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Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown

May 2, 2017 | Posted by Dylan Diot
WWE Shinsuke Nakamura WWE Smackdown
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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.


SMACKDOWN 4.25.17
– AJ Styles d. Baron Corbin [**1/2]
– Beat the Clock Challenge Match- American Alpha d. The Colons **]
– No DQ Match – Randy Orton d. Erick Rowan [**1/2]
– Beat the Clock Challenge Match- Breezango d. The Ascension [*1/2]
– WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship – Naomi © vs. Charlotte ends in a No-Contest [***1/4]


THE Right:
AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin: Styles and Corbin met in a rematch from last week’s main event, with Kevin Owens joining commentary this time as well. Styles tried to wear down Corbin early but Corbin overpowered him and kicked him to the floor. Corbin worked over Styles with a half nelson but Styles fight out so Corbin cut him off with a Chokebreaker for a near fall. Styles came back with the Pele kick but Kevin Owens attempted to interfere, so Styles kicked him away. Corbin tried to use the opportunity to hit a power bomb but Styles rolls through for the win. Owens & Corbin both attacked Styles after the match but Sami Zayn ran out to make the save. He managed to take out Corbin but Owens did the same to him and he finished things with a Pop Up Powerbomb to Styles. The match was decent but not as good as their match last week. The action is decent but it there is something off with the chemistry between these two, I just can’t put my finger on it. I approve of the finish since it gives Styles a big win and the way they got to it doesn’t make Corbin look bad at all plus I enjoyed the post match stuff and brining Zayn into the fold was a good idea, so overall a solid segment that begins the build toward Owens/Styles.

No DQ- Randy Orton vs. Erick Rowan: Rowan attacked Orton to start but Orton takes control of things when the fight makes its way to the floor. Rowan sent Orton into the steps and began to attack Orton with a kendo stick before setting up a table on the floor. Rowan went to suplex Orton through it but he blocked and repeatedly nailed Rowan with the knedo stick, eventually knocking Orton off the apron through the table. Rowan nailed Orton with the steps and charged at him but missed, eating a chair that was placed in the corner. Orton finished him off with the RKO. After the match, Orton cut a promo about the House of Horrors match at Payback, promised that it will be Wyatt’s personal hell. This brought out Jinder Mahal, who claimed disrespect and arrogance as to why Orton wasn’t focusing on him. This triggered a brawl between the two and the Bollywood Boyz grabbed the legs of Orton, allowing Mahal to get the better of him and lay him out with the Cobra Slam before walking out with Orton’s WWE Championship. The brawl between Orton and Rowan was a good follow up to the finish of their match from two weeks ago. It was very physical and was pretty enjoyable from start to finish. Orton got a good win to give him momentum heading into what is likely to be a very physical and bizarre brawl at the PPV. Once again, the post match stuff was solid as well, with Mahal getting the better of Orton as a reminder that he shouldn’t be an afterthought with their championship match looming, so right now they are doing the right things with Mahal it’s just a matter of whether it’ll be enough for people to get invested in him and in the Orton/Mahal match at Backlash.

WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion- Naomi © vs. Charlotte: Naomi started off in a similar fashion to last week, hitting a bulldog into the corner on Charlotte but Charlotte pulled her hard to the floor to come back. Charlotte worked Naomi over with a cravat and then continued to wear her down with a series of kicks and chops. Naomi fired back, catching Charlotte with a wheelbarrow cutter. She hit the Benedryller on Charlotte for a near fall and then followed up with the Rear View for another big near fall. Naomi attempted a hurricanrana but Charlotte countered with a sit-out powerbomb for a near fall of her own. A moonsault attempt by Charlotte eats knees and with both women down, Carmella, Natalya & Tamina attacked both of them, resulting in a no-contest. They laid out both Charlotte & Naomi to end the show. This was a much better match than their first encounter a week ago and it was worthy of the main event slot on this show. The crowd was super into the match and the final stretch of near falls went over huge. It’s a shame they didn’t finish the match before doing the run-in angle cause these were really clicking but I guess this is a decent feud to both turn Charlotte and hold off on a third Naomi/Charlotte encounter for a little bit, so I guess you can take more of the good than the bad with this segment.

Beat The Clock Challenge: Two Beat the Clock Challenge Matches were made to crown the #1 Contender’s for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships. The first match was a rematch between American Alpha & The Colons. AA went for a series of quick pin falls right at the bell but a distraction from Primo allowed the Colons to work over Gable. They attempted the Powerbomb/Backstabber combo but Jordan saved and they quickly hit Grand Amplitude on Epico for the win at 5:37. In the second match, Breezango took on the Ascension. Viktor DRILLED Breeze with a running uppercut to start and the Ascension worked him over. Breeze evaded them and made the tag to Fandango who cleaned house before Viktor cut him off with a knee strike. Breeze caught Viktor with a super kick and Fandango followed with the Falcon Arrow for the win at around 2:30, making Breezango the #1 Contenders. The Beat the Clock challenge matches were solid for time filler on the show and was a good device to declare #1 Contenders with no one being built at the moment as legitimate challengers. The layout of the matches were pretty good, with everyone going for quick near falls and successfully creating the sense of urgency to try and either get a quick win or beat the time set earlier. It made for two fun little sprints and was one of the better nights for the tag division in some time.

puRgatoRy:
Shinsuke Nakamura Speaks: Smackdown opened this week with Renee Young bringing out Shinsuke Nakamura with his first official interview as a member of Smackdown. Before Nakamura speaks, Dolph Ziggler interrupted. Ziggler played the role of interviewer in place of Renee Young, asking him a question but then answering it himself. He put words into Nakamura’s mouth, claiming that Nakamura thought Ziggler was his hero and that Nakamura was nothing more than a Michael Jackson rip-off. Nakamura returned the favor, asking questions he posed to Ziggler himself, but speaking in Japanese with the punch line being that Ziggler was a jackass. Ziggler attacked Nakamura but Nakamura caught him with the release back suplex. He went for the Kinshasa but Ziggler bails once again. This was a really weird segment. Some aspects of it were good, the idea of Ziggler’s doing an ego-trip interview and Nakamura responding in Japanese was good in theory. However, the dialogue wasn’t very good and it took Ziggler forever to get to the point about Michael Jackson, which wasn’t that good of an insult to begin with. Nakamura’s well get over with his in-ring work and his presence, they really just need to avoid putting him in these long segments for now cause it’s clearly not his strength at the moment.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1147h edition is over…

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
This was one of the better episodes from start to finish in some time. First off, it was almost entirely focused on in-ring action, with the only exception being the Ziggler/Nakamura opening segment, which wasn’t good, but not a complete embarrassment or anything. All the matches were decent for the most part and the main event between Naomi and Charlotte was really good, only marred by the run in non finish. Feuds and matches for Backlash were started or continued in logical fashions that didn’t go over the top on angles. They kept things very simple throughout and I thought it made for a very enjoyable two hours of wrestling. So yeah, first episode in awhile that I can give the full recommendation without any hesitation, go check this one out.
legend

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Smackdown, Wrestling's 4Rs, WWE, Dylan Diot