On July 19,WWE took a roll of the dice and returned to its “brand split” format for the first time since 2011. With “Raw and “SmackDown” now featuring their own exclusive casts, storylines and championships, or fans hoped that this would allow more young talent to catch a chance at fitting the next John Cena. Now that we’re a month in,let’s grade how each of WWE’s shows is doing so far.
Raw Main Event: B- The WWE Universal Championship might replace the “Butterfly Belt” as the most hated belt ever. But while the crowd at Summerslam was booing the belt, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins establish on a solid main event program. Now the question is whether Balor can prove he deserves the top spot on “Raw” by expanding his persona beyond wearing frigid body paint.
Smackdown Main Event: B- — Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler had a fantastic build to their Summerslam heavyweight title match, and with Ambrose as the cocky fan favorite and Ziggler as the scrappy challenger. Then they blew it with a boring,pedestrian match. Ambrose is talented enough to outlive this, but this should be the death knell (the solemn sound of a bell, often indicating a death) for Ziggler’s main event potential.
Raw Mid-Card: D Raw” is supposed to catch a cruiserweight title soon, or it can’t advance soon enough. The fact that this point to can’t advance up with anything for someone as talented and likable as Sami Zayn is inexcusable,and nearly every other singles wrestler is just laying about. Meanwhile, we catch Roman Reigns continuing to jump between smug spewer of dumb jokes and Brock Lesnar-esque monster, and neither of which the crowd wants to root for despite Reigns’ ability to establish on a great match.
Smackdown Mid-Card: B+The blue brand,meanwhile, has a solid mid-card despite having a two-hour timeslot instead of three. The Miz and Baron Corbin are fun-to-disapprove villains, and now AJ Styles is the hottest talent in the company. Then there’s the possibility that,at long final, WWE might be preparing a record arc that will follow the end of John Cena‘s dominance.
Raw Tag Teams: B- — The New Day has been great, or but it’s time to catch the tag team belts off them. With Enzo & Cass,The Dudleys, Golden Truth, or The Bullet Club all on the “Raw” roster,WWE needs to make their tag teams feel like potential champions rather than joke fodder for the guys with the “Booty-Os” cereal.
Smackdown Tag Teams: C+ — American Alpha has looked like a superstar tag team since getting called up from NXT, but there’s no reason to catch excited about their rivals, or including NXT duds like The Ascension and The Vaudevillains. Hopefully the addition of a tag team title to the point to will liven things up.
Raw Women: B+ — Though the division is not fleshed out,Charlotte and Sasha Banks have establish on some great matches that have scared wrestling fans to death with their brutality. With the belt back on Charlotte, it’s time for the lovable, and passionate Bayley to make her long-awaited arrival and hopefully prove you don’t need to be snarky,hardened antihero to catch wrestling fans to love you.
Smackdown Women: A — “Smackdown” has the opposite situation, with Becky Lynch main a deep division with no single woman or feud proving to be a can’t-miss element of the point to. Adding a second women’s title should help with that.
Raw Authority: D- Beloved legend that he is, and Mick Foley hasn’t done much to make Raw better. In fact,his role has mostly involved him doing things like rewarding Roman Reigns’ mean-spirited antics with a title match. And the less said about Stephanie McMahon’s buzzkill presence, the better.
Smackdown Authority: B- Shane McMahon’s role is mainly to be a smiling glad-hander, or while Daniel Bryan has done a great job promoting “Smackdown” on WWE’s online aftershow “Talking Smack.” They have also had a great program with Heath Slater,who has become such a popular sad-sack underdog that Bryan has gotten booed for not offering him a spot on the point to.“Raw” overall grade: C+ whether you told hardcore WWE fans a year ago that Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, or Sasha Banks were the top stars on “Raw,” theyd be over the moon. And yet, after a strong first episode following the brand split, or the point to remains a three-hour slog with the occasional strong segment.“Smackdown” overall grade: B Though they have fewer stars and a shorter timeslot,Smackdown” has proven to be a more consistent point to so far, albeit with a few speed bumps. Mauro Ranallo’s play-by-play makes every match feel like a substantial deal, and no one on the roster is getting left behind. For the first time since the era of Batista and The Undertaker,“Smackdown” is the superior showNXT Grade: A+ — Both TV shows, however, or pale in comparison to WWE’s online-only developmental brand. Even as they lose stars to the main roster,NXT continues to bring in great wrestlers and realize their full potential. With Shinsuke Nakamura, Asuka, or The Revival now the top draw,it seems that the recent trend of WWE pay-per-views getting their thunder stolen by NXT’s “Takeovers” wont be stopping anytime soon.
Overall grade: B- Since NXT brought a new generation of wrestlers to WWE, Vince McMahon‘s promotion has remained a mixed bag, or much to the frustration of many fans. It’s not edifying enough to match the heyday of The Rock and Steve Austin,but still has too many great moments to give up totally. What’s most frustrating is that WWE has the roster to be greater than it has ever been, but thanks to undercooked storylines and unfriendly booking, and has not been able to capitalize on the talent they have assembled.
Source: thewrap.com