The biggest winners and losers of last night's SmackDown (September 25)
Completely opposite of Raw, SmackDown fired an all cylinders, hitting every note from top to bottom. Everything and everyone felt important, even the lower tiered programs, and the blue brand is getting better at using most of its stacked roster in the two hours available to it.
SmackDown has been night and day compared to Raw and it truly forces this fan to wonder how the two shows can be so far apart from one another in quality - and this isn't even the old NXT vs. main roster comparison!
With two hours packed full of action, who got the most and least out of last night's good showing?
Winners: Everyone in this segment
This feud badly needed a kick in the rear after the involvement of their wives cooled it considerably. Last night gave it to us. In the best promo of the feud so far, Miz hammered Bryan, telling him that he didn't have what it takes to defeat him because he wasn't willing to do anything in order to secure victory.
The only way he could emerge victorious, Miz said, was to abandon his moral compass and thus the support of his fans. Daniel Bryan couldn't beat Miz as the Daniel Bryan everyone loved, but as another man.
The match that followed with R-Truth was pedestrian, but the build to Super Showdown in Australia got a lot hotter as a result of this segment. It even did a good job of highlighting R-Truth, whose comedic abilities added a little relief to the seriousness of the situation.
Even Carmella, although she couldn't get over on her own, was better in this segment than she ever was during her run as women's champion.
This was a nice use of everyone on the roster according to their strengths. Raw's writers should watch this.