the identity of Becky Lynch's tormentor, La Luchadora.

All of that comes together to create a program in which there is no down time. Matches do not run longer than they should due to a need to fill television time. The pacing is better, and the stories are simpler and more entertaining. Most importantly, authority figures stay out of the way—they are extras in a wrestling show rather than prominent fixtures.

Unlike Raw, which regularly feels like a placeholder, it always feels as though something important happened on SmackDown. This week's show was no different—especially considering the title change that ended the broadcast.

Perhaps the greatest strength of this week's show was the way in which former NXT stars such as Corbin, Lynch, Alexa Bliss and American Alpha continued to star. They are prominent performers on the roster, which means fans will be more accepting of them when they become faces of the company in the future.

That is exactly what the brand extension should be focused on.

Biggest Botch

The biggest misstep this week belongs to Raw.

While the Titus O'Neil-New Day segment was entertaining—the big man not getting nearly enough credit for his comedic timing—it was yet another example of WWE trying to inject humor into its show and doing so poorly.

The dancing, the whistle-blowing...it does more to hurt the credibility of O'Neil than it does to get him over with fans. He looks like an imbecile and someone who should be tearing through the roster, given his size. Instead, he was practically begging The New Day to let him join the group.

It does no favors to anyone and resulted in a match in which Xavier Woods was forced to prove to fans and himself that he is not the weak link of the former championship-winning trio.

So to recap, O'Neil looked like an idiot to put Woods over in a match dedicated to Woods' story.

That is not at all productive booking.

Winner

SmackDown wins another one this week, and it was not close.

Raw may have improved over the last few weeks, but even an entertaining show does not come close to the blow-away show SmackDown was. Compelling characters, intriguing story developments and quality wrestling help the blue brand extend its lead in the weekly battle for brand supremacy.