WWE Raw vs. SmackDown: Winner, Top Highlights and Botches for Week of October 26

A viral illness to two top Raw stars threw the brand's TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs into disarray and led to the return of Kurt Angle to the squared circle and the lending of SmackDown's AJ Styles to Raw for a showdown with Finn Balor.

One of those would have a profound impact on this week's battle for brand supremacy, which would become literal for the first time since last November.

What drastic maneuvers did SmackDown make? Did Raw respond?

What booking decision gave way to the biggest botch on WWE television this week?

Most importantly, did Raw or SmackDown Live present the better product?

Why Raw?

The flagship show of WWE was on the heels of a TLC pay-per-view that was wild, chaotic but hardly consequential to ongoing stories and feuds.

Raw general manager Angle's victory was barely followed up on. In the night's opening match, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose teamed with SmackDown's AJ Styles, who would help out the Raw brand for one more night. More on that in a moment.

The trio defeated Sheamus, Cesaro and The Miz in an action-packed opener that popped the crowd and left fans wishing The Phenomenal One would be on the Raw brand to more appropriately showcase his abilities.

Styles would not be the only guest star on Monday's broadcast.

Joining him was the Universal champion, The Beast Incarnate, Brock Lesnar. The unstoppable force took to the squared circle to answer Jinder Mahal's challenge for a match at Survivor Series. As expected, he accepted the fight while his advocate Paul Heyman issued words of warning to The Maharaja.

That segment, though relatively short, did more to create interest in Lesnar smashing and bashing Mahal than anything the writers have come up with early in the program's admittedly brief existence.

Alicia Fox earned the right to become captain of Team Raw's women's team at Survivor Series and Mickie James laid Alexa Bliss out, ensuring their rivalry over the Raw Women's Championship will continue.

It was the arrival of Asuka and a second consecutive victory over Emma that left the women's division on notice as The Empress of Tomorrow made her presence felt.

Why SmackDown?

One of the biggest issues with Monday's Raw was the complete and utter lack of continuity when it came to the "under siege' angle that saw the Superstars of SmackDown brutally assault their red brand counterparts.

After all, when did New Day and Becky Lynch become such jerks? Why were Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode so chummy, working together when they clearly have disdain for each other?

Why did Styles help Angle earlier in the night, only to join SmackDown in brutalizing the rest of the red brand's roster, including the two guys he teamed with in Ambrose and Rollins?

SmackDown did a fine job of tying up loose ends in a nice, presentable little package that actually made sense.

Speaking of New Day, the former tag team champions battled Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin in the night's first match.

A high-quality affair, its purpose was to give Gable and Benjamin a quality victory over an established team in an attempt to build credibility and legitimacy before the duo challenges The Usos for the tag team titles.

It worked as Gable and Benjamin came out of the bout looking like a well-oiled team before they set their sights on Jimmy and Jey Uso's prize.

In another strong match, Lynch defeated Charlotte, Tamina, Naomi and Carmella to become the leader of Team SmackDown at Survivor Series, scoring a much-needed victory after months of palling around with Charlotte and becoming almost a forgotten entity on the blue brand women's division.

Biggest Botch

Kane squashed Finn Balor in 2017: What wrestling world are we living in when that is considered an acceptable booking decision?

The Big Red Monster is a surefire Hall of Famer, but there is no single excuse that can be made for taking the initiative to have Kane beat a guy fresh off a Match of the Year victory over Styles in the manner he did.

Kane did not just beat Balor, he obliterated him. He used three chokeslams to kill the Irishman's momentum dead and leave fans questioning what the hell WWE Creative is thinking.

Yes, it clearly wants to position Kane in a dominant light and set him up for a run with Braun Strowman. There is an entire locker room, though, of Superstars that Kane could have rolled over without hurting them.

Balor, a former Universal champion and someone fans consider a lead babyface on Raw, is not that guy.

A huge disservice was done to Balor, at the benefit of Kane, who has repeatedly demonstrated how bulletproof he is from a booking standpoint.

It was, by far, the biggest botch of the week and one of the worst mistakes of the year from WWE Creative.

Winner

The Raw brand may have featured a quality match to kick things off and genuine intrigue on the heels of TLC, but it failed miserably when it came to the show-closing angle.

SmackDown's attack on Raw made no sense and only in hindsight can fans put together the moving pieces. 

And that is because SmackDown explained away every loose end and intricate detail of the angle.

Raw did a fairly miserable job of following up its pay-per-view, with too many questionable booking decisions and far too much emphasis placed on guys over the age of 40.

The Shield's Rollins and Ambrose were essentially an afterthought at a time where their reunion should still be a huge deal and Strowman was nowhere to be seen, even after being crushed by a garbage truck the night before.

SmackDown, though, utilized its talents to the best of its abilities and even managed to tell individual stories between its Supertars despite the fact they all banded together to beat the hell out of the Raw locker room.

The Tuesday show was not perfect by any means, but it was a superior offering to the head-scratcher of a show Raw presented.