The Good
For Raw, the opening segment and match between Elias, Jinder Mahal, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns was all great stuff. Elias always knows how to get the crowd riled up and he did that to start the show off and say that he will beat Seth Rollins at Money in the Bank. Then, Rollins came out and started a brawl which led to the tag match between the four competitors. The match was great and it led to a shock ending as Elias pinned Rollins. Overall, these two rivalries are the only matches that Raw is putting in the proper buildup for.
For Smackdown, the contract signing between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura was a great segment to help build up for this match. Unlike most contract signings, this one was backstage, which I am a fan of because it helped build the tension between these two. WWE has been lacking on giving the WWE Championship matches that “big match” feel recently, but they redeemed themselves here with this segment. With this match finally getting the proper buildup it deserves, this match now feels like a big deal.
The Bad
For Raw, the six women tag match between the Riot Squad and Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, and Alexa Bliss was really senseless. For starters, it makes no sense for Alexa Bliss to team up with Moon and Banks since they both have had problems with her. Along with that, Bliss left the match early with an “injury” so Bayley just decides to show up and win the match for them. Thankfully, Baron Corbin, who is now an associate of the Authority, made the referee overturn the decision, which angered Banks and Moon towards Bayley. The Bayley-Banks storyline has so many holes now that people have stopped really caring about it now.
For Smackdown, the tag team championship rivalry could’ve gotten more time this week. They had a singles match between Luke Harper and Karl Anderson and the match was only about three minutes long. Even though it got the point across that Anderson and Gallows could win at Money in the Bank, more than just three minutes would’ve helped make Anderson beating Harper feel like more of an upset.
The Final Verdict
Smackdown Live has recently been on a roll with their shows. They are putting in the time to build up each one of the rivalries they have going into the PPV and doing a good job at it as well. While Raw on the other hand, has lots of flaws in some of their buildup towards the PPV. A great example of this is Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax. Last week, Jax bullies a jobber and then this week she fights Natalya and hurts her and now is sympathetic towards her? Due to improper buildup from Raw, Smackdown had the better show again this week. In conclusion, Smackdown is doing the right things to build up the PPV, while it feels like Raw is just going with the flow and not putting in the proper storytelling to build up their matches.
