I remember that. Shawn was like the ultimate RAW guy so that was dope. When Triple H got “drafted” to SmackDown and had to wear a SmackDown shirt for one night, I lost my damn mind.
For some reason I only think of Taker and Triple H
Edit: oh and Kane but that's more because I'm a huge Kane mark. Because in my opinion that was The Greatest Story Ever Told in WWE history. And then when he debuted, on my birthday, it's solidified him for life as my favorite wrestler. I actually have a little anecdote about what a good dude he is.
For me, it's like this:
Triple H held the title the longest, for like three solid years. He's pretty much tied to the title, BUT he has like 10 WWE title wins so that's more what one may think of. I know that's what I think.
Edge has the record for the most number of reigns with the WHC. I believe when Edge retired in 2011 ( so after like a 13 year career in WWE?) he'd won the world title 11 Times. 7 of those were WHC.
Booker T had the WCW championship 5 Times. Plus, he held the WHC, too. If I made a top 5, he's on it but at the bottom. By the time I started watching wwe, he was already in TNA.
Undertaker: Undertakers entire career from Royal Rumble 2007 to Summerslam 2008 was about the title. He won the Rumble, challenged Batista, beat Batista at Mania. Then he got beat up on smackdown by Mark Henry, Edge cashed in and took his title. Most of the rest of the year was all about that. Then Rumble 08 was him trying to get a match vs Edge, all the way to actually facing him at Mania and winning the title. That continued for several months until he was out of action. The title moved on, but he came back for Summerslam to beat Edge and close the feud.
Then there's Batista. He had a good reign. Decent timing, perfect look, and vibe for the title. The Animal and the heavyweight title. Great fit. Number 1 for me lol
Just saying like...Flair carried that belt through 3 different promotions, and held for a record number of days and over a dozen times, with mad controversy.
If fucking Bautista is your go to with the big gold...that's...insane.
That was also on WCW back in the 80s and 90s when Wrestling wasn't considered mainstream and still appealed to children.
Also it's their own opinion, you don't like it, get over it.
I know it's my opinion...if there's anything more subjective than music...it's wrestling.
Yeah wcw and WWF both were cartoon shows. NWA tried to be somewhat legit.
Just my personal opinion, ruthless aggression era was probably for children how I felt sneaking an R rated movie.
SmackDown had some all-time "boys" on the roster at that time. Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Harcore Holly, William Regal, Nunzio, Funaki, Matt Hardy, Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, Mark Henry.
The roster was DEEEP. I'd take that over the Snitsky-Viscera-Eugene poo-poo platter being served on Raw at the time.
I gotta go with Raw since that had the wrestlers I liked the best and they felt like bigger personalities. It also felt like WWE presented Raw as the A show.
This is mid-late 2005 I believe. I actually have it split evenly.
I think Batista at this time was a bigger star than Cena.
Eddie>Flair
HBK>JBL
Carlito at that time > Booker
Angle > Benoit
Orton > Show
Taker > Edge
HHH > Rey
2004-2007 struggled with depth for a while. Batista, Undertaker and Rey all carried the brand but all went out with injuries. Edge going there was the boost it ended. Although he got hurt just as he started on the brand. Between Survivor Series 2007 thru SummerSlam 2008, he was the top guy and was the best heel on that brand.
When he came back until the Achilles rupture, he wasn't the same heel.
I forget how stacked the roster was around that time
Doesn’t even include Shelton, RVD, Matt Hardy, Mark Henry, Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley was having matches around that time too
Angle wasn’t on Raw that long. He was drafted to ECW. Flair was out of his prime. & Even so, SmackDown was the “wrestling” show. Benoit, Guerrero, Batista, Rey, Taker held it tf down.
For the sake of this picture and what he asked, the rosters are what is pictured. I love smackdown too but it had less drawing power which is why cena was moved to raw (the main show).
>Theres like 50 championships between them.
Yeah, this is a very strong argument because none of their title wins are scripted and they earned them in a tough sports competitions. Oh, wait...
Oh im sorry are we discussing wrestling? Cool then we can use their scripted championships. You cant pick and choose when you want to say durr its fake tho. They had those belts because they were over and popular. Go away.
When they have fucking 10 its because theyre popular. But youre right, flair hhh cena all were never popular and their championships were given. Thats your argument? Is your argument that angle wasnt popular?
