Bleacher report: Smackdown women division better than RAW?

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Kimawolf

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http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2693507?iid=ob_article_organicsidebar_expansion

To the naked eye, it may appear as though WWE's Raw brand has a superior women's division to its less-celebrated SmackDown Live rival.
Stars such as Sasha Banks and Charlotte, whom the promotion has fiercely pushed to the forefront through historic matches like the first female Hell in a Cell, would seemingly solidify the Monday night staple's argument for the superior division.

Factor in the presence of wildly popular underdog Bayley and unstoppable force Nia Jax, and you have the core of one of the best women's rosters that fans have seen since the height of Trish Stratus and Lita's popularity in the 2000s. Yet, eight months into the brand extension, it is impossible not to recognize just how thoroughly SmackDown Live's division has outclassed, outshined and outproduced its red-brand counterpart.


So much energy is put into rewarding itself for its evolutionary stance on women's wrestling that the Raw brand has forgotten to properly develop its female stars.

SmackDown, on the other hand, has taken the female talent it has at its disposal and crafted characters out of them that allow fans to invest in each one individually.

It also talks about how RAW still treats its women's division as a side show and only features them generally in 1 or two segments at BEST whereas Smackdown integrates them seamlessly into their show and PPVs without constantly harping on the fact its a women's match, which is super true. Raw has 3 hours and you may get one or two segments out of the women, Smackdown on the other hand, the women routinely are featured in matches AND segments all throughout the night.
 
The Raw division has more talent but the SD division is used far far better and that puts them over the top for me.

Yep, not only that, but because they're being used better, they're actually improving.

Look at Alexa's promo skills for example, she just gets better and better because they give her a chance.

They can only rely on Charlotte for so long.
 
SmackDown's Women Division: Nikki Bella vs Natalya, Naomi vs Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch vs Mickie James, frequent appearances from Carmella and Maryse

Raw's Women Division: The Charlotte & Friends Show

Keep in mind, Raw is an entire hour longer than SmackDown and its roster of women is fucking anemic.
 
Raw has had the better title matches more often than not. The problem is the only real story for the division on Raw is entwined in the title picture where on Smackdown the matches are mostly not as good unless Becky or Mickie James are in them. However on Smackdown they have three different stories. I think it's up to what you value most good matches or WWE stories. I'd take the good matches.
 
Everyone is better utilized on Smackdown minus the tag division which is funny considering one of the people in charge of Smackdown's creative made his career from being a tag guy. It's pretty ridiculous that Raw struggles to do more than one story line at a time with the women's roster, there's times when they can do two but it feels like a "give them something to do" sort of afterthought. Smackdown has had almost if not every active woman wrestler on the roster engaged in some storyline.
 
Charlotte's dominance has killed a lot of the interest in Raw's women's division. You know nothing matters because the belt is always going to go back to her until this "win streak" thing is over. Until then, ppppbbbbtbtbt.

I couldn't even get excited about Bayley's win because guess what? Charlotte's getting it back at Fast Lane.
 
Of course it is, Ryan Ward is head writer for Smackdown.
Apparently he isn't any more and Brian James is now. But it's been awhile since I've seen an update if that change was actually made. I'd also argue if he's in charge none of the stories are on par with the NXT women's division stuff.
 
Apparently he isn't any more and Brian James is now. But it's been awhile since I've seen an update if that change was actually made. I'd also argue if he's in charge none of the stories are on par with the NXT women's division stuff.
I want to say that was disproven? I believe he still holds that head spot
 
aside from Naomi being champ and Nikki still being on the roster it's easily the better division. I still think Charlotte is one of the top heels in the company but the booking and writing on RAW is a mess. They wasted Sasha and they already bungled Bayley. Don't even get me started on Nia Jax and the Emmalina nonsense.
 
The focus on Charlotte has killed RAW's womens division.

She is a good performer but she has been the center of every fucking thing

It's a reflection of how Vince books things these days.

Raw (the show Vince is more directly responsible for) = Everything revolves around one person. Back in the day everything was Cena. Now the Raw women's division is everything revolves around Charlotte. Also, Roman Reigns.

Smackdown (the show Vince is slightly less involved with) = Feels like the focus shifts from star to star and nobody truly feels like an overbearing center of attention.
 
aside from Naomi being champ and Nikki still being on the roster it's easily the better division. I still think Charlotte is one of the top heels in the company but the booking and writing on RAW is a mess. They wasted Sasha and they already bungled Bayley. Don't even get me started on Nia Jax and the Emmalina nonsense.
Sasha who was once the main antagonist on NXT was just a plot device to make Charlotte strong, only on PPV, because she's free on Raw ;_;
 
Apparently he isn't any more and Brian James is now. But it's been awhile since I've seen an update if that change was actually made. I'd also argue if he's in charge none of the stories are on par with the NXT women's division stuff.

No, still Ryan Ward. Road Dogg got an in-name promotion, but Ward is still head writer. They have been working together long before bg's promotion too.

And of course nothing's up to the same standard as his NXT, it's Vince McMahon calling the shots. He had much freer reign when he wrote NXT. Plus NXT was taped in bulk, so it's a lot easier to write consistent storylines (although on the other hand it's a lot harder to salvage a dying angle).
 
