WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Winner, Top Highlights and Botches for Week of May 4

Raw was coming off of an action-packed Payback pay-per-view while SmackDown touted a United States Championship match between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens, ensuring the battle for brand supremacy for the week of May 4 would be a tough one.

Both brands represented themselves well, delivering strong in-ring action at the top of the card while either setting up or propelling storylines forward.

The Monday night staple delivered a strong main event match pitting Finn Balor, Seth Rollins and The Miz against each other for a shot at Dean Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship, while AJ Styles made it abundantly clear on SmackDown Live that he was coming for either Owens or Jericho's U.S. title.

The women's divisions on both shows shined, while heels like Jinder Mahal, the team of Sheamus and Cesaro and TJ Perkins all made their presence felt.

As WWE prepares for the summer months, using the events of both of this week's programs to set up the matches that will enthrall fans and the Superstars who will play prominent roles in top stories, relive the week that was for Raw and SmackDown and find out which brand emerged from this week's battle the clear victor.

Why Raw?

On the heels of Raw's exclusive pay-per-view Payback, the red brand presented a show that actively set up three high-profile rivalries for future events.

The main event of the May 1 broadcast featured The Miz, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins battling in a Triple Threat match to determine the No. 1 contender to Dean Ambrose's Intercontinental Championship. Near the end of the match, Samoa Joe appeared, attacking The Architect and rendering him unable to continue.

From there, Bray Wyatt made his presence felt, laying Balor out with Sister Abigail. With the former NXT champion unconscious, Miz simply laid himself across the Superstar and earned the opportunity to challenge Ambrose.

In one fell swoop, Raw had three feuds to build its brand around ahead of Extreme Rules on June 4.

Raw also featured a championship coronation that allowed new Raw women's champion, Alexa Bliss, to showcase her considerable mic skills. She did, engaging fans and firmly establishing herself as the best character performer on the Raw women's roster.

Rounding out the things the red brand did right was the increased intensity and aggression of TJ Perkins.

The former cruiserweight champion may have lost to Austin Aries in singles competition, but after the match, he demonstrated the meanness fans had not previously seen from him. He evolved before the eyes of the WWE Universe, and that will benefit him going forward.

Especially if he can parlay that attitude change into a feud with either Aries or new mentor Neville sometime in the near future.

Why SmackDown?

SmackDown countered a solid episode of Raw with one of its own, headlined by the final showdown between Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens over the United States Championship.

Having won it just 48 hours earlier at Payback, Jericho was seeking to mark his first SmackDown Live appearance in over a year with a victory. It was not meant to be.

Owens ended Jericho's reign with a bone-shattering Pop-Up Powerbomb, then proceeded to pummel him and leave him a mass of bone and flesh as the future Hall of Famer was written off television for the foreseeable future as his band Fozzy prepares for an international tour.

Owens demonstrating the nasty, ruthless and relentless side of himself that has been missing for months now was a refreshing change of pace after the "New Face of America" nonsense of the last month. With that said, expect that tagline to thrive whether we like it or not.

The continued development of Breezango into a comedic act that is both over and can realistically challenge The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships saw them take part in a pretaped vignette in the vein of Law & Order as they investigated the opposition.

What may have felt like a harmless, two-minute sketch was instead the type of pre-tape that used to get acts like the APA, the Hollys, Mark Henry, The Godfather and so many other midcard performers over in the height of the Attitude Era.

Given the team's history as enhancement talent, letting them get over via their hilarious comedic timing and over-the-top personalities is the absolute right move.

Charlotte Flair is on her way to becoming a true babyface competitor in SmackDown's women's division, as seen in her gutsy performance Tuesday night.

Attacked by The Welcoming Committee of Natalya, Carmella and Tamina, she shrugged off considerable rib and sternum pain to come to the aid of Naomi in a scheduled tag match against Natalya and Carmella. The championship duo lost the match, but in fighting through the pain, Charlotte earned the respect of fans and further solidified her status as a heroine on the blue brand.

The emergence of Becky Lynch as an opposer of the Committee gave Charlotte and Naomi a reluctant ally and sets up a six-woman war that will play out in the coming weeks and months.

Biggest Botch

The Triple Threat No. 1 Contender's match between Finn Balor, Seth Rollins and The Miz may have represented the best of Raw and set up three high-profile rivalries going forward, but how it came to be is responsible for the biggest botch of this week in WWE television.

Both Rollins and Balor voiced their desire to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship, only to have The Miz interrupt, Dean Ambrose appear and Kurt Angle announce the main event match.

Rollins and Balor simply settled for it, accepting a match in which the prize was a shot at a secondary title rather than the most coveted prize the Raw brand has to offer. It was almost pathetic. It was as if these two giants of the squared circle had their hands smacked by mom and were forced to settle for the Storm Trooper action figure rather than the super awesome, slightly more expensive Darth Vader one.

Not only that but it also was reflective of the major issue facing Raw, that being the absence of Lesnar and the most coveted title. Rather than having spirited contests featuring some of the best wrestlers in the industry, guys like Balor and Rollins are forced to stand around waiting for the moment The Beast Incarnate graces WWE with his presence.

They look stupid, and any creative direction WWE's crack writing staff may want to take them in relation to that title is halted until Lesnar returns.

It is a hellish corner to book an entire brand into and unfortunately the corner Raw finds itself in until Lesnar returns in time for his first title defense at Great Balls of Fire.

Yes, Great Balls of Fire. Don't ask.

Winner: SmackDown Live

The blue brand picks up another victory this time, despite solid competition from Raw.

The fact of the matter is that Raw's booking shortcomings, including the not-so-subtle reminder that the Intercontinental Championship is obviously a lesser championship than the absent universal title, diminish its overall product in a way SmackDown's shortcomings simply do not.

Is every Tuesday night broadcast perfect? Not by any means.

This week's show featured questionable booking of No. 1 contender Jinder Mahal, a Superstar who is a major element of the show at this point. Yet it made up for it with solid storytelling and quality in-ring action. Raw never quite strikes the appropriate ratio, delivering on one but never the other.

SmackDown was helped out significantly by a superb Chris Jericho-Kevin Owens showdown that could have headlined a pay-per-view without resistance from fans.

Though Raw was coming off of a major pay-per-view event and featured a strong main event match, it was never consistent enough to hold the proverbial candle to what SmackDown was able to accomplish as it set certain stars and feuds up for its May 21 Backlash spectacular.