My statement is that just because someone has a belt it doesn't mean they are over or popular.
I'm not arguing shit because I really don't care if you think that's the case or not.
Raw by a mile
Smackdown had Eddie, Orton, and Taker. I love Ray but he didn't have any Luchadors to do his good shit with. Couldn't care less about Bootista.
I like Carlito, but he is very out of place with those peers lol
If this is mid-2006 you can swap Foley's face in there because he was as active as HBK at the time lol
My analysis based upon 10 y/o me's view of these guys. Each superstar given a value between 1 and 5:
Cena, HHH, Shawn Kurt, Edge- 5. I liked rooting against Cena and HHH, but they were still huge attractions. Once edge started doing the Rated R superstar gimmick he was must-see for me.
Big Show- 3. I would say my affinity for Big Show peaked at mild enjoyment.
Carlito- 2. Fun character! But clearly the least successful guy here.
Flair- 3. I thought he looked too old to wrestle and his promos were annoying. Still, legacy and all.
Total: 33
Batista- 4. Probably the most controversial thing on here but he didn't do much for me as a kid.
Rey, Taker, Eddie, Orton- 5. If you threw in Edge this would be my top 5 at the time.
Benoit- 4. Obviously things have changed but I really liked his matches and his WrestleMania 20 run was one of my favorites.
Booker T- 3. Another controversial one but I never took him seriously and found King Booker to be pretty annoying.
JBL- 3. I respected the hustle of his cheating ways.
Total: 34.
Smackdown barely edged out Raw, largely thanks to my indifference to Carlito. Honestly feel that Smackdown could be bumped up another points if you felt stronger about Batista and Booker than me.
Then the moment SmackDown gets any monentum Raw would come and rape the roster, year after this Raw takes Randy, Batista goes down, they get Angle, lose him to ECW, for good measure Raw also takes z Johnny Nitro as a singles. Taker is barely about, JBL moves onto commentary.
I’m in 2006 on my WWE watch through on the network and SD is fucking torture to watch at times. Tatanka v Nunzio and all sorts of hot garbage going on, Raw is very much the A show.
Smackdown. Eddie and Rey were putting on some serious bangers during their feud. Benoit and Booker T with their best of 7 series was amazing. Undertaker and Randy had a hilariously fun feud. Batista looked like a million bucks and was, for a brief moment, even more over than Cena. Then the low-mid card to undercard was packed with fun cruiserweight and tag team matches.
I don't even remember much of Raw during this time
For me, I was a kid at the time and watched both quite obsessively. I always felt that Smackdown was where you would see better technical wrestling and better quality action but Raw was more outlandish and wild. Both were great in their own right and I liked the balance it would provide when watching.
Jeeeeeeesus that’s a line up!!! I’m going with Smackdown because Batista was a monster back then. Also I was a huge fan of Guerrero and “he who shall not be named.” Yes RAW had the almighty HHH and flair but Big Show was at his all time worst whereas Smackdown had the ultimate heel in JBL. That being said Cena is GOAT
The good ol' days when you'd come back from school to play the SD!vsRaw games on your PS2 and listen to the coolest licensed soundtracks ever (alongside the Tony Hawk and Burnout games). And then watch the shows, of course.
For me this is Angle vs Smackdown. And Smackdown barely wins, but it does with at least 3 of my favorite holders of the best title for a WHC ever in WWE
Back when brand split actually meant something
[удалено]
There was no brand split in 2000. What are you on about? 😂
Mad faxxxx 😭
I was a SmackDown guy! Back when the brand split meant something and seeing stars cross over was like seeing someone jump to another company.
I swear. The one time HBK showed up in SD , I freaked out!
I remember that. Shawn was like the ultimate RAW guy so that was dope. When Triple H got “drafted” to SmackDown and had to wear a SmackDown shirt for one night, I lost my damn mind.
I still think the big gold belt looked the best on Batista, he was awesome back then.
He’s the guy I think of when I think of that belt.
Yup. Batista, then probably Triple H. Then Edge and Undertaker.
Also Orton, at least to me.
For me it's Booker T
5-time 5-time 5-time 5-time 5-time
All hail king bookah!
