4 point rating of the latest episodes of WWE Raw and SmackDown Live (3 & 4 December 2018)
RAW and SmackDown Live are WWE's flagship shows, and have been running on TV since 1993 and 1999 respectively. Traditionally, RAW has been WWE's favourite show. While SmackDown Live provides a "sports-oriented" show, RAW focuses on "storytelling".
Since the second brand split in 2016, both RAW and SmackDown Live are in head to head competition to provide better quality content for their audience. In the first year since the brand split (July 2016 to April 2017), SmackDown Live was the better show, whereas RAW came back on top during the next cycle.
After WrestleMania 34, SmackDown Live got some big stars like Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, and The Miz, and the competition is now even.
However, the weekly entertainment value of RAW and SmackDown Live varies every week. In this series, we will analyse both RAW and SmackDown Live every week, and would proceed to conclude which show was better that week.
Points would be awarded to each show on the parameters of match quality, promo quality, storyline progression, and non-repeatability. The brand with the better score will win the war.
So without further ado, lets analyse this week's WWE TV, and arrive at a conclusion.
#1 Promo quality
The best promo segment of the past RAW was Dean Ambrose's entrance in the gas mask. Although WWE has turned Ambrose into a generic heel who targets hometowns and the fans, his brawl with Seth Rollins was brilliant. The rest of the RAW promos were mediocre, except the face turn of Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler managed to garner good crowd support.
The trio of Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka was brilliant on the opening segment in this week of SmackDown LIVE. The "new" Daniel Bryan was also great on Miz TV. There weren't any bad promos this week on SmackDown LIVE.
RAW - 0
SmackDown LIVE - 1