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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SMACKDOWN 2.07.17
– American Alpha d. The Ascension **
– James Ellsworth vs. Dean Ambrose Never Started NR
– Mickie James d. Becky Lynch **1/4
– WWE Championship- Bray Wyatt © d. AJ Styles & John Cena ****

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THE Right:
WWE Championship- Bray Wyatt © vs. John Cena vs. AJ Styles After Bray Wyatt finished his entrance, Luke Harper attacked him, laying him out on the floor with a super kick. Cena cleaned house on Styles until Wyatt recovered and pulled Cena to the floor to send him into the steps. Styles laid out Wyatt with a variety of forearm based offense, culminating with the Phenomenal Forearm on Wyatt but he walked right into an AA from Cena for a close 2 count. Wyatt caught Cena with Sister Abigail for 2 as Styles saved as they went to break. They came back and Styles hit a Frog Splash off the barricade onto the announce table on Wyatt. He then hit a leg drop off the barricade, putting Wyatt through the table on the second try. He went to springboard back into the ring but Cena caught him with another AA. He attempted to roll into a second one but Cena countered into the Calf Crusher. Cena countered into the STF but Wyatt broke it up with the back senton. This led to a sequence where Cena, Wyatt, and Styles each had a chance to hit their finishers for near falls. Styles attempted another springboard but Cena blocked, causing Styles to crash onto the top rope. Cena walked right into Sister Abigail from Wyatt for the 3. After the match, Randy Orton came out and said that while he won the Rumble, he was the servant while Wyatt was the master. He pledged his allegiance to Wyatt and refuses to cash in his title match at WrestleMania. Wyatt promised Randy the keys to the kingdom and they posed together to end the show. This was an amazing TV match, one that would have really benefited from no commercial interruption as the total package was probably even better. I loved the hot and heavy action from the star and I have to give props to how they worked this around the commercial breaks. Instead of going into rest holds, they just kept the crazy action going and I loved the return from the second commercial where you go right into the announcers freaking out as Styles tried to put Wyatt through the table. The crowd was buying all the near falls and they worked at an incredible pace that they never lost their attention. It was a total match of attrition, and I can easily say it was the first must-see Smackdown match in ages. The post match Orton stuff was a nice little twist as well and I appreciate that they’re going to hold off on the turn for a bit, giving their program more time to develop and the eventually Orton turn will be a much bigger moment as a result.

puRgatoRy:
Bray Wyatt’s First Appearance as Champion: Bray Wyatt came out to kick off Smackdown to a huge ovation, getting a random “You Deserve It” chant from the crowd. Wyatt said Sister Abigail didn’t lie and that he had the whole damn world in his hand, officially welcoming everyone into the Wyatt era. John Cena came out and paid respect to Wyatt for earning the championship at Elimination Chamber. He talked about the you deserve it chant and reminded Wyatt that around here, you earn what you get. He warned Wyatt he now had a target on his shoulder and he wanted to have their match right at that moment. AJ Styles came out and reminded Cena he beat him several times and that he knew he can beat Wyatt, so he made his demands for his one-on-one rematch that he never got. Daniel Bryan appeared and made the championship match a triple threat match. This was a simple opening segment that set up the main event. The promos weren’t anything to write home about and it was just a way to easily insert Styles into the championship match, so while the segment was pedestrian in nature, it was effective in its overall purpose.

American Alpha vs. The Ascension: Gable outwrestled Viktor to start, which quickly led to everyone brawling. American Alpha caught the Ascension with stereo clotheslines off the top and sent them to the floor as they headed into the break. When they came back, Gable was the face in peril. The Ascension caught him with a corner clothesline/knee strike combo for a close 2 count. Gable caught Konnor with a cross arm breaker in the ropes, which gave him the opening to tag Jordan in who cleaned house. Jordan missed the Spear in the corner but American Alpha quickly came back and caught Viktor with Grand Amplitude for 3. After the match, The Usos cut a promo on the titantron, warning American Alpha to look out for them as they wanted the tag team titles. As a match, there wasn’t much to this one. We had the simple heel beat down on Gable, but American Alpha quickly overcame it and beat them pretty quickly after the fact. The layout and booking of the match was correct but the overall match didn’t capture anyone’s imagination.