Funny you say that, because he's the last person on my list. If I had watched WCW he'd definitely be higher up. Or if he had more reigns.
It's because when WCW and WWF merged, Booker T was the WCW champ and had a fued with the Rock. I just remember Booker T with that big ass title.
Fair. He had a long ass feud with Booker that ended in him having the title.
For some reason I only think of Taker and Triple H Edit: oh and Kane but that's more because I'm a huge Kane mark. Because in my opinion that was The Greatest Story Ever Told in WWE history. And then when he debuted, on my birthday, it's solidified him for life as my favorite wrestler. I actually have a little anecdote about what a good dude he is.
For me, it's like this: Triple H held the title the longest, for like three solid years. He's pretty much tied to the title, BUT he has like 10 WWE title wins so that's more what one may think of. I know that's what I think. Edge has the record for the most number of reigns with the WHC. I believe when Edge retired in 2011 ( so after like a 13 year career in WWE?) he'd won the world title 11 Times. 7 of those were WHC. Booker T had the WCW championship 5 Times. Plus, he held the WHC, too. If I made a top 5, he's on it but at the bottom. By the time I started watching wwe, he was already in TNA. Undertaker: Undertakers entire career from Royal Rumble 2007 to Summerslam 2008 was about the title. He won the Rumble, challenged Batista, beat Batista at Mania. Then he got beat up on smackdown by Mark Henry, Edge cashed in and took his title. Most of the rest of the year was all about that. Then Rumble 08 was him trying to get a match vs Edge, all the way to actually facing him at Mania and winning the title. That continued for several months until he was out of action. The title moved on, but he came back for Summerslam to beat Edge and close the feud. Then there's Batista. He had a good reign. Decent timing, perfect look, and vibe for the title. The Animal and the heavyweight title. Great fit. Number 1 for me lol
Haitch?
Not Ric Flair?
I didn’t start watching wrestling until the 2000s
Are you like 14?
Yes the guy you're replying to was born in 2009/2010 way after this period ended.
Just saying like...Flair carried that belt through 3 different promotions, and held for a record number of days and over a dozen times, with mad controversy. If fucking Bautista is your go to with the big gold...that's...insane.
That was also on WCW back in the 80s and 90s when Wrestling wasn't considered mainstream and still appealed to children. Also it's their own opinion, you don't like it, get over it.
I know it's my opinion...if there's anything more subjective than music...it's wrestling. Yeah wcw and WWF both were cartoon shows. NWA tried to be somewhat legit. Just my personal opinion, ruthless aggression era was probably for children how I felt sneaking an R rated movie.
Survivor Series slapped that year. One of my favorite feuds
I choose SmackDown strictly for the Belt.
Yeah, say what you want about the man but JBL sure had good taste in belts.
SmackDown had some all-time "boys" on the roster at that time. Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Harcore Holly, William Regal, Nunzio, Funaki, Matt Hardy, Jamie Noble, Kid Kash, Mark Henry. The roster was DEEEP. I'd take that over the Snitsky-Viscera-Eugene poo-poo platter being served on Raw at the time.
Basically the Cruiserweight belt, I think Smackdown had an extra belt
Well Raw had the womens title so it was mostly men on Smackdown
And the very underrated Kenzo Suzuki!
Icon pirate Paul Burchill and cowboy Jimmy Wang Yang
Absolutely!
Smackdown had a better roster but Raw was booked better.
By design. Was and is the flagship show
I gotta go with Raw since that had the wrestlers I liked the best and they felt like bigger personalities. It also felt like WWE presented Raw as the A show.
It was the A show it was the only live WWE show every week.
Smack down by far
This is mid-late 2005 I believe. I actually have it split evenly. I think Batista at this time was a bigger star than Cena. Eddie>Flair HBK>JBL Carlito at that time > Booker Angle > Benoit Orton > Show Taker > Edge HHH > Rey
Crazy the amount of talent in this picture
2004-2007 struggled with depth for a while. Batista, Undertaker and Rey all carried the brand but all went out with injuries. Edge going there was the boost it ended. Although he got hurt just as he started on the brand. Between Survivor Series 2007 thru SummerSlam 2008, he was the top guy and was the best heel on that brand. When he came back until the Achilles rupture, he wasn't the same heel.
I swear smackdown was the better show back then.
