wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown
How the 4Rs of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. The column will run TWO-THREE times a week. We will group our feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and needs discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come. This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, our goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. We will not apologize for our opinions, they are as they are, whether positive or negative.
Sean Garmer
Smackdown 1.28.16
– Roman Reigns defeated Rusev @ 3:02 via DQ
– NON-TITLE MATCH: Champion Kalisto defeated Kevin Owens @ 9:07 via pin
– Ryback defeated Erick Rowan @ 2:58 via pin
– AJ Styles defeated The Miz @ 10:17 via pin
– NON-TITLE MATCH: Champions New Day defeated The Social Outcasts @ 8:00 via pin
– NON-TITLE MATCH: Champion Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox @ 3:57 via submission
– Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Del Rio and Rusev @ 7:46 via pin
THE Right:
AJ Styles defeated The Miz and Build to #AJvsY2J2: They had Miz cut a promo for the match confirming he’s pissed about what happened on Miz TV on RAW. One portion of this promo I will be talking about somewhere else, but overall it served the purpose of giving you just another reason to hate Miz before we get to the match. Then we have the match and it was the best one on the show. AJ gave you a snapshot of what he can do and how he has taken his NJPW style and transferred it to WWE. He really doesn’t do anything different and everything he does is crisp, nothing he does is wasteful, while also giving and selling for Miz as well. Miz got in enough offense to make it a legit contest and there were a few convincing (not that I ever thought Miz would win) but just long enough to make the match feel serious. Then AJ debuts the Calf Crusher (formerly Calf Killer or Calf Slicer,) Mauro Ranallo puts it over as another way he can beat his opponent, and he cleanly and authoritatively puts Miz away. Chris Jericho was on commentary for this match and he put over AJ extremely well, made the big moments in the match seem special, especially the Roll-up call back to their match on the RAW after Rumble, him saying “that’s how he beat me before” meant a lot. Jericho also didn’t fall for any of King’s heel comments, and he kept the focus on the match. This made what AJ was doing feel even more important, which is what you want to happen. Then Jericho came into the ring and wanted to know if AJ was ready to prove he could be WWE Champion material and prove that he could be great. Jericho challenges AJ to another match next week on SmackDown and AJ pulls Y2J in close and tells him that “he’s more than great, he’s phenomenal and he will prove that, off mic of course.” The crowd chants AJ Styles before they go to break. WWE has done a great job of booking AJ Styles and he feels like a big deal. This made me super excited for the match next week. This may all be so that Jericho can get a win and wind up in a rubber match at WWE Fast Lane, but I’m not going to hate on something until it happens.
Tension is teased between Ambrose and Reigns: WWE has to do anything they can to make you believe that Roman Reigns might not actually win at Fast Lane. So, they had Triple H motivate Brock on RAW and they also spent a lot of RAW trying to create tension between Ambrose and Reigns, but it didn’t necessarily work. Here we come to SmackDown and Ambrose accidentally hits Reigns trying to make the save to start the show. This sets up the inevitable Tag Match for the main event, they also have both guys do separate promos where they answer questions about turning on each other. Both guys agree that Dean is crazy and that this is SmackDown and Fast Lane will be Fast Lane. Then in the tag match Reigns catches Dean before he hits a Suicide Dive on him, they tease some more miscommunication, but Reigns winds up getting the win anyway. Though Reigns technically beat Rusev twice on this night, he’s not really doing anything right now. So, I think it is ok. They didn’t have the US Title challenger in Del Rio get pinned and it is nice that WWE paid attention to subtleties for once. By the way, the match was your standard tag team main event. Also, this ends the streak of main events that end in a non-finish.
Charlotte vs. Alicia Fox: The match was a little sloppy until the latter half when Alicia did her comeback. Charlotte didn’t let things get too out of hand though and quickly put Alicia away with the Figure 8. Charlotte had a little interaction with Brie at one point at ringside and told her that Brie only beat her once. The best part is that Charlotte beats Alicia clean as a sheet and Daddy never gets involved at all.
Becky and Sasha argue to agree: This felt a little weird because they did nothing with them on the show aside from this promo, but what we got here answered lingering questions. Becky brought up the Rumble, Sasha brought up RAW, Becky brought up that Sasha needed her help, and Sasha tried to downplay it. Then they kinda agreed that they have a common enemy in Team B.A.D. and they also fought over who would get to Charlotte first. This completely works with Renee afterwards saying “did you guys kinda agree to work together.” The important part is they didn’t forget there is a higher goal and that’s to get the belt away from Charlotte. It is also nice to see that WWE uses SmackDown to immediately answer what the deal was with Becky helping Sasha on RAW. It makes the show feel like it matters.
