Despite Raw's clean sweep over SmackDown Live at Survivor Series 2018, the blue brand has owned WWE's supposed flagship show in almost every sense since the Brand Split's reintroduction in the summer of 2016.

There will be weeks when Raw is somewhat tolerable and features a must-see segment or two. Most of the time, however, the program offers nothing of substance, with viewers feeling like they wasted three hours of their time when it's over.

By and large, SmackDown has been a fairly consistent show over the past two-and-a-half years. There have been points when things looked bleak (Jinder Mahal's painful reign as WWE champion in 2017 comes to mind), but the brand has always made the most of its smaller roster and given fans an incentive to tune in.

That is more evident now than ever before with WrestleMania 35 fast approaching and both brands doing everything imaginable to get the WWE Universe excited for the event. It's fair to say that SmackDown has had the clear edge, with there being a much higher interest level in the stories being told on Tuesday nights.

WWE has already announced that another Superstar Shake-up is set for mid-April, but it will take way more than a few fresh faces to reinvigorate Raw and for it to be in the same league as SmackDown. If Team Red can improve in the following six categories, perhaps then the competition for the title of WWE's best main-roster brand will be a bit closer.

Compelling Programs

There aren't many rivalries on Raw that are piquing fans' interest or leaving them with a feeling of excitement and uncertainty regarding what will happen next.

The only angle that is the case with is the Raw Women's Championship feud between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair, and two of those women are designated to SmackDown. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar has hardly been furthered recently, while Triple H vs. Batista has mostly been hit or miss.

Over on SmackDown Live, Kofi Kingston, of all people, is in the midst of the biggest push of his career and looks to be closing in on the WWE Championship. Fans are always asking for new blood in the main event scene, and despite how he has been booked over the past five years, he feels fairly believable in the role.

Management's unwillingness to have Kingston as the face of the blue brand is a concept that has been done before, but that hasn't stopped fans from buying into what SmackDown has been selling. It's a riveting storyline, and with Kingston's next obstacle (a Gauntlet match) already announced for the next edition of the show, everyone is wondering whether he will be able to defy the odds again.

If you're following Kingston's journey to the WWE title, you can't help but root for him because of all the hardship he's had to endure. Kudos to SmackDown for keeping Kingston hot while Raw managed to cool off Lynch, Rousey and Flair considerably by unnecessarily complicating their storyline.

Stronger Tag Team Division

It's no secret that tag team wrestling hasn't exactly been WWE's forte in recent years. Since the return of the Brand Extension, however, SmackDown Live has usually had a stronger tag team division than Raw, and that couldn't be any more obvious at the moment.

Raw's tag team scene has been in shambles for some time. Outside of a few tandems such as The Revival and the duo of Aleister Black and Ricochet, there aren't many teams on the red roster worth investing in, as most of them are either directionless or have been written off as enhancement talent.

The state of tag team wrestling on SmackDown is by no means perfect, but at least the brand has a lot more star power to work with. The Usos are at the helm of the division (which is where they belong) as the SmackDown tag team champions and are coming off a fun feud with Shane McMahon and The Miz.

They have a long list of potential challengers between The Bar, The New Day, The Hardy Boyz and Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Even Black and Ricochet, who have been appearing on both brands, have shown interest in chasing the twin titles, so the possibilities are endless.

The Usos vs. The Hardy Boyz would be the biggest possible marquee match SmackDown could book for the tag team division at WrestleMania, but it will likely wind up being a multi-team matchup of some sort based off the bedlam that transpired on Tuesday night during the massive eight-man tag team affair.

Lest we forget, Sanity, The Colons and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson are also waiting in the wings for television time on the SmackDown side, whereas a majority of Raw's tag teams feel overexposed and underdeveloped.

Reliable World Champion with Multiple Rivals

You don't realize how valuable an active world champion is to a wrestling roster until you go without one for a while, and sadly, that has been the case with Raw for the past two years.

Having Brock Lesnar hold the Universal Championship hostage for a few months following WrestleMania 33 would have been fine, but WWE decided to wait an entire year to build up Roman Reigns as the only Superstar worthy enough to dethrone the part-time title holder. Worse yet, when it came to pull the trigger, Lesnar beat Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 34.

Raw regularly remained without the top title until Reigns finally captured the gold at SummerSlam 2018. Reigns was well on his way to becoming a fighting champion until he was forced to relinquish the belt in October, and it was soon put back on Lesnar.

