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 5.09.17
– Jinder Mahal d. AJ Styles [***]
– Breezango d. The Colons [¼*]
– Carmella d. Naomi [*½]
– Randy Orton d. Baron Corbin [**½]

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THE Right:
AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal: Styles used his quickness to get the better of Mahal early bit Mahal drove him into the turnbuckle and threw some knees to the midsection. Styles fired back but the Singh Brothers distracted him, allowing Mahal to hit a knee strike for a near fall. Mahal held Styles down with a chin lock and cut off every Styles attempted comeback. Mahal went for a second rope axe handle but Styles caught him with a dropkick on the way down. Styles hit a basement forearm for a near fall but Mahal answered back with a big boot for one of his own. Styles caught Mahal with a baseball slide and looked to dive the Singh Brothers distract the ref, allowing Kevin Owens to clip Styles in the leg with the US Tile. Mahal then hit the Cobra Slam for the win. I thought this ended up being a solid match with a smart story of Mahal grounding Styles and making sure Styles’ couldn’t go at his pace. Only when Mahal went out of his own element did it allow Styles to turn the tide in his favor. I was fine with the finish as it accomplished three goals: giving Mahal another big name victory, established the potential importance of the Singh Brothers’ in his matches and added more heat to the Owens/Styles match at Backlash. So overall, a very productive and fun match.

puRgatoRy:
Kevin Owens’ Highlight Reel: SmackDown opened with Kevin Owens’ in the ring, mocking Chris Jericho and declaring the Highlight Reel to be his since Chris Jericho will never come back from what he did to him. Owens began to speak in French to introduce his guest but AJ Styles interrupted. Styles promised to bring the US Championship back to American and challenged Owens to a fight right then and there. Jinder Mahal followed out and promised to repeat the result of last week’s six-man tag at Backlash but Styles warned him to focus on him tonight. Owens tried to add some fuel to the fire but Styles went after him and Owens was quick to bail. This was in the same vein as last week’s opening segment, everyone made some quick points and it led right into the Styles/Mahal match but it was insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Breezango vs. The Colons: The match started during the commercial break and when they came back, the Colons were double-teaming Breeze. Primo worked the arm of Breeze but Breeze caught him with an enzuigiri. Fandango got the tag and cleaned house, eventually hitting the Falcon Arrow for the win. After the match the Usos cut another promo describing in police terms what’s going to happen to Breezango at Backlash. There wasn’t much to the match even when it was joined in progress but between the Fashion Files vignettes and the post match Usos promos, they’ve done a decent job of trying to generate a little interest in the match at Backlash and it’s nice to see SOME focus on the tag division. Breezango got a couple of wins to validate their claim as #1 Contender’s so despite the lack of quality, these quick Breezango spirits have at least served a purpose.

Six Women Tag Team Match Contract Signing/Naomi vs. Carmella: Shane McMahon was overseeing the contract signing. Natalya called Naomi, Becky & Charlotte pathetic and promised to prove who the best is on the Smackdown roster. Charlotte told The Welcoming Committee that they needed to bring everything they have at Backlash and made it known that she’s coming for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship after Backlash. James Ellsworth decided to put his two cents, telling Charlotte and Becky Lynch that he’s already taken and warning Naomi that Carmella is going to eventually take the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship from her as well. Naomi goes after Ellsworth and both squads are separated, leading to Shane making Naomi vs. Carmella right then and there. Naomi attacked Carmella right at the bell and bulldogged her into the corner. She worked the arm of Carmella but Ellsworth pulls Carmella to the floor to save her. The ref ejected Ellsworth for that as Naomi throws some kicks at Carmella. Naomi went after her on the floor but she walked into a super kick from Carmella. Naomi came back with an enzuigiri and she cleaned house on Carmella. Tamina and Natalya distracted Naomi as she was going up top and the ref ejects them as well. They went to leave but decided to brawl with Becky & Charlotte on the floor instead. Naomi was distracted, allowing Carmella to roll up Naomi for the win. This whole package was a bit of a mess and after a good start to the feud it limped to a finish. The contract-signing portion was fine but really unnecessary as no one said or did anything of value or importance. The Naomi/Carmella match was what it was and only existed to set up the big brawl toward the finish. I do appreciate the continuity though, with Carmella pinning Naomi two weeks in a row, establishing her as the #1 Contender after the six women tag.

Randy Orton vs. Baron Corbin: Both men grappled for the early advantage to start and Orton got the upper hand. Corbin caught Orton with a lariat for 2 and he worked Orton over in the corner. Orton fought out of the half nelson but Corbin retook control with a big boot. Orton sent Corbin shoulder first into the corner and began to clean house. Orton hit the draping DDT and went for the RKO but Corbin countered into the Deep Six for 2. Orton almost immediately after caught him with the RKO for the win. After the match, Jinder Mahal cut a promo on Orton, which allowed the Singh Brothers to attack from behind. Orton got the better of them and went for the double draping DDT but Mahal made the save and laid out Orton with the Cobra Slam to end the show. This match was a bit of a mixed bag. There was certainly some good moments and I loved the payoff to Corbin’s leave and re-enter spot, as Orton figured it out on the third attempt and used to opening to hit the RKO for the win. The rest of the match was kind of dull thought, they went at a very slow pace and Corbin’s heat segment was pretty boring for the most part.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1151st edition is over…

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

For me, this was a really disappointing go-home show for Backlash. After last week, I thought this would be much more eventful and newsworthy, and really the final push was pretty uninspiring. The final promos were repetitive of what everyone had been saying for weeks and there was nothing new to add to the final push to Sunday. The only really good thing Smackdown has done heading into the PPV and build up all their title challenges with a good collection of victories but I should be hyped for matches like Owens/Styles and Nakamura/Ziggler and unfortunately coming out of this show I wasn’t. A skippable show this week and hopefully the post Backlash show can get things cooking again.