WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Winner, Top Highlights and Botches for Week of August 3

The road to SummerSlam ran through Raw and SmackDown Live this week, and each brand was looking to maintain the momentum they built for themselves a week ago.

Raw hit hard in the battle for brand supremacy, announcing a massive, pay-per-view quality Triple Threat match between Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. SmackDown countered with a dream match between John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Simply announcing such spectacular bouts, though, does not mean they managed to live up to heightened expectations.

And what of the rest of the broadcasts?

Did Raw or SmackDown best support their marquee matches with a show that inspired excitement ahead of SummerSlam?

The answer lies within.

Why Raw?

With an enormous Triple Threat match announced prior to the show, the sudden rise of Jason Jordan, the tease of a Shield reunion and an appearance by universal champion Brock Lesnar, the July 31 episode of Raw appeared poised to follow in line with other recent broadcasts and deliver a quality three hours of programming.

It did, for the most part.

Triple Threat Blockbuster

Ahead of SummerSlam's Fatal 4-Way for the Universal Championship on August 20, top contenders Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman met Monday night in a Triple Threat match.

As wild and chaotic as one would expect from the trio, the match culminated in Reigns blasting Joe with a spear and picking up a clean victory.

There will be some who question the booking decision, but Joe has been booked as strongly and convincingly as anyone on Raw in recent weeks and will survive the defeat if he continues to wreak havoc and kick ass.

The quality of the match landed it here as the chemistry between the three competitors was apparent. Furthermore, it gives fans hope that the Fatal 4-Way at SummerSlam will live up to heightened expectations. At a time when WWE needs its Superstars to generate excitement and anticipation among its fanbase, Reigns, Joe and Strowman succeeded.

Finn Balor's Revenge

A week after Bray Wyatt appeared from the darkness and laid Finn Balor out with Sister Abigail, costing him a No Disqualification match against Elias, the former universal champion emerged from his own darkness, presenting his back to The Eater of Worlds as if to challenge him to attack.

Wyatt fed right into his trap and ended up enduring a kick to the head and baseball slide before being dropkicked into the fans.

Willing to reside in the sanctuary of the audience, Wyatt watched an angry, vengeful Balor from a distance, understanding he had potentially awakened a demon that will come calling for him at SummerSlam.

Wyatt has spent his entire main roster career utilizing mind games to throw his opponents off, so anytime someone like Balor or Undertaker gives him a taste of his own medicine, it makes for entertaining television.

A Secondary Tag Team Feud

So often, the only tag team program presented on Raw or SmackDown is over the championships. If you are not part of that ongoing title-based feud, you are most likely jobbing to a team that is. Monday night, though, saw the continuation of a nice little secondary tag team rivalry developing between The Hardy Boyz, The Revival and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

The Hardys got the last laugh this week, beating Gallows and Anderson in a quality match, then unleashing a meaner and more aggressive side of themselves that fans have seen since their return at WrestleMania. Matt and Jeff dispatched of both teams, leaving them lying and standing tall to close out the segment.

It may appear obvious that so and so will win at SummerSlam, but it is encouraging to see Raw's creative team recognize the need for secondary stories away from the titles, designed to help teams get over without the crutch of a championship to lean on.

Will They Or Won't They?

While Dean Ambrose continues to reject offers to reunite with Seth Rollins, the popular babyfaces found themselves on the receiving end of a beatdown, courtesy of Raw tag team champions Sheamus and Cesaro, who made it abundantly clear they are the tops in that division right now.

The beatdown will force Ambrose to re-evaluate his decision not to reunite with Rollins. Faced with an oppressive onslaught by the self-proclaimed "bar," perhaps The Lunatic Fringe will realize they are better off together than apart.

Or maybe he will let Rollins to fight his own battle, abandoning The Kingslayer the same way he abandoned The Shield three years ago.

Whatever the case may be, WWE Creative has done an admirable job of drumming up interest for the storyline through a series of well-written vignettes and segments.

Why SmackDown?

SmackDown Live featured the most anticipated free TV match in recent memory as John Cena battled Shinsuke Nakamura for the right to challenge Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. But that was just one extraordinary match between wrestling greats scheduled for Tuesday's show.

The other? AJ Styles defending his United States Championship against Kevin Owens.

Those bouts, and more, helped this week's broadcast achieve greatness.

