The Piledriver Report 07.10.09: RAW vs. SmackDown: The Proof is in the Main Events

WOW! I take two weeks off from the column, and all hell breaks loose. Edge gets injured, and is out of action for probably eight months. Donald Trump buys RAW, then sells it back to Vince a week later. The biggest shock wave during the two-week period had to be the three-brand trade. With SmackDown! being the best pro wrestling show on television today, I figured that the WWE would strip down the Friday night show, and load up RAW. Instead, ECW got fleeced of all its top talent; RAW received some nice pieces, but SmackDown! was strengthened even further then it already was.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RAW and SMACKDOWN!

While watching SmackDown!, I noticed that one of the biggest differences between the “A” brand and the “B” show is the main event title scene. On RAW, you have Triple H, John Cena, Randy Orton, the Big Show, Batista and Shawn Michaels (when they return) in the title picture. On SmackDown!, you have any number of wrestlers who can compete in the main events for the brand. CM Punk, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Jr., John Morrison, Chris Jericho, and the Undertaker (when he returns) can all fight for SmackDown’s top spot.

On SmackDown!, any of the seven wrestlers and pair them together in a match with each other, and you are filled with fresh match-ups. On RAW, it’s been there, done that. Just look at the past few RAWs and pay per views. On this past RAW, you had Triple H facing John Cena in a WrestleMania 23 rematch. During the Bash and RAW a few weeks ago, Triple H fought Randy Orton in a WrestleMania XXV rematch. In the Night of Champions pay per view, RAW’s WWE World title match will feature Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H in a WrestleMania XXIV rematch.

THE TRIPLE H EFFECT

It’s not just this year either. RAW has been filled with the same old main event workers for years. When the WWE created a second World title that would be exclusive to the RAW brand, Triple H was featured in every RAW World title match on pay per view from September 2002 until Bad Blood in June 2004. Despite not being in the World title match at Bad Blood, Triple H fought Shawn Michaels inside a Hell in a Cell in the main event. Even when he didn’t hold the title, Triple H still closed out the show. On the next RAW pay per view, Vengeance 2004, Triple H was back in the World title match. After facing Eugene in a mid-card match at Summer Slam 2004, Triple H solidified his spot in every RAW World title or main event match until Vengeance 2005 when he faced Batista. After being injured for a few months, Triple H came back in a mid-card match at Taboo Tuesday 2005. He stayed in upper mid-card feuds until he faced John Cena in the main event at WrestleMania 22. After fighting in a triple threat main event match, which included John Cena and Edge, at Backlash 2006, Triple H started to team with former DeGeneration X partner Shawn Michaels. He stayed in an upper-mid card tag team with Michaels until shortly before the Royal Rumble when he suffered an injury. Triple H would return at Summer Slam 2007 in an under-card match against Booker T. At No Mercy, with John Cena injured, Triple H was re-inserted back into the main event title picture. He wouldn’t stay there long, as he didn’t fight in another main event until the battle royal at the 2008 Royal Rumble. However, Triple H fought in the three-way match for the WWE World title at WrestleMania XXIV. After Mania XXIV, Triple H was back to having a top position in the World title scene. From WrestleMania XXIV until Backlash 2009, Triple H was either in a World title match, or in the top match for the brand that he fought for. After selling an injury through Judgment Day and Extreme Rules, Triple H was back in the World title hunt at the Bash pay per view two weeks ago.

CENA BECOMES TRIPLE H PART TWO

During the times that Triple H was not wrestling in title matches, or was fighting on the SmackDown! brand, RAW’s World title scene was being dominated by John Cena. Following John Cena’s first WWE World title victory at WrestleMania 21, Cena defended the title at Judgment Day before being drafted to RAW. Once he was drafted to RAW, Cena was involved in every WWE World title match from Vengeance 2005 until One Night Stand in June 2006. At Summer Slam 2006, John Cena was back fighting in World title matches (or RAW’s top match) on pay per views until October 2007, when Cena was injured shortly before No Mercy. John Cena would make his triumphant return at the 2008 Royal Rumble when he won the main event battle royal. He then wrestled in the WWE World title match at No Way Out, WrestleMania XXIV, and Backlash. After fighting Triple H at last year’s Night of Champions for the WWE title, Cena wrestled in upper mid-card matches until he suffered an injury. When he came back at the Survivor Series in 2008, he immediately won the World title from Chris Jericho. From that point on, Cena was involved in every RAW World title match until this year’s Backlash when he fought Edge.