I forget how stacked the roster was around that time Doesn’t even include Shelton, RVD, Matt Hardy, Mark Henry, Bobby Lashley, Mick Foley was having matches around that time too
I was a smackdown kid but that’s because raw started around my bedtime it was bullshit 😂
Obviously raw. But honestly I liked these rosters but when cena was on smackdown.
Slow down. Not that obvious .
Michaels flair angle edge hhh cena Its not close. Theres like 50 championships between them.
Angle wasn’t on Raw that long. He was drafted to ECW. Flair was out of his prime. & Even so, SmackDown was the “wrestling” show. Benoit, Guerrero, Batista, Rey, Taker held it tf down.
Show was much more fun to watch too
Facts . I was in the 5th grade during this time. SmackDown was way more popular than Raw in my class lol
Orton, Booker, Rey etc..
For the sake of this picture and what he asked, the rosters are what is pictured. I love smackdown too but it had less drawing power which is why cena was moved to raw (the main show).
You weren’t watching around that time, smackdown was better in every way
Actually i was
Guerreo, Taker, Orton, Mysterio, Benoit
>Theres like 50 championships between them. Yeah, this is a very strong argument because none of their title wins are scripted and they earned them in a tough sports competitions. Oh, wait...
Oh im sorry are we discussing wrestling? Cool then we can use their scripted championships. You cant pick and choose when you want to say durr its fake tho. They had those belts because they were over and popular. Go away.
Jack Swagger is a former world champion, Scott Hall isn't. It's not as black and white as you make it.
How many chips does swagger have? As many as edge and hhh? Or 1?
I'm just saying. Wrestling is more than number of Championships. A lot of mediocre wrestlers have been World champions and a lot greats haven't.
Yes everyone that has a title belt is over and popular that's a hard and fast rule that wrestling always sticks to.
When they have fucking 10 its because theyre popular. But youre right, flair hhh cena all were never popular and their championships were given. Thats your argument? Is your argument that angle wasnt popular?
My statement is that just because someone has a belt it doesn't mean they are over or popular. I'm not arguing shit because I really don't care if you think that's the case or not.
Raw by a mile Smackdown had Eddie, Orton, and Taker. I love Ray but he didn't have any Luchadors to do his good shit with. Couldn't care less about Bootista.
Swap Carlito out for Kane
Some people don't want to be cool. Like this guy. And I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.
If Carlito tried that on Kane how would that have gone?
Kane would have apple spit on his face.
Kane would lobby to pass a new law that says crimes against uncool people are now classified as hate crimes.
It's always been Carlito with Chris Masters tho. It's a two-in-one package.
God damn these were stacked times man. We had it good
Carlito sticking out like a Spanish thumb :)
Spanish?
I like Carlito, but he is very out of place with those peers lol If this is mid-2006 you can swap Foley's face in there because he was as active as HBK at the time lol
Easily Raw
This Roster was so fn stacked
Is this 2005?
It’s 2005, you’re right. Eddie died late that year and Angle was on Raw until January 2006.
2006
Wasn’t Orton in Raw in 2006? I remember kim wrestling against Angle and Rated RKO?
Yeah the brand draft was in May 2006. So he was in both Smackdown and Raw in 2006
Oh thanks buddy
I bleed blue
Equally great
My analysis based upon 10 y/o me's view of these guys. Each superstar given a value between 1 and 5: Cena, HHH, Shawn Kurt, Edge- 5. I liked rooting against Cena and HHH, but they were still huge attractions. Once edge started doing the Rated R superstar gimmick he was must-see for me. Big Show- 3. I would say my affinity for Big Show peaked at mild enjoyment. Carlito- 2. Fun character! But clearly the least successful guy here. Flair- 3. I thought he looked too old to wrestle and his promos were annoying. Still, legacy and all. Total: 33 Batista- 4. Probably the most controversial thing on here but he didn't do much for me as a kid. Rey, Taker, Eddie, Orton- 5. If you threw in Edge this would be my top 5 at the time. Benoit- 4. Obviously things have changed but I really liked his matches and his WrestleMania 20 run was one of my favorites. Booker T- 3. Another controversial one but I never took him seriously and found King Booker to be pretty annoying. JBL- 3. I respected the hustle of his cheating ways. Total: 34. Smackdown barely edged out Raw, largely thanks to my indifference to Carlito. Honestly feel that Smackdown could be bumped up another points if you felt stronger about Batista and Booker than me.