New Day vs. Social Outcasts: New Day came out and do what they do, along with making a Shake & Bake and Ricky Bobby reference, only to be upstaged by their opponents the Social Outcasts. Adam Rose bringing up that their titles are actually bronze and not gold was funny, also Curtis Axel with his dry delivery making fun of the unicorn horns just works. The match was kept short, the Outcasts got a bit of offense, which is ok because New Day are comedy heels, not the type that just squash people. Then they had a creative heel finish, where two heel teams are trying to out heel each other for the win. Overall this was entertaining and inoffensive.
Goldust continues to try to partner with Truth: Golden Truth are great together and all I can do is laugh at this. This stuff is always real brief, I laugh, and then we move on, both of these guys know where they are right now and actually deliver in each one of these segments.
puRgatoRy:
Kevin Owens loses for the second time in two consecutive shows: WWE booked themselves in a corner with this match and you could argue it didn’t need to happen at all. Especially since Kalisto already has a match set with Del Rio for Fast Lane. The match was good and both guys worked hard, Owens sold Kalisto’s offense big time and Owens was also just uber heel here too. Kalisto’s offense got him so annoyed that he resorted to using the barricade to get the upperhand. But Dolph Ziggler was also at ringside, so he just said “F*** this“ and Powerbombed Kalisto onto Dolph. However, he got pinned via the freaking distraction roll-up and Dolph was barely a distraction, as he couldn’t even get to his feet before Kalisto grabs Owens. The problem here is that you can’t have your US Champion lose either. So, they did the cop out finish. The only reason this is in PuRgatoRy is because they didn’t have Kalisto lose and involving Kalisto in this feud gives him more credibility. Instead of Kalisto beating some random jobber that won’t mean much. But you can also say this really hurts Owens to lose twice in two shows. I’m giving this the benefit of the doubt because Owens usually does a masterful job of finding a way to either get his revenge or find a way to play it off.
THE wRong:
RyBack Revamps his look: I guess either WWE made everyone forget about Goldberg because there were no audible “Goldberg” chants in response to RyBack’s “new attire,” or they edited them out in post-production. The match worked great in pushing what Mauro Ranallo was saying on commentary that RyBack is trying to prove he can be versatile in the ring. However, having Rowan be distracted by his own partner leading to the Meathook was unnecessary and took away from the RyBack win a bit. Also, what’s the point of doing this, if neither Strowman nor Rowan got any heat back after the match? Yeah… I don’t have an answer.
THE Ridiculous:
Starting off the show with three straight non or distraction finishes. They did a great job in the second half of the show in giving you clean finishes to each match, but starting off SmackDown with a non-finish and two distraction finishes is silly. I’d prefer they just spread them out or maybe book smarter so that you don’t have to do them.
Can we PLEASE stop talking about Daniel Bryan and also reminding us that guys are small: Miz made another reference to Daniel Bryan in his promo before his match with AJ. We get it Vince, you want AJ to be the new Daniel Bryan and you also want him to be an underdog. The problem is, you also tell us that Kalisto is an underdog as well. Then you also have commentary continually remind us that Kalisto is also small and diminutive. WE KNOW Kalisto is short, by having commentary and others constantly say this, it makes me feel like I shouldn’t take them seriously. Just stop already. And can Vince just make a decision on ONE nickname for AJ Styles? Either name him the “Pitbull” or the Redneck or whatever the hell you are gonna call him. But you are kinda contradicting yourself with the numerous nicknames. Not to mention, AJ already has a great nickname. He’s Phenomenal, just leave it at that.
This show did quite a few things right in helping push AJ Styles, it set a huge main event for next week that they reminded you about over and over, and they also set in motion a few tense moments between Ambrose and Reigns. They made two of their champions look strong, gave us the “new look” RyBack, and even answered questions about Becky and Sasha. However, the wrestling on this show outside of the AJ and Miz match was just kind of there and I’m still not sold on this Dolph and Kevin Owens feud. Overall, another solid outing from the blue brand that is a quick and inoffensive watch.
Show Rating: 7.0
As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…
0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect
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