Welcome one and all to Brand Warfare, SLTD Wrestling’s one stop shop for all things Red vs. Blue.
Last week, Raw’s streak of losing out with three votes from Team SLTD was faltered as a result of Sasha Banks’ Raw Women’s Championship victory. But one vote on behalf of the red team was still not enough to turn the tide in the fan polls, leaving SmackDown sitting pretty with 71% to take them to their ninth victory.
At this point, as we stand firmly at a 9-2 lead for team blue, it seems like a lost cause to hold out for the flagship show to ever get back in the game and make this a competitive showcase once again. But nevertheless, that’s why we’re here, and if Raw ever gets on the up-and-up, Brand Warfare will be here to take note of it.
So where do we stand on Week 12? Let’s find out.
Colin Hebert – @ColinHebert614 – The Curtain Jerker
“When watching the opening segment of this week’s RAW – the promo that started with Sasha Banks and ended with an announcement of a mixed tag match between Sasha and Roman Reigns against Rusev and Charlotte, it almost made me believe that the WWE was using Sasha and Charlotte to give the “rub” to Reigns and Rusev.
I actually thought they were going to be putting the ladies not only in Hell in a Cell, but the main event of the PPV! Their mixed tag match was pretty good and it really pushed the year-long rivalry between Sasha and Charlotte.
However, much to my chagrin, the main event for Hell in a Cell seems to have been cemented by the announcement that WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens will be facing Seth Rollins inside Hell in a Cell. Owens hasn’t wrestled a singles match in a couple of weeks, which goes against what their counterpart SmackDown Live does as it seems their champion, AJ Styles is wrestling on every show. Another match between the two should be solid, but I – and I think the fans – want the women in the main event.
The rest of RAW was just “blah”. I said last week that the red brand was better, mainly due to the women’s title switch, but if that’s what needs to have to happen for RAW to compete with SmackDown Live, they’re in trouble.
SmackDown Live had not just their weekly episodic television show, but also their No Mercy PPV. The event was a notable one, as it had the main event WWE World title match between AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and John Cena open the show due to the Presidential Debate that would start an hour after No Mercy kicked off.
They also had to postpone the SmackDown Women’s Title match between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss due to an injury to Lynch. That has been announced for November 8th.
Dolph Ziggler did not have his career ended after he upset The Miz for the Intercontinental Title. I call that an upset due to the current run that The Miz is on being probably his best work of his entire WWE career. Heath Slater and Rhyno retained their SmackDown Tag Team Titles with another mild upset over the Usos.
Which brings me to their weekly show on Tuesday nights. I have to be honest, this was probably the weakest one they had yet. In the main event, they had Randy Orton and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Don’t get me wrong, Kane is a legend and a Hall of Famer, but he’s no longer main event material for even one television show. Orton still is, but he has been sucked into the black hole that is Bray Wyatt.
Over and over, the WWE has tried to make me care about Wyatt and they just seem to drop the ball on him. He can still be saved, but every feud he has been in, I have just not cared.
Also, we had an AJ Styles victory speech that was interrupted by Dean Ambrose. I would have been fine with just them going back and forth doing a promo, but AJ had an opponent he lined up for himself… James Ellsworth. The jobber got a non-title match of course, but Dean Ambrose was made the special guest referee.
After some shenanigans on Ambrose’s part and a couple of Dirty Deeds, Ellsworth pinned the WWE World Champion. Ellsworth beating anybody else, I’d have seen the humour in, but this is the guy WWE has built up and had beat John Cena, Ambrose, Chris Jericho and so on. He doesn’t need to be losing to James Ellsworth.
The shows this week weren’t too much fun to watch, but SmackDown Live was much easier to digest than RAW.”
Winner: SmackDown Live
Tybo Ledson – @Tybo_SLTD – Tybo Talks
“As I have said many times before, whichever brand is coming off a PPV should logically be the best brand of the week. But that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
Firstly let’s talk about the Red Brand. Raw is slowly getting better with the building of some interesting rivalries, but at the same time seem to have so much “filler” it’s insane. Banks/Charlotte and Reigns/Rusev are doing great jobs, but when it comes to the Universal Championship it all feels a little… meh.
The only person in the Owens / Rollins feud that is holding my interest is Jericho. Raw still feels really miss-able. Outside of the announcement of the Women’s Hell in a Cell match and the beginning of a Lesnar/Goldberg feud (awful idea) what else really happened?
Team Blue was coming off a PPV and a great PPV at that. The World Championship Triple Threat was great, and the Intercontinental Championship had all the emotions you want for a match (but should’ve been the main event). SmackDown continues to make their show must-see, because so much happens to push feuds forward, and every week there is something to see in every division.
I think I might be the only person who doesn’t get this James Ellsworth gimmick, but that being said I don’t think I could think of anything worse than another Lesnar vs. Goldberg match so both brands are making strange decisions. That being said, it’s still not really a contest week on week.”
Winner: SmackDown Live
Matt Rutherford West – @maruwe22 – What Would Matt Do?
“This week’s Raw was, well, worse than last week. I’m really hoping that the return of Goldberg gives Raw the boost to make WWE Creative bring their A-game to use both Goldberg and the rest of the roster correctly.
I know it sounds like I’m beating down on the creative team, and I really don’t mean to, but I wouldn’t trust them to start a drinking contest in a brewery right now.
Cruiserweight matches are meaningless (four minutes for a tag match?), basic promos right, left and centre with very little to get excited about, Banks struggling on the mic and 16 clotheslines from Roman Reigns in one match. Normally it’s the third hour which has dragged out too long but this week it was the second hour; meaningless and pointless dribble was all I saw. Hell, if it wasn’t for Jericho-Rollins I would have turned off after Heyman’s promo.
On the blue side of things, I’m highly conflicted. The booking for No Mercy was confusing in places to say the least. Yes, they wanted to have people watch the main event which went on first before some form of Presidential debate, but doesn’t that tell you a lot about the confidence in WWE right now?
And if that was to go first then why didn’t they put Ziggler vs. Miz on last? Having Alexa Bliss (who is meant to be the #1 contender) lose to someone in an impromptu match? Then having AJ Styles pinned on SmackDown?
Yes, he took two Dirty Deeds but he has been hit with those in matches before. Sure, it was meant to be a comedy segment but you don’t do comedy with what is the number one belt in the company.
SmackDown had some good story progression this week, but then Demon Kane disappearing?
Come on, think of something original!
I find it hard to pick a show which is better, I really do. Both have had forgettable weeks so I’ll have to go for SmackDown as it is the most consistent. Please, please, please fix Raw, it’s becoming a joke now.”
Winner: SmackDown Live
As if it comes as any shock, team blue is back in top form with a 3-0 result from Team SLTD, even if the show was held down by questionable creative decisions this week.
Do you agree that SmackDown was the superior show this week, or do you think the wheels set in motion by Paul Heyman’s challenge to Goldberg puts the red brand in the driver’s seat this week?
Let us know in the comments below and don’t forget to leave your vote make your mark!
Which brand put on the better show this week? #BrandWarfare
— SLTD Wrestling (@SLTDWrestling) October 15, 2016
Self-Professed Conversational Wizard.
Admin, Editor and Writer for SLTD Wrestling.
Creator of 'Under the Spotlight'.
Studying Computing in Games Development.
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