SMACKDOWN CREATING STARS

When you look at the RAW title picture since the WWE introduced a second World title in 2002, at least one of the following were featured as the World champion in each RAW pay per view main event: Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, Edge, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, and Chris Benoit. Out of that list, only Shawn Michaels, Chris Benoit, CM Punk held the RAW title on only one occasion.

Where Triple H and John Cena dominated the World title picture on RAW, SmackDown! seemed to spread the wealth around. Instead of one of two wrestlers in each World title match, SmackDown! gave several performers a few month reign on the top of the card.

Brock Lesnar, the Big Show, Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, and JBL dominated their World title scene from September 2002 until John Cena’s WWE World title victory over JBL at WrestleMania 21. Of those five competitors, only three had multiple title reigns. Those wrestlers being Brock Lesnar, the Big Show, and Kurt Angle.

After Batista officially came over to SmackDown! in the Draft Lottery of 2005, wrestled in SmackDown’s top pay per view matches until he was injured in late December 2005. Kurt Angle was brought over from RAW where he held the World title from late December 2005 until WrestleMania 22, where he lost the title to Rey Mysterio, Jr. in a three-way that also involved Randy Orton. Despite holding the title for around five months, Mysterio was hardly the face of SmackDown! as he was booked as a second rate World Champion.

Booker T had a nice title reign as King Booker that lasted from the Great American Bash until the 2006 Survivor Series. He dropped the belt to Batista, who went on to hold the title for the next four months, until he lost a title vs. the streak match to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 23. Due to injury, the “deadman” would only hold the belt for a short period of time until he dropped the strap to Edge. Edge held the belt until after Vengeance when he had to relinquish the strap due to an injury. After a few months experiment with the Great Khali as champion, the SmackDown! title went back around the waist of Batista. When the Undertaker returned from his injury, he renewed his WrestleMania 23 rivalry with the World Champion Batista. Their feud lasted from Cyber Sunday until Armageddon, where he dropped the belt to Edge in a three-way match that featured the Undertaker.

The “Rated R Superstar” feuded with the Undertaker from Armageddon until 2008’s One Night Stand pay per view, with a mini-feud against Rey Mysterio, Jr. thrown in. Edge lost the belt to the Undertaker at WrestleMania XXIV, but regained the title back almost two months later. Following the Night of Champions, Edge dropped the World title to CM Punk on Monday night RAW.

SMACKDOWN BECOMES THE TRIPLE H SHOW

With Triple H now on SmackDown!, the Friday night show changed their formula from one where many performers get a shot in the title matches to one where Triple H in one of the competitors in every major SmackDown! World title match from the Great American Bash up until Armageddon 2009. After Edge dropped the SmackDown! title in an Elimination Chamber at No Way Out, Triple H was the WWE World champion again. Following the 2009 WWE Draft, Triple H brought the WWE belt back to RAW, and after Backlash pay per view, Edge brought the World title back to SmackDown!.

SMACKDOWN GETS BACK TO THE BASICS

Now that Triple H was back on RAW, the “A” show is centered around Triple H, Randy Orton, and John Cena. Meanwhile, over on SmackDown!, the draft has created that old SmackDown! magic. One of the keys to keeping wrestling interesting is to create new stars. The SmackDown! creative team is extremely successful at this formula. It’s one of the reasons why, over the next year, we will be entertained every Friday night with new and exciting rivalries. Meanwhile, three days later, we will be bored with the Triple H/John Cena/Randy Orton trifecta. RAW may be looked at as the “A” show by those inside the WWE. However, with a roster that includes Edge, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, the Undertaker, Jeff Hardy, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, Jr., Tyson Kidd, and Harry Smith, I’ll take the “B” show every day of the week.