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.

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Raw 11.29.16:
– Dolph Ziggler & Kalisto d. Baron Corbin & The Miz by DQ **1/4
– Kane d. Luke Harper **3/4
– #1 Contenders Match- Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton d. American Alpha ***1/2

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THE Right:
Becky Lynch/Alexa Bliss Contract Signing: SmackDown kicked off this week with the contract signing for the Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch match at TLC. The two ladies engaged in a war of words with Bliss claiming dumb luck and a missed call allowing Lynch to remain champion while Lynch compared Bliss to a child and says she became champion because she was relentless. After both signed the contract, Lynch attacked Bliss and prepared to superpower Bliss through a table. Bliss blocked, sending Lynch crashing through the table, standing tall once more. I thought this was a good segment to kick things off. Lynch cut one of her better promos in months, toning down the puns and reminding everyone why she is supposed to be a bad ass champion. The brawl and the big table spot turned out great and they finished off the build to TLC on a high note.

Carmella Says Too Much: Carmella was scheduled for a match but before that was to take place, Carmella decided to throw some insults at her opponent for TLC, Nikki Bella. Carmella says she was looking forward to destroying Nikki and issued an apology to John Cena for the way she was going to disfigure his girlfriends body. Nikki had enough, charging the ring and beat the hell out of Carmella until a ref pulled her away, allowing Carmella to escape. The women were on fire tonight, Carmella had maybe her best promo since coming to the main roster, as her insults were strong and harsh and made me want to see Nikki kick her ass at TLC. The brawl put it over the top and right now I’m pretty hyped for these brawl the women are going to have at the PPV.

Ambrose Asylum : Dean Ambrose hosted an edition of the Ambrose Asylum and introduced his guest, Smackdown’s newest superstar James Ellsworth. Ellsworth thanks Ambrose for helping him achieve his dream but Ambrose said it was weird karma and luck that got Ellsworth to wear he is. They bantered for a bit until AJ Styles came out. Styles said he was tired of being treated like a joke and says he was finally going to beat some respect out of Ambrose. He promised to beat Ellsworth with every table, ladder, or chair he could get his hands on if Ellsworth interfered. Ambrose warned Styles about entering such a dangerous match with him and that the fun and games end on Sunday. Styles shoved Ellsworth into Ambrose, giving him the opportunity to attack both men. Styles laid out Ellsworth with a chair and then hit a Styles Clash off the steps onto the floor, sending Ellsworth to the hospital. Another strong segment in the series of them tonight. They kept the comedy to a minimal and Styles came across as a dangerous man that finally has had enough of Ambrose and Ellsworth getting the better of him over the past few weeks. It got some strong heat back on Styles and got across the idea of Styles and Ambrose having a total war to settle their differences at TLC. The show is 3-3 on segments doing a final push for TLC.

Kane vs. Luke Harper: Kane and Harper I felt had a surprisingly fun match at the Survivor Series kickoff and they had another fun encounter here. Harper worked a different strategy here in a nice touch, focusing on a more ground and pound based attack, hitting hard slams and strikes on the monster. It still wasn’t enough as Kane beat him once again with the Chokeslam. You can question the results and the decision to have Kane go over but they have an out with the idea that Harper’s seemed to be lacking focus due to his concerns and frustrations with Randy Orton’s rise in power in the Wyatts. Harper continues to get the best out of Kane and they overachieved once again with a solid match that didn’t mean that much in the big picture.

Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt vs. American Alpha: In the main event of SmackDown, Orton & Wyatt faced American Alpha for the right to face Heath Slater & Rhyno at TLC. Jordan & Gable got the early advantage on the Wyatt Family but a missed crossbody into the ropes from Jordan and Wyatt knocking Gable to the floored turned the tide. Orton and Wyatt gave Gable a good beating for the duration of the match but a superplex from Orton that seemed to shake himself up gave Gable the window to finally tag in Jordan. Jordan proceeded to clean house and was tossing Wyatt around until the lights went out and Luke Harper appeared at ringside. Gable saved Jordan from Sister Abigail off of the distraction and they went for Grand Amplitude but Orton caught Gable with an RKO before they could nail it. Jordan missed a spear in the corner on Wyatt and ate Sister Abigail for 3, making the Wyatt Family the #1 Contenders. I thought this was a great main event. American Alpha made their first TV main event count, going toe to toe with two of the top stars of the brand and not looking out of place with them at all, which is a promising sign for both. I’ve come around on Orton & Wyatt, especially from an in-ring standpoint. I loved their performance at Survivor Series and they had another quality outing here, I’m really digging these two as a unit. I’m still fearful of the eventual Orton betrayal and reveal that he was working undercover to seek revenge, as I these two as a team has legs right now, which I wouldn’t have believed a month ago.

puRgatoRy:
Dolph Ziggler & Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin & The Miz: This was the typical combined two PPV matches preview tag that was decent but nothing special. Corbin and Miz beat down Ziggler for a little bit until Ziggler laid out both men on the floor. Kalisto tagged in and was getting the better of the Miz until Miz laid him out with a big boot. The match made its way to the fooor where Miz broke out a ladder to use on Ziggler. Ziggler was able to save himself until Maryse tipped a ladder onto Ziggler, taking him out of the match. Kalisto was about to beat Miz with the Salida Del Sol but Corbin broke it up with a chair for the DQ. Again, the match was nothing special, only designed to bring in the chairs and ladder to hype up the individual matches for TLC.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1129th edition is over…