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The winner? Not the fans.

Chairshots
7-12-02

Smackdown vs. Raw
Since Raw and Smackdown split rosters, I find myself enjoying Smackdown more than Raw on a consistent basis. One of the hopes for the split was that it would create a sense of good-natured competition between the two company factions. Raw has yet to step up to that challenge. Instead, it takes a weekly beating from Smackdown. Let's analyze the two shows:

Smackdown has The Rock and Hulk Hogan. There's no one like The Rock and there never will be. Rock can take a microphone and read the ingredients on a pack of cigarettes and make it entertaining. Hogan is doing his 20 year old routine and fans still eat it up. Raw has no one of that caliber. Steve Austin is gone. Ric Flair is given nothing to work with. Undertaker does the same promos on Raw that he does on Smackdown. For star power, Smackdown is a clear winner.

Smackdown has Bautista. Raw has Brock Lesnar. Both men are physically impressive but have been booked in radically different ways. Lesnar was pushed to the moon with wins over RVD, Ric Flair and the King of the Ring, but he has also been shown to have weaknesses. Rarely dominating a match, he spends a lot of time selling the moves of his opponents. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not the thing to do when you're trying to get across that the man is a "Goldberg-like" monster in the ring. Goldberg himself had matches that lasted under a minute during his rise in WCW.

Bautista, on the other hand, has been teamed with D-Von, who does all the work in the ring tagging in Bautista to hit a few devastating moves. It looks impressive and you get the feeling that there is so much more lurking behind that physique. For building the better heel monster, Smackdown has the edge.

Speaking of D-Von Dudley, Smackdown has him. With the split, D-Von took on the new gimmick of Reverend D-Von. While not always captivating, D-Von has added new life to his routine. Raw has the same old Bubba Ray Dudley. I predicted great things for Bubba when the split of the Dudley Boys happened but have been disappointed thus far.

But you can't totally ignore Raw's attempt to revitalize its old characters. Just look at Bradshaw, who has started wearing cowboy boots and carrying a cow bell to the ring. Yee haw! (Zzzzzzz). Winner: Smackdown.

Smackdown has Fit Finley! No real counter comparison for Raw since there is only one Fit Finley! For employing the Irish, Smackdown wins hands down.

On Smackdown, the mid-card wrestlers all have storylines. Jamie Knoble and Nidia have been living high on the hog with their redneck gimmick and have taken Tajiri along for the ride. Hurricane has been scorned by a former love. Christian, Test and Lance Storm have united under the Canadian banner. On Raw, William Regal is bursting into tears and being comforted by Chris Nowinski. Jackie Gayda, Trish and Bradshaw are fighting because...hmm…I really don't know why. I think it has to do with Bradshaw's hat. Smell the excitement! Winner for booking mid-card storylines: Smackdown.

Smackdown is really trying to elevate new stars. For example, Edge won the tag titles with Hulk Hogan. Next week he's rubbing elbows with Hulk Hogan and the Rock. On Raw, Jeff Hardy gets a world title shot one week and is wrestling William Regal for the European title the next.

Where Smackdown has a clear roster hierarchy, Raw seems to want to bring everyone to the same mid-card level. The NWO has no main event wrestlers. Booker T has been saddled with "Captain Comedy" Goldust. Rob Van Dam is locked in a feud with "Paul has to talk for me" Brock Lesnar. Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit are feuding with Dudley Boys 2002 instead of Steve Austin. Former ECE champ Tommy Dreamer has 2 minutes of interesting mic work before getting squashed by Brock Lesnar. Stop me if you've heard this; the winner is Smackdown!

Smackdown has new talent like John Cena and Randy Orton that spent years in the minors training. Raw has Tough Enough contestants Jackie and Chris who still reek of that new wrestler smell. Winner: Smackdown.

The roster split was done so that all the wrestlers on the WWE's mammoth roster could grab a piece of the spotlight. I think it's time to end the roster split and tell Mark Henry that he has no right to that spotlight. The WWE isn't going to be able to market two brands in this economy. It's time to chalk the roster split up to experience and end it. The WWE needs The Rock on every show it can put him on.

Ratings
Raw's rating was up slightly this week to 3.7 while Smackdown stayed even at 3.3. The WWE must be disappointed by the lack of rating pop for The Rock's return. Maybe it's time to fold the company and we can all go watch the exciting new Slam Blam on the new TNN!

Goldbergstrodamus
I'll leave you with this comment from Goldberg made on a Houston radio show Wednesday night. When asked if Goldberg's fans would see him back in the wrestling ring in the next six months, Goldberg responded, "I will be back in the ring within 2002." Later he predicted a George Bush Assassination attempt in 2003 and a rocky year ahead for the Brad Pitt/Jennifer Aniston marriage.

I'll be back on Tuesday…or will I? (Dramatic music)

Michael Goodson