The first week of the brand split is down the books, and I took away some things from it. Let me explain.
1. RAW > Smackdown
Perhaps this take may be considered premature because this is only the first week, but if what we saw was any indication, RAW is going to be superior to Smackdown in a big way. Initially, I looked past the talent gap between the two brands after the draft because I believed that guys like Ambrose and Styles would be able to carry the roster for an extended period, but now, I’m not too sure because the future looks bleak. Cena is reported to be taking another hiatus from WWE to film American Grit. That only leaves Aside from Ambrose and Styles, that only leaves Orton, Wyatt and (now) Ziggler in the main event scene. That’s not exactly a strong lineup to have leading the future of Smackdown for me. Smackdown’s roster all but guarantees that guys like Ziggler, Styles, Wyatt, and perhaps even guys like Crews and Corbin will be getting title shots during their duration as a part of the Smackdown roster. I think Smackdown nailed it on the head when they talked about”opportunity”, but the caliber of those feuds is another question.
2. Dolph Ziggler’s Rise From The Ashes
Speaking of Ziggler, his becoming a number 1 contender for the WWE Championship was surprising, but also not surprising. In the six pack challenge, Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin could have been eliminated because they aren’t ready for a main event title feud yet and Cena and Styles are almost guaranteed to have their rubber match at Summerslam, leaving only Ziggler. So it wasn’t a surprise in that regard, but it was a surprise in that Ziggler hasn’t been in a main event caliber feud since 2012. Since he dropped the World Heavyweight Championship in 2013, he’s meandered from the pre-show to nothing higher than the Intercontinental Championship. He did have a shining moment at the main event of Survivor Series in 2014 but it was just to find himself feuding over the IC Title with Luke Harper later on. Let’s be honest. Ambrose/Ziggler from Smackdown doesn’t compare to Rollins/Balor from RAW. I don’t mind the feud with Ambrose because it actually feels like something we haven’t seen in a while, but WWE can’t possibly convince its fans that Ziggler has any chance of making the upset when he’s lost 2 out of 3 pre-show matches against Baron Corbin while Ambrose is coming off the biggest victory of his career against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. In addition, the talent pool in the mid-card isn’t deep enough to give Ziggler real momentum, so WWE has an uphill battle in getting something going for Ziggler, unless they turn him heel.
3. A RAW Renaissance?
RAW had their best showing of the year last week, and I think their future is in good hands. Of course it helps that RAW has an extra hour to fill, so the depth of talent that they had wasn’t surprising. RAW had a diverse roster to have a mini tournament on RAW which included two fatal four way matches and a number 1 contender’s match to top it off. Of course now the big question with the RAW writing team is can they keep it up. They set a pretty high bar for themselves last week with Balor’s successful main roster debut, Sasha Banks’ title win and the announcement of the Universal Title (I’ll get to that later). We can’t say that the talent on RAW is lacking because they will have four of the six titles in WWE (Universal, United States, Tag, Women’s), the more prominent tag teams and females, and to top it off, the cruiserweights will be showcasing on RAW as well. What WWE with RAW last week is what they should do every week, which is give fans a reason to tune in next week. It felt energetic, fresh, and left you wanting to come back for more of the same next week. I sincerely hope for WWE’s sake that they keep up the momentum, because seeing a good episode of RAW from start to finish for the past couple of years has been like trying to find the marshmallows in a box of Lucky Charms.
4. Next Feud for Kevin Owens/Where does Roman go from here?
It’s beyond evident now that Roman Reigns is in the doghouse. Starting with the clean loss to Seth Rollins at Money In The Bank, then taking the pin at Battleground and then finally losing clean to a man he outweighs by more than 70 pounds on RAW, it’s clear that Vince and the higher-ups are souring on him and have taken him off the pedestal, at least for the time being. If that’s the case, then I say he should put over some other guys for the time being, and it can start at Summerslam. One name I had in mind? Kevin Owens. I think he needs, and same thing goes for Zayn, to move on to main event caliber guys to feud with. KO has had failed Intercontinental Title ventures and just lost to Sami Zayn one on one. I think what he needs is a good revitalization of his career, and if Roman is starting to take big losses, then I think one of those losses should be to KO. If WWE wants to establish him as main event caliber, like we all know he is, Roman should be one of the guys he should go after. On RAW, when we are talking about the top faces on the roster, we’re talking about Roman Reigns, Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Finn Balor, and Cesaro. If KO doesn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, he needs a high profile feud to get back on track, and I think Roman, provided KO scores a victory, could be just what he needs.
