WWE Raw or WWE SmackDown Live: Who Has the Advantage After Week One?

The first Raw and Smackdown Live shows are in the books but who has the advantage after the first week?

The first show of Raw and Smackdown in the New Era after the Brand Split certainly looked to do the exact opposite of one another.

Raw’s women’s division put the focus on two of their top women when Charlotte and Sasha Banks had the match of the night on Raw this week as Sasha finally became Women’s Champion. Smackdown, on the other hand, had every woman on the roster make an appearance on their first show as they featured the only woman’s rivalry as a part of their show with Becky Lynch and Natalya. When looking at the World Title pictures, Raw placed the spotlight on young talent when Finn Balor become the number one contender after beating Roman Reigns in the main event; Smackdown looked to revamp one of their veterans when Dolph Ziggler punched his ticket to Summerslam in the six pack challenge.

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Overall, Raw was an incredible show from top to bottom, building off the momentum from Battleground.

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Raw seemed to be the most complete show out of the two and kept me intrigued throughout. They even have the better logo, it has a vintage feel like Raw is going back old school.

To start the show, Raw introduced a second world title by the name of the WWE Universal title. This seemed to be the best move instead of bringing the old World Heavyweight Championship back. This gives the championship a chance to build its reputation by being on the long-standing brand. If Finn Balor were to win the newly established title, it could give NXT more stability as a developmental brand, making him the fastest rising star from it. It is hard to say that someone could have predicted that on his first night, Balor would be fighting for Raw’s new title at one of WWE’s biggest pay-per-views.

Braun Strowman and Nia Jax dominated their nameless competition, giving them a nice first showing in front of the Raw fans. The women’s division on Raw seems to be on fire with their new champion Sasha Banks and setting up a return match at Summerslam that could rival the one seen on Raw this week. Raw definitely has the advantage and we haven’t even seen the depth they have in the tag team division.

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Smackdown has its positives but it doesn’t stack up to Raw at this time. In terms of championships, Smackdown does seem to have the most prestigious major title and minor titles. Having the Intercontinental Championship, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship definitely makes Smackdown must see in terms of huge title matches. It seems that at this point the United States and Universal Championships are nowhere close although the Cruiserweight Championship hasn’t made its return to Raw yet. The show did have its good moments as every woman in the division had some television time to showcase their characters and skills on the microphone. Eva Marie even has her own voiceover now to turn up the reaction she already gets. The six pack challenge was a fun match to watch and Ziggler winning was a surprise to everyone. Not to say it wasn’t a good show, it just wasn’t as good as Raw.

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The new logos and stage designs definitely made the shows feel different, making the New Era actually seem new. Giving Smackdown a new logo and the word live behind its name didn’t give it the advantage. Smackdown definitely has some work to do but with the talent they accumulated in the draft, it will take some time to build the young talents to the main roster fans. In my mind, Raw has the advantage after week one but which show would you rather watch?

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