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

The week that was in WWE programming saw two brands on different paths coming out of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

For Raw, the focus was on building compelling WrestleMania programs and implementing feuds that will culminate at Fastlane later in February. The show hinted at dissension among Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, and a heel turn from one of the sport's most popular female stars may be on deck. But it was the arrival of Samoa Joe and his attack on Seth Rollins that stole headlines.

Over on SmackDown Live, the field for the Elimination Chamber match on Feb. 12 was established before Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles waged war in one more main event for the blue brand.

John Cena and Randy Orton shared the ring in tag team action ahead of their main event on next week's show.

With two different goals in mind and differing levels of urgency toward their respective products, the shows achieved varying levels of success.

But which won the weekly battle for brand supremacy?

Find out with this recap of Raw and SmackDown for the week of Feb. 2.

Why Raw?

It's always obvious when WWE is on the Road to WrestleMania because the sense of urgency with which WWE Creative approaches Raw enhances tenfold. The storytelling is much tighter and more sensible, the characters who figure to play a key role in the buildup to the marquee event are pushed to the forefront and angles are hotter than they are at any other point in the year.

Simply put, writers remember how to put together compelling television at this time of year, and that was the case Monday night.

The show culminated with Seth Rollins confronting Triple H, only to be attacked and left lying in a heap by the debuting Samoa Joe. The development made sense, considering Joe worked closely with The King of Kings in NXT, and it provided the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of The Architect and the COO.

Unfortunately, as fans found out 48 hours later, Rollins suffered a real knee injury that threatens his spot on the WrestleMania card. Even with that development, it was still an effective segment that made a star out of Joe from day one.

Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar made an unadvertised appearance, with the former calling out Goldberg for his embarrassing elimination of The Beast 24 hours earlier. Heyman laid down a challenge for one last match against the former WCW icon, this time on the grandest stage imaginable at WrestleMania.

Heyman, the best salesman in professional wrestling, was magnificent in putting the issues between the stars over and inciting excitement for their final showdown. While Goldberg has yet to accept, the match already feels like a bona fide main event that could conceivably headline The Showcase of the Immortals.

Even Roman Reigns' arrival, beatdowns of both Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens and departure enhanced his character. He was not forced into some drawn-out promo about how he was screwed out of the WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble, which would have exposed his mediocre mic skills.

Instead, he was portrayed as a frustrated ass-kicker who doled out vengeance to the two men responsible for his anger. It was effective booking that Reigns should have been benefiting from this entire time.

Throw in the subtle hints at a heel turn from Sasha Banks toward Bayley, the culmination of the rivalry between Enzo Amore, Big Cass, Rusev and Jinder Mahal and a strong non-title match that saw Sami Zayn knock off United States champion Chris Jericho, and you have one of the best episodes of Raw in quite some time.

Why SmackDown?

SmackDown was in a different position than Raw this week. While the red brand could recover from Royal Rumble by laying the groundwork for its WrestleMania programs, SmackDown had to shift focus toward Elimination Chamber.

The event, which is less than two weeks away, will be headlined by its namesake match for the WWE Championship. Fans found out at the top of the broadcast that Baron Corbin, Dean Ambrose, The Miz, Bray Wyatt and AJ Styles would challenge John Cena for the title.

The show then proceeded to feature all five of those Superstars prominently.

Wyatt and Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton teamed up to battle Cena and Luke Harper in a match more about story than anything. Harper's devotion to Wyatt, even after being excommunicated from The Wyatt Family, was apparent as he hesitated and outright refused to strike his former leader.

Orton's pinfall victory over Cena set up a big television main event for next week and served as a taste of what fans could expect from the WrestleMania main event if Cena can make it through Elimination Chamber with the title intact.

Later in the main event, Styles and Ambrose delivered another quality bout in a series of them. The Phenomenal One picked up the victory, recovering after a high-profile loss Sunday at Royal Rumble, but the spotlight shined on Corbin, who entered the match after the bell and flattened The Miz with End of Days before doing the same to Ambrose.

The Lone Wolf has benefited from strong booking in recent weeks, suggesting he may play a significant role in the brand's plans for WrestleMania.

Becky Lynch and Mickie James' ongoing issues intensified during a women's tag team match that also saw Naomi pin Alexa Bliss to strengthen her argument for a Smackdown Women's Championship match, and Nikki Bella and Natalya learned they will meet each other in singles competition at Elimination Chamber.

Throw in Carmella, whose ongoing program with James Ellsworth screams "nonsense," and you have the continued devotion to every member of the women's division. Compare that to Raw, which seems content on keeping the spotlight on the same handful of competitors on a weekly basis.

SmackDown may not have been the explosive show Raw was this week, but it was a steadily booked program where everything made sense and built to something else, which is a trademark of a great wrestling product.

Biggest Botch

The biggest botch of the week goes to SmackDown Live for not following up on John Cena's monumental 16th world title victory at Royal Rumble.

Love him or hate him, Cena is an instrumental piece of the WWE puzzle, and sweeping such an accomplishment under the rug is disheartening.

Also concerning was the manner in which WWE made Cena look like a fool.

First, he was given the most generic promo to spiel, and then without hesitation, he trusted Luke Harper to be his tag team partner against Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton despite the history Cena has with Harper and The Wyatt Family dating back to 2014.

It was a nonsensical bit of booking, the likes of which should not be reserved for the franchise star.

WWE threw Cena to the wolves and left him to go about his business as usual without celebrating an achievement that would have been touted if Triple H or The Undertaker was in his place.

For the first time in forever, the company's reluctance to shine a spotlight on Cena hurt more than helped.

Winner: Raw

This was a tougher week to judge than expected.

Both shows excelled at what they were attempting to accomplish and presented strong results.

Raw began giving fans a taste of what WrestleMania will have in store for them while subsequently planting the seeds for the matches and rivalries that will culminate at Fastlane later this month. The debut of Samoa Joe, the match between Jericho and Zayn and Banks' subtle hints at a heel turn all helped strengthen a more focused and faster-paced show than fans of the red brand are used to.

SmackDown Live had to turn its attention to Elimination Chamber and putting together a card because, with only one more episode until the pay-per-view, it could not waste time.

The spotlight on The Wyatt Family was a nice touch, especially given how major a role it figures to play heading into WrestleMania. Orton is the Rumble winner, and Wyatt has the opportunity to win his first WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber. Harper is the dark horse—a talented big man who seems destined to battle The Viper at the Feb. 12 event.

The interactions between The Miz, Corbin and Ambrose appear to be setting up a Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Championship, and Styles seems to be the odd man out. He is in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match to try to regain his WWE Championship, but beyond that, he does not have an obvious feud or opponent who is waiting in the wings.

The continued growth of the women's division and even the slightest bit of effort regarding its floundering tag division helped SmackDown to another compelling broadcast Tuesday.

With that said, the urgency and the "bigger picture" approach by Raw helped the Monday night staple secure victory for the second consecutive week.

Scorecard

SmackDown: 14, Raw: 9