James Ellsworth vs. Dean Ambrose: Throughout the show, Dean Ambrose was looking for Baron Corbin but was unable to locate him. He eventually ran into Carmella and James Ellsworth, and quickly passed off some advice to Ellsworth that he should ditch Carmella since she’s using him. Carmella took offense to this and order Ellsworth to deal with Ambrose. Daniel Bryan appeared and Ambrose requested a match with Ellsworth to get some frustration off his chest, so Bryan booked the match. Ambrose’s music played for a bit of them and eventually, Corbin dragged a weakened Ambrose out on the stage. They brawl around the stage area and Corbin laid out Ambrose with a Deep Six, putting him through a table and setting off some sparks from the technical equipment. The bait and switch of the match didn’t matter here, as they can have the Ambrose giving Ellsworth a beating match another time. This was design to kick-off the Corbin/Ambrose feud and it was solid but didn’t make me really excited to see their eventually match. Corbin getting the upper hand was the right call and the Deep Six spot looked good but the sparks going off was a bit cheesy and unnecessary. This segment was consistent with the rest of the show so far, as it was very simple but lacked that juice that really would have kicked this feud off big time.

Becky Lynch vs. Mickie James: They grappled to start and Lynch worked a hammer lock to begin her attack on James’ arm. Every time James attempted to gain control, Lynch would roll her up and go right back to the arm. She knocked James to the floor with a springboard kick and followed out where they clothes lined each other on the floor heading into the break. They came back and James worked over the neck of Lynch. Lynch fought back but James cut her off with a flap jack. James leaped off the top but Lynch moved and she hit an exploder suplex for 2. Lynch knocked James off the apron and James’ seemed to have hurt her shoulder on the fall. She claimed she separated her shoulder to the ref and Lynch backed off out of concern, but James used an opening to hit Lynch with a spin kick for 3. I thought this match was a major disappointment. The match was pretty boring for the most part, never reaching that second gear. It just felt they were throwing a bunch of moves at each other and lacked the central story to get invested in, so there was nothing to really sink your teeth into. I did like the finish, however, as it was a clever way to get James a cheap return victory and easily sets up a third bout between the two. I hope they finally go all out in the tie breaking encounter, as these two have not clicked a level we all thing they’re capable of.

Naomi’s First Interview as Champion: Naomi was interviewed by Renee Young in the ring and talked about getting injured in her victory on Sunday. She said she’s been injured before and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, so nothing was going to stop her from carrying the championship into WM. Alexa Bliss quickly interrupted the interview, claiming it was all dumb luck that Naomi beat her. Bliss said Naomi is using her injury as a shield and that she will be a flop as champion, with her failure making a great future 30 for 30. She told Naomi she should bring her family to WM so they can see the real Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. Bliss wanted her rematch for next week and she said Naomi should give the belt up if she can’t compete. This was the best thing on the show so far thanks to the continued awesome mic work from Bliss. She made you feel totally sympathetic and after she finished her promo you wanted to see Naomi beat her again next week in the rematch. Naomi on the other hand didn’t hold up her end on the microphone, especially in the back and forth with Alexa. Early on, she had a decent feel good promo about recovering from her injury but when Bliss started the insults, she really didn’t fire back the way she needed to.

THE wRong:
Nothing

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1139th edition is over…

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

The main event really saved this show, as I thought everything beforehand was pretty boring and uneventful. There was nothing terrible on this show, but coming out of the PPV I expected more fireworks and impactful things to occur. The show slowly got the wheels going on new feuds and they set up matches for next week (Natalya/Nikki & Naomi/Bliss) in pretty plain and vanilla fashion. However, the main event tonight was absolutely fantastic and the plot twist with Wyatt & Orton is really interesting and is going to keep things fresh and intriguing in their story for the next couple of weeks. The ending lifted up what would have been a completely forgettable episode of the show, so make sure you check out the triple threat match.