An Epic Main Event

From the moment Cena and Nakamura stood across the ring from each other, it was apparent that fans were about to witness something truly special. For 15 minutes, the all-time greats waged war in an ultra-competitive match with one goal in mind: cash their ticket to SummerSlam.

Cena blasted Nakamura with an Attitude Adjustment, but The King of Strong Style kicked out. Another one and an attempt at a third failed to keep him down, either, as Nakamura slid out of his grip and delivered a Kinshasa for the monumental victory.

The moment was an essential one for the Japanese star.

The full effect of his aura, in-ring performance and personality had not been explored in rivalries with Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. Sharing the squared circle with the franchise star, in a high-profile match, fans got their first taste of the full Nakamura Experience.

For those unfamiliar with Nakamura prior to his arrival on Tuesday nights this past April, the performance against and victory over Cena helped elevate him in their eyes and brighten his star to the point that he is now a credible main event player and the favorite to dethrone Mahal at SummerSlam.

Controversy Abounds

Styles and Owens' latest scrap for the United States Championship ended in controversial fashion, just as their clash at Battleground did. This time, though, Owens was on the receiving end of a referee botch, and he was none-too-pleased.

Owens found himself rolled up, his shoulder clearly off the mat, but the referee counted the pin anyway.

While some will cry and complain about the lack of clean and decisive finishes in the series, each one has been a creative way to continue the feud without booking matches for the sake of it.

Said controversy also sparked the heated confrontation between Owens and commissioner Shane McMahon that led to the announcement that Shane-O-Mac will referee the final showdown between The Prizefighter and The Phenomenal One at SummerSlam.

That involvement by the commissioner could, and should, give way to a full-blown storyline involving The New Face of America and his superior.

Chad Gable Keeps Plugging Away

Chad Gable may have lost his match against Rusev Tuesday night, but his continued growth as a singles wrestler is paying off. The fans were behind him as he chased victory and genuinely wanted him to beat The Bulgarian Brute.

A win, though, would not have made sense.

Gable is finding his feet as a singles competitor. Rusev is an established star who has been in the ring with every major star currently competing. After an ice-cold return to television and a loss to Cena at Battleground, a loss to Gable would have extinguished whatever credibility he has left.

By beating Gable, Rusev preserves a shred of heat in time for a feud with Randy Orton while Gable comes closer and closer to scoring that first singles victory that will undoubtedly pop the crowd and make him a bigger star as a result.

Biggest Botch

At some point, WWE Creative sat in a room somewhere and an individual writer pitched the idea for Big Show vs. Big Cass to go on last on Raw.

Why?

Was there some sort of major angle attached to it? Was there a surprise debut or a major announcement for a SummerSlam match?

No.

The match ended via disqualification, and the show went off the air with Big Show knocking Cass out in a segment that could have gone on in the third segment of the show and generated the same silence and apathy it did in the main event spot.

Yes, it is admirable that the company wants to expose fans to different stars in the marquee spot on the show. At the same time, it has to know what is hot, what is not and what will leave fans wanting more.

A sluggish match that ends unceremoniously and a show-closing angle that features the same knockout fans have witnessed from Big Show for the last decade is hardly it.

Give the young stars the main event spot, but ensure they have every opportunity to succeed. That was not the case Monday night, and the already too long rivalry between Cass, Enzo and Big Show marches on.

Winner

Raw was another solid show, for the most part, but it paled in comparison to the "big event" feel of Tuesday's SmackDown Live.

John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura tore the house down. Kevin Owens and AJ Styles delivered in the ring and The Prizefighter's backstage tantrum laid the groundwork for a rivalry with Shane McMahon. The budding rivalry between Naomi and Natalya intensified in a tag team match, while Carmella's presence was felt and Mike Kanellis' continued mockery of Sami Zayn ensures their program will continue.

The build for Raw's top feuds was consistent and entertaining, but the lack of one definitive segment or explosive angle prevents it from winning this week's showdown.

Going forward, it will be important for Raw to put each segment in a position to succeed, because by booking Cass vs. Show in the main event rather than the Triple Threat match between Raw's three most over stars, the show ended with a thud rather than a bang.

Neither the flagship nor the Tuesday night show can afford disappointing results with one of the biggest events of the year on the horizon.

Winner: SmackDown Live