Seth Rollins appears to be primed to slay The Beast Incarnate and relieve him of the red strap once and for all, but even then, it will take months for Raw to rebuild its main event scene for it to be on par with SmackDown's. Daniel Bryan has been holding down the fort on Tuesday nights as WWE champion since November, and before him, AJ Styles' title reign lasted more than a year.

Beyond Kofi Kingston, there are plenty of credible challengers awaiting their opportunity at the prestigious prize. Kevin Owens, Mustafa Ali and Styles have all been in the mix this year, not to mention Randy Orton, Samoa Joe, The Miz and Rey Mysterio could vie for the championship at any time.

SmackDown does have a tendency to have feuds last longer than needed, but otherwise, the WWE Championship picture is never boring. It helps to have an exceptional performer such as Bryan in that lead role, serving as the glue that keeps the brand together.

Exhilarating Midcard Scene

The only thing better than a well-rounded WWE Championship picture is an exhilarating midcard scene. WWE has been playing a game of hot potato with the United States Championship in recent months, but at least the competitors involved in the title matches never cease to deliver.

The star-spangled prize has been on the line in three multi-man matches in the past month, and all of them were exciting. Samoa Joe, Rey Mysterio, Andrade and R-Truth have proved to be the workhorses of the blue brand through their phenomenal performances, but there are a number of talented stars in the mix as well.

When they aren't vying for other titles, AJ Styles, Randy Orton, The Miz, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev could be (and have been) viewed as perfectly logical contenders for the U.S. Championship. Whenever the strap is up for grabs, fans are aware it's going to be a great match, no matter where it takes place on the card.

Unfortunately, the Intercontinental Championship has lost a lot of its luster lately. Seth Rollins worked hard to get the belt it back to the heights it was once at with his terrific title reign in 2018, but the strap has since become a glorified prop.

The United States title match at WrestleMania has a much better chance of stealing the show than whatever bout the Intercontinental Championship ends up being defended in based off how both belts have been treated in 2019.

Simpler, More Concise Format

Far too often, WWE Raw pulls off the seemingly impossible by taking something simple and making it more complicated than it needs to be. The show-long storyline can be intriguing at times, but WWE's attempts to fill Raw's three hours effectively usually end up backfiring.

Shortly following the Royal Rumble, Becky Lynch began appearing on Monday's more regularly (despite being designated to SmackDown Live) and had her Raw Women's Championship opportunity rescinded by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. In order to get it back, she had to "apologize" to the power couple.

WWE teased Lynch saying sorry throughout an entire episode of Raw, and at the end of the night, she finally went through with the apology. As it turned out, none of it mattered thanks to Mr. McMahon, who suspended her anyway.

That storyline has since become a convoluted mess, whereas SmackDown's two-hour format is infinitely easier to digest. The length of the show has a lot to do with that, but it just seems SmackDown has a better flow to it that ensures the episodes don't drag as much.

The Tuesday night program will occasionally open with a talking segment, but normally, they don't last longer than they need to. From there, SmackDown will feature a slew of meaningful matches that will both entertain viewers and further feuds.

Rarely does SmackDown feel like it's following a formula, whereas with Raw, it's often a chore to sit through the show. Randy Orton and AJ Styles had a better segment on the latest SmackDown than anything Raw produced the night prior, which just goes to show how the blue brand's more concise format works wonders.

Everything Serves a Purpose

The absurd amount of filler Raw every Monday night is a major reason why fans have soured on the show. It's understandable that WWE has to fill out three hours of television time, but with the roster available, there is no excuse for how many matches and segments on the show feel pointless.

Raw is becoming a much more focused show now WrestleMania is around the corner, but normally, the positives outweigh the negatives. Certain matches should be given more time to make up for the program's length, but WWE would rather cut good matchups short just so a random Gauntlet match with Heavy Machinery can be squeezed into the show.

On SmackDown Live, everything serves a purpose. This is another benefit of the program's shorter length, because it forces the writers to trim the segments and matches that don't matter and leave in the storyline-based stuff that factors into upcoming pay-per-views in some form or fashion.

Asuka vs. Sonya Deville from Tuesday wasn't a barn-burner by any means, but it successfully progressed the story between Deville and Mandy Rose after they teased tension at Fastlane. The eight-man tag team match wasn't inconsequential, either, as it laid the groundwork for what we should see at WrestleMania.

Similar to NXT, not every episode of SmackDown is sensational, but it's rare that the show is anything less than solid thanks to how consistent the quality of the show is from week to week. There's a little something for everyone to enjoy on the blue brand, making it a treat to tune into on Tuesday nights, as well as the perfect alternative to Raw.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.