Charlotte Flair: April 3,2016 – July 25, 2016

Sasha Banks: July 25, 2016 – Aug 21, 2016

Charlotte Flair: August 21,2016 – Oct 3, 2016

Sasha Banks: October 3, 2016 – Oct 30, 2016

Charlotte Flair: October 30, 2016 – November 28, 2016

Sasha Banks: November 28, 2016 – December 18, 2016

Charlotte Flair December 18, 2016 – February 13, 2017

Bayley: February 13, 2017 – Present
 
Becky Lynch is one of my favorite women on the roster and she's straight up one of the most credible babyfaces they have, but Charlotte is still GOAT status.
 
Charlotte Flair: April 3,2016 – July 25, 2016

Sasha Banks: July 25, 2016 – Aug 21, 2016

Charlotte Flair: August 21,2016 – Oct 3, 2016

Sasha Banks: October 3, 2016 – Oct 30, 2016

Charlotte Flair: October 30, 2016 – November 28, 2016

Sasha Banks: November 28, 2016 – December 18, 2016

Charlotte Flair December 18, 2016 – February 13, 2017

Bayley: February 13, 2017 – Present

you mean February 13, 2017 – March 5, 2017
 
Raw puts on the better matches (at least when Sasha and Charlotte are involved) but Smackdown has far better writing, booking, and utilisation of the entire division rather than 2-3 women dominating the spotlight and everyone else vanishing for weeks on end.

Both divisions, despite their faults, are magnitudes better than the Diva era (when the likes of Kelly Kelly were winning 30-second matches with roll ups) and even the nostalgia-tinted "Golden Era" of Trish, Lita et al.
 
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As if there's any debate to be had.
 
I remember a lot more Raw women's matches than Smackdown women's matches. Smackdown undoubtedly uses their roster better. Charlotte is probably better than anyone on Smackdown currently though.
 
Charlotte is definitely the cream of the crop talent wise but the angle they are doing on RAW where she loses basically every match on TV but wins the title back at every PPV is so fucking stupid it loses by default.
 
Charlotte Flair: April 3,2016 – July 25, 2016

Sasha Banks: July 25, 2016 – Aug 21, 2016

Charlotte Flair: August 21,2016 – Oct 3, 2016

Sasha Banks: October 3, 2016 – Oct 30, 2016

Charlotte Flair: October 30, 2016 – November 28, 2016

Sasha Banks: November 28, 2016 – December 18, 2016

Charlotte Flair December 18, 2016 – February 13, 2017

Bayley: February 13, 2017 – Present
But I tought you didn't watch wrestling anymore
 
I mean, yes?

Everything is better on Smackdown. Unlike Raw, they hit much more than they miss.

Smackdown's women's division is significantly better, even considering that their top heel is overrated.
 
When I used to watch wrestling, and years ago when they had the first brand split. SmackDown was always the better show. Browsing through this thread it's funny how when they do it again, according to a lot of people. SD still ends up being the better show. They never learn lol
 
When I used to watch wrestling, and years ago when they had the first brand split. SmackDown was always the better show. Browsing through this thread it's funny how when they do it again, according to a lot of people. SD still ends up being the better show. They never learn lol

While vince is still booking both shows it certainly feels like he is much more willing to defer to his writers on smackdown than raw. Raw literally feels like vince is micro managing every second of every shot (which he probably is) while on smackdown it feels like a lot of it is the writers coming up with stuff, vince reads it in passing and thumbs up out with very few editorial changes except when it deals with specific people.

The irony is that vince is probably micro managing both shows at this time and that he's still perfectly capable of giving us great television, but he can't see the forest for the trees with raw.

Edit:and if mickey James would speed her cadence up a little bit, she would be one of the top promos on either show. The slower delivery betrays the script when her delivery in general is fantastic but her cadence really needs sped up a little
 
I don't get this Charlotte love. Do people miss the part where she almost always does some clumsy thing that nearly kills her opponents once a match? She's great for other reasons but I don't think she's some sort of perfect 5 tool player of a performer.

I also don't buy Smackdown being outright better than Raw. But I'm not a fan of Bray, and I'm not looking forward to him vs Randy. It happened already it was boring a title added won't change that. JERIKO, Samoa Joe, even the way they go about Goldberg and Lesnar has me more interested right now. Honestly I only like Aj as an act over on Smackdown and now that's he's all done with Cena I wish I could see him in big matches with Raw guys moreso than any more matches with Smackdown guys let alone Shane.
 
Raw has the better matches, but Smackdown's women's storylines are far superior.

Smackdown is also just oddly very bad with the tag division. The story is 'AA are so strong no one can beat them, now they're being challenged by that team they beat clean just last Sunday'.

I don't get this Charlotte love. Do people miss the part where she almost always does some clumsy thing that nearly kills her opponents once a match? She's great for other reasons but I don't think she's some sort of perfect 5 tool player of a performer.
The last time I remember anything like this was Summerslam where she dropped Sasha. Other then that, what else has she done to nearly kill her opponents?
 
Raw has the better matches, but Smackdown's women's storylines are far superior.

Smackdown is also just oddly very bad with the tag division. The story is 'AA are so strong no one can beat them, now they're being challenged by that team they beat clean just last Sunday'.


The last time I remember anything like this was Summerslam where she dropped Sasha. Other then that, what else has she done to nearly kill her opponents?
The schoolboy on Bayley in which her neck snapped onto the bottom turnbuckle followed by a moonsault onto her neck and shoulder. The hell in a cell match had some rough spots. Any time in general she does a moonsault in which people much much smaller than her serve as a base. Don't get me wrong I love the matches but Sasha Bayley matches, Sasha Becky didn't scare me. Charlotte anyone in a big match has scared me.
 
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