Smackdown IS the A-Show

While the extra hour of Raw is a bit of a detriment to its feel, the truth is a 3 hour show can still be good if its booked well. And it hasn't been, outside of once immediately following the split, in a long while. Clearly it comes down to the creative team for SD having a better grip on how to play to its rosters strengths than Raw does. Its ultimately as simple as that. Great show tonight. Everything fired on the cylinders it was supposed to.

wish I could like this multiple times.

Raw is a train wreck right now. Im not sure even before the Finn Balor injury that he could have saved it as champion. The problem is (as aforementioned) that Smackdown actually has a story for all of their characters and Raw is struggling there mightily.

My main issues with Raw are that:

• You have a 3 hour show and you have guys like Neville and Zayn that you don't know what to do with them. How is that possible?

• You have guys like Cesaro and Sheamus fighting in a best of 7 (which if you count their earlier matches is basically a best of 9 or 10) and they're fighting for what? A world title shot? Maybe even a US Title shot? They're literally fighting for nothing, makes them both look stupid.

• Your "strong" womens division you set out for at the onset of the draft now consists of about Charlotte, Bayley, and Dana. Smackdowns division looks way stronger because all of their girls are being used.

Smackdown has been the far superior show imo, and am very excited to see how Ambrose/Styles plays out from here on out.

I haven't watched Raw since the draft, is SD better? Ugh. I couldn't get through more than ten minutes of it tonight.

Tell that to the company once ratings come out.

Yes sir, yes it is.

I've been saying it for weeks but I'm glad people are finally noticing.

With Brock Lesnar gone until January, the Raw roster has absolutely zero star power with the exception of Chris Jericho. I've enjoyed SmackDown every week since it went live, I've yet to be able to sit through a full Raw because it's so bad.

Raw is in unfair territory at the moment due to a lot of emergency writing.

I think the main difference between Raw and Smackdown is the organic feel.

Arguably, Raw and Smackdown both have the same amount of talented wrestlers. Raw has Cesaro, Owens, Rollins, Balor, and Zayn. Smackdown has Cena, Styles, Ambrose, Ziggler, American Alpha. Raw has Banks, Bayley. Smackdown has Bliss, Bella, and Becky. The main difference here though is that while Raw has probably equal talent to Smackdown, Smackdown has wrestlers who organically got over despite bad booking or 50/50 booking. Now, when guys like Ziggler and Ryder have to be mid card to main event players instead of curtain jerkers, fans still have a connection to them because they have always been over. Bad booking kept them from being focused, but cream always rises.

Raw on the other hand has wrestlers that we're told to like and who are forced upon us, while guys who we do like are relegated to opening matches and midcard roles. Neville is a spot guy. Zayn opens shows. Owens is midcard. Tag teams aren't focused on unless you're feuding with the champions.

Right now, Smackdown is firing on all cylinders. Every segment means something. Raw, you literally can turn it off and miss nothing or everything. It's a shot in the dark as to whether the segment you're about to see is worth it. For instance, did you know Sheamus and Cesaro are fighting for the number 1 contender spot? I didn't, until I saw a video where Cesaro was complaining how they're fighting for a number 1 spot to the universal title yet were excluded from the mini tournament.