5. State of Tag and Women’s Titles
Perhaps I missed it, but I don’t think WWE has explained how the situation regarding the Women’s and Tag Titles are going to work. From what i have seen, it doesn’t look like they will be interchanging on the brands. I think it severely limits both titles if they are roster-specific. The only solution I can see to this issue is if they were to make a separate Women’s and Tag Title belt for the Smackdown brand. Becky Lynch, in particular, has gotten a raw deal since her main roster call-up. She’s taken countless pinfalls to Charlotte, including the losing pinfall at WrestleMania, and while Sasha Banks and Charlotte does have great talent, Becky is highly regarded as the female with the most potential and most well-rounded. Not being able to compete for the top prize in the Women’s title would hamper her development, because the Smackdown Women’s roster, as much potential as their might be, isn’t there with the likes of Banks, Charlotte and Jax on the brand with the Women’s Title. Now I’d be all in for a feud with Alexa Bliss for Becky, but I want to see her fighting at the top, because she’s the top face for the Smackdown brand of Divas, and she has deserved the chance to be in the title scene. As for the tag titles, it appears as though The Club will be next in line for shots at the championships. In addition to The Club, RAW houses Enzo and Cass, The Shining Stars, The Dudleyz and The Golden Truth. However, the tag team that is almost guaranteed to garner the most talk is American Alpha, who will be debuting this week. A lot of comparisons to Team Angle have been compared as these two show damn near perfect chemistry with each other and wrestle at an energetic pace. There needs to be some way to get them in the tag title scene as opposed to having 3-4 teams on one brand get involved.
6. Slow start for Mid-Card Champions
While there was a lot of good, it was a bad week for the mid-card champions. Rusev took the pin in the fatal four way match on RAW and The Miz lost a match, if you want to call it that, to the returning Randy Orton. This was the fear that I had once they split the brands again because one of the big issues with the mid card titles before was that they were undervalued and didn’t receive as much attention. Rusev’s loss was a bit easier to swallow, because it was Finn’s first RAW match and Rusev could have afforded a loss as opposed to Cesaro or KO, despite being the champion. I assume that the next challenger for Rusev will be a bigger name for the second biggest show of the year, so someone from Cesaro to Zayn could step up. The Miz, however, was treated horribly, however. In a DUD of a match, Orton essentially was playing around with The Miz for a couple of minutes and then it only took 1 RKO, a lot of crowd pandering and another RKO to pin Miz. This was the same person that defeated Cesaro, Zayn and KO in a fatal four way in one of the best matches of the year at Extreme Rules, mind you. He deserved so much better than what he got. You mean to tell me out of all the guys on the Smackdown roster you can have had Orton bury for 3 minutes on Smackdown, you choose one of your champions? I understand you want to make Orton look strong and give him momentum for Lesnar, but beating one of your better champions of this year was the wrong way to go, because now you give Orton momentum at the expense of making your champions look extremely weak. WWE has to do a better job of protecting their mid card champions going forward. (And congrats to Rusev for tying the knot with Lana. That’s one lucky guy).
7. Final Thought
Overall, I think it was a decent first week for the brand split. I say decent because it was a great one for RAW, but a lackluster one for Smackdown in my opinion. Of course, I don’t take away too much because it is, after all one week. Smackdown’s main event was a six-pack involving Corbin, Cena, Crews and Styles including a battle royal, so perhaps when the talent is more spread out in individual matches the shows will progressively get better. In addition, if the reports are true, more call-ups are expected in the fall with the likes of Bayley, Nakamura and Joe being up for grabs, and I should assume that at least two of them would head to Smackdown. As for RAW, all I can really say is continue to utilize the talent to the best of their abilities. They have the talent to fill a three hour show, and if they book storylines right, have good matches, I don’t see why RAW can’t be like it was last week every week from an entertainment stand point. If history has shown us anything, however, we know that WEW struggles to produce two great shows in a row. So let’s wish for a miracle. Oh, and one last thing. Um…..Universal Title? Did a 2nd grader come up with that name?
Well, those are my initial takeaways. Just bear in mind these may be deemed premature as things can change very quickly. What did you take away? Let me know. Until next time. Deuces.