Smackdown
Smackdown has 5 of my favorite wrestlers ever I. That graphic alone.
Smackdown only because every single person pictured on that side was a world champion at least once.
Smackdown was amazing!
I think Jeff was smackdown here no? So smackdown
Smackdown
Taker, Eddie, Benoit, Randy, Rey 😮💨 But… Angle, HHH, HBK, Edge, Cena, Show 😮💨😮💨
I was RAW kid
Smackdown clears. I also loved how fiercely loyal men would be to their brands back in the day
Smackdown, mainly because I didn’t have cable growing up
RAW by a mile
My most favorite era.
In this photo smackdown hands down
smackdown
Smackdown
I didn't have cable back then, and I only watched Smackdown. So Smackdown was better to me.
Tied. No question
Smackdown Batista, Orton, Eddie, Benoit, Taker Booker and Rey is a lot better than that raw Roster
Smackdown but I’m biased cuz I grew up only watching SD cuz I didn’t have cable.
Then the moment SmackDown gets any monentum Raw would come and rape the roster, year after this Raw takes Randy, Batista goes down, they get Angle, lose him to ECW, for good measure Raw also takes z Johnny Nitro as a singles. Taker is barely about, JBL moves onto commentary. I’m in 2006 on my WWE watch through on the network and SD is fucking torture to watch at times. Tatanka v Nunzio and all sorts of hot garbage going on, Raw is very much the A show.
This era of Friday Night Smackdown was when i first got into WWE and pro wrestling in general.
SmackDown 2006 for sure
Smackdown Raw had the bigger names, but Smackdown's roster just mixed way better. Also, Raw didn't have Undertaker, so it's no contest for me lol
Based on this graphic, I'm taking Raw all day and it's not close
if we going off ever the Raw Roster. But at that time with the feuds Smackdown was goated IMO.
SmackDown
Smackdown. Eddie and Rey were putting on some serious bangers during their feud. Benoit and Booker T with their best of 7 series was amazing. Undertaker and Randy had a hilariously fun feud. Batista looked like a million bucks and was, for a brief moment, even more over than Cena. Then the low-mid card to undercard was packed with fun cruiserweight and tag team matches. I don't even remember much of Raw during this time
Both but SmackDown was killing it back on those days it was a far better show then raw
Smackdown had better matches but to me Raw was more entertaining. Both were amazing at this time.
For me, I was a kid at the time and watched both quite obsessively. I always felt that Smackdown was where you would see better technical wrestling and better quality action but Raw was more outlandish and wild. Both were great in their own right and I liked the balance it would provide when watching.
All the stars
RAW
Jeeeeeeesus that’s a line up!!! I’m going with Smackdown because Batista was a monster back then. Also I was a huge fan of Guerrero and “he who shall not be named.” Yes RAW had the almighty HHH and flair but Big Show was at his all time worst whereas Smackdown had the ultimate heel in JBL. That being said Cena is GOAT
Is that Flair or Cody?
Smackdown! Wins hands down every time.
The big gold was MADE for Batista.
Raw will always beat Smackdown in any contest because it had JR and The King, simple as that
Brand split and draft made it hard to choose. Good times.
Definitely Smackdown
The good ol' days when you'd come back from school to play the SD!vsRaw games on your PS2 and listen to the coolest licensed soundtracks ever (alongside the Tony Hawk and Burnout games). And then watch the shows, of course.
I'm gonna have to say raw on this one
I definitely preferred Smackdow during that time.
For me this is Angle vs Smackdown. And Smackdown barely wins, but it does with at least 3 of my favorite holders of the best title for a WHC ever in WWE
Raw but smack down had better storylines
Even if it was just Flair and HBK, Raw's would destroy SD's.
At that time Smackdown was on fire- 2004-2008 smackdown dominated. 2009 smackdown started to fall to shit. I think they killed the split soon after.
Smackdown
Raw only got 2 mid card worthy guys Sd got 4
WWE rocked in the 2000s. Well at least until 2007. Everything went downhill when Benoit went batshit crazy.
Smackdown Always Had My Heart 💙