WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Winner, Top Highlights and Botches for Week of August 24

In the wake of an explosive SummerSlam pay-per-view that saw champions crowned, rivalries come to a head and a wild and chaotic main event for the Universal Championship, both Raw and SmackDown Live were tasked with building on the momentum the company created for itself Sunday night.

They did just that; presenting new rivalries and Superstars, following up on existing stories and maintaining intrigue in the programs.

Raw hit hard in the battle for brand supremacy, delivering the first tease of John Cena vs. Roman Reigns, a brutal beatdown from Braun Strowman to Brock Lesnar, and a hair-raising promo from The Miz.

SmackDown countered with Shinsuke Nakamura's revenge, a United States Championship match between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens, and the glorious debut of Bobby Roode.

Which brand was able to seize control of this week's war for the catbird seat and stand tall as the premier show in the WWE Universe?

Why Raw?

Just 24 hours after a newsworthy SummerSlam, Raw was tasked with carrying over the momentum the brand had created for itself at the summertime spectacular.

With appearances from Brock Lesnar and John Cena, and several new champions making their first appearance since epic victories, the show had enough to satisfy its fans.

Teasing John Cena vs. Roman Reigns

Cena made his first appearance on Raw in over a year Monday night and wasted little time in calling out the brand's top dog, Roman Reigns.

Before anything between the two could escalate beyond an exchange of words, they were interrupted by Miz and Samoa Joe and were booked in a tag team main event.

It was during that bout that the tension between the two became apparent. An accidental Superman Punch from Reigns to his tag team partner nearly cost them the match to create an even more apparent schism between the two.

It is only a matter of time before Reigns and Cena go to war, each determined to prove he is the franchise player in Vince McMahon's traveling circus of sports entertainment.

While some will take exception to the company not waiting until WrestleMania to pull the proverbial trigger and give the event a marquee match to build around, the contest has been a long time coming.

With Cena's time between the ropes seemingly nearing its end, delivering the dream match on any pay-per-view stage should be something fans appreciate.

A Scathing Promo Courtesy of The Miz

When The Miz is impassioned and truly believes something he says over the course of a promo, the result is almost magical.

Monday night, he took to the squared circle and cut a scathing promo on Reigns and Cena in which he decried the number of opportunities they have received over the course of their careers while he was relegated to a Kickoff Show match Sunday night at SummerSlam in front of an empty building.

The legitimate anger and frustration that painted his face reflected the conviction with which he spoke and made for an even more engaging and compelling promo.

That is something fans are not privy to enough. It makes for better television and allows audiences to invest in Superstars more than they can under the current circumstances. 

The Hardy Boyz vs. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose

Fresh off a victory over Sheamus and Cesaro for the Raw Tag Team Championship, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins squared off with The Hardy Boyz in a marquee bout Monday night.

The match, the first test of the duo's title reign, was a highly competitive one that lent Rollins and Ambrose credibility in their role of champions. Matt and Jeff had been protected fairly well by WWE Creative since their return at WrestleMania 33 so beating them still meant something.

That the action was fast and furious, and the crowd was as receptive as it was, only elevated the overall quality of it and led to its status as the best match from Monday's broadcast.

Braun Strowman Dominates Brock Lesnar

Just 24 hours after manhandling The Beast Incarnate at SummerSlam, Braun Strowman re-established dominance over Brock Lesnar on Monday night on Raw, interrupting a celebratory promo by the Universal champion's advocate, Paul Heyman, and laying waste to the once-indestructible titleholder.

Strowman's growth and evolution from Wyatt Family afterthought to main event, crowd favorite has been a stunning one. It has also been incredibly fun to watch him grow from this generic heavyweight performer to a legitimately strong worker whose creative move set and knack for timing is refreshing.

On September 24, in Los Angeles, the culmination of his incredible journey to the top of the Raw brand will see him challenge Lesnar in the most important match of his young career.

Hopefully he can continue to build on the extraordinary performances to this point.

Why SmackDown?

SmackDown Live has been much maligned in recent weeks, thanks to uneven booking and questionable creative decisions.

Tuesday night, in the wake of SummerSlam, the brand was tasked with getting things back on track and providing fans with a taste of the stories they can expect to play out in the coming weeks and months.

Vengeance is Shinsuke Nakamura's

After interference from The Singh Brothers cost him an opportunity to leave Brooklyn with the WWE Championship, Shinsuke Nakamura squared off with Sunil and Samir in a Two-on-One Handicap match.

The King of Strong Style rolled over the brothers and capped off his performance by overcoming an attack by WWE champion Jinder Mahal and laying him out with The Kinsasha. In terms of following up a disappointing night at SummerSlam, he succeeded.

The booking suggests Nakamura will remain the primary challenger for Mahal's title and that is the right decision. The match at SummerSlam felt more like the ignition of a rivalry than the latest chapter.

Given how lackadaisical the booking of the program to that point had been, starting anew at a major pay-per-view event and building from there is not the worst idea imaginable.

The revenge story is off to a great start courtesy of the simple, effective booking from Tuesday's broadcast.

Hubris Costs Carmella

Carmella's own ego cost her a shot at victory Tuesday night.

Far too concerned with cashing in Money in the Bank on tag team partner and SmackDown women's champion Natalya, she fell victim to a Bexploder from Becky Lynch and ate a split-legged moonsault from Naomi before enduring the pinfall that lost the heels the match.

Continuing to tell the story of Carmella and her own arrogance in relation to the briefcase will make for some quality television as well as strong character-building.

Is she too cocky for her own good? Will her own inability to be patient and wait for the right moment ruin her championship aspirations? 

Those are questions fans can invest themselves in the answers to.

Glorious

Bobby Roode made his SmackDown Live debut Tuesday and instantly took the program by storm.

Curiously booked as a babyface, he defeated Aiden English and proceeded to thank Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan for cashing in on the hottest free agent in wrestling.

While it is unlikely Roode remains a good guy for long, the decision to allow him to play up that role Tuesday night, in front of an audience that was going to cheer him regardless, helped make the debut that much more memorable.

The question now is whether he settles into the midcard for the time being or instantly rises to the main event.

If it's the latter, he could jeopardize Jinder Mahal's spot at the top of the card. That would be a mistake, given the work both Mahal and WWE Creative have done to get him to that point.

Perhaps a three-way rivalry over the WWE title, in which Roode targets the gold but also revisits his feud with Nakamura, would be the best option.

That is, unless Roode targets AJ Styles' United States Championship.

Given The Phenomenal One appears finished with Kevin Owens for the time being, he could use a new challenger.

Speaking of AJ and KO...

AJ, KO and Shane-O-Mac

The decision to book AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens again may have been repetitive and unnecessary, but the main event of SmackDown Live provided the show with work rate and wrote the latest chapter in the blossoming rivalry between Owens and McMahon.

The prodigal son and his disgruntled employee are headed for a high-profile rivalry that will likely culminate in a major pay-per-view match.

It is the right decision for someone of Owens' stature.

He is unlikely to find himself in the WWE Championship mix, but he is a marquee performer for the brand. Programming him against the commissioner is a way to keep The Prizefighter in the headlines without having him in title contention.

Working with McMahon also provides him a credible storyline that, in some ways, eclipses the titles. Odds are he will see more television time in that program than he would by working with Nakamura, Styles, Mahal or Roode anyway.

Biggest Botch

The cruiserweight division of WWE has been much maligned but on Monday night, the criticisms of the company's efforts to reintroduce the weight class rang true.

Midway through the three-hour broadcast, officials trotted out an Eight-Man Tag Team match pitting Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander, Gran Metalik and Mustafa Ali against Drew Gulak, Tony Nese, Noam Dar and Ariya Daivari.

There is not a single bad wrestler in that bunch. The match itself was even well-wrestled.

The problem? The crowd in Brooklyn sat on its hands, unmoved and quiet as the Superstars plied their craft.

This was a fanbase consisting of the most passionate supporters WWE has. They traveled far and wide to be at the show but there they were, treated to a match featuring some incredibly talented individuals, silent and unaffected by the contest before them.

Above all, that is an indictment on management and the manner in which they have utilized the men who make up that roster. Coming out of the Cruiserweight Classic a year ago, Alexander was one of the hottest wrestlers on the planet.

Now, he has been reduced to an afterthought on a roster of similar-fated Superstars.

An unwillingness to let the cruiserweights wrestle Superstars outside of the division, coupled with the complete lack of character development, has led them down a path of mediocrity and created an environment detrimental to success.

Winner

This week's battle for brand supremacy is a much more difficult one to judge than in recent weeks.

Neither Raw nor SmackDown had a blow-away show, but neither was mediocre. They were both good shows that adequately wrapped up SummerSlam weekend and provided a glimpse of things to come.

Raw had strong work from Strowman and The Miz, SmackDown countered with quality storytelling involving Mahal, Nakamura, Owens and Styles.

The return of Cena and the tease of his impending program with Reigns, though, helps catapult Raw past SmackDown Live this week for another win in a string of them.

That feud, when it finally ignites, has the potential to reintroduce fans to the product who may have stepped away for a bit. Those two Superstars, industry giants in this current era, have a magnetism that makes fans take note.

No matter how many jeers are hurled in their direction, they remain the most engaging on the roster. Working with each other, and bringing elements of their professional rivalry to the screen, will make for some inspiring television.

That is not to diminish anything going on over on SmackDown.

More times than not, the blue brand's stories progress right along and, more so than Raw, actually make logical sense.

The lack of a spark or polarizing star such as Cena and Reigns, though, robs it of the energy it sometimes needs to overcome its flagship opposition.