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 6.06.17
– The Welcoming Committee d. Naomi, Charlotte & Becky Lynch [**1/4]
– AJ Styles d. Dolph Ziggler [**1/2]
– Jinder Mahal d. Mojo Rawley [**]
– The New Day d. The Colons [**]
– Shinsuke Nakamura d. Kevin Owens [**3/4]

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THE Right:

AJ Styles vs. Dolph Ziggler: They grappled to start but Ziggler cut him off with a dropkick. They traded blows and Styles drilled Ziggler with a lariat. Ziggler answered with a Fameasser for a near fall. They went up top and Styles blocked a Tornado DDT attempt. Ziggler blocked a sunset flip for 2 and Styles rolled through that into the Styles Clash for the win. A short but very sweet little contest. I have no problem with the 50/50 booking here since the layout made Styles look more dominant and gave the idea that he wasn’t going to lose to Ziggler twice in a row. It had a couple of little callbacks to last week and overall I enjoyed this for the sprint it was.

The Colons vs. The New Day: Xavier Woods & Big E were the New Day reps here. Woods caught Primo with a tilt-a-whirl head scissors followed by a dropkick to the back for a near fall. They worked over Epico in the corner and then grabbed stereo abdominal stretches. The Colons took controlled and worked over Woods but Woods fought back and took out Primo with a missile dropkick. Tag to Big E and he cleaned house. Epico caught him in a roll-up for a near fall but Epico ate an enzuigiri from Woods and they finished with the Midnight Hour for the win. After the match, The Usos come out and deliver some insults to the New Day before warned them about what’s coming at Money in the Bank. This was perfect as a match to bring New Day back into in-ring action. They did their shennanigans, Big E got to look like a beast, and they were a strong cohesive unite taking care of the Colons. The New Day came out of this looking great.

Kevin Owens vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: Baron Corbin was on commentary after laying out Sami Zayn backstage who was originally going to be on commentary. They felt each other out early and Nakamura caught Owens with an enzuigiri, forcing Owens to bail. Owens took control during the commercial break and he hit a DDT as Nakamura attempted to fight back. Nakamura finally fought back, taking out Owens with a single leg dropkick. Corner knee lift by Nakamura got a near fall and they went up top. Owens brought him down and connected with the cannonball. Nakamura came back with the spinning heel kick followed by the reverse exploder suplex. Kinshasa by Nakamura gets the win. Baron Corbin laid out Nakamura with the End of Days after the match. Easily the best single outing by Nakamura since his arrival. He withstood the attack of Owens and looked really dominant against the US Champion, beating him in as clean and decisive fashion as we have seen. He has beaten Owens three weeks straight so IF they follow up on it after Money in the Bank then they would have built up their strongest and most worthy challenge in some time.

puRgatoRy:
Shane McMahon Address Women’s Money in the Bank Participants: Shane opens Smackdown introducing the participants in the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank match and he reveals the briefcase they will be fighting for. Each of the women each proclaim in their own way that they’re going to win the match and they trade some insults until Naomi comes out. She warns the others that she will be ready when one of them tries to cash in but she’s interrupted by the returning Lana. Lana says she wants to be entered into the ladder match but Naomi laughs at the thought since Lana hasn’t had a match yet. Lana claims she can beat Naomi but Shane tells her she has to earn an opportunity, so Lana leaves in frustration. More of the same from the opening segment, a bit more eventful since they brought Lana into the fold. The insults and barbs were better than usual so if nothing else this was at least a noteworthy and watchable segment that didn’t overstay its welcome.

Naomi, Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. The Welcoming Committee: Charlotte and Natalya grappled to start and Charlotte took control with some chops. Lynch rolls Carmella around the ring but Carmella knocked her to the floor and Natalya laid her out with a discus clothesline to take control. Tamina cut off a comeback attempt and Natalya hit a Michinoku Driver for a near fall. Lynch caught her with an enzuigiri and she finally made the hot tag to Naomi. Lana came back out and she swept the legs of Naomi on the apron, allowing Tamina to catch her with a super kick for the win. There were some rough patches throughout the match but for the most part this was an OK match with the final run by Naomi being the highlight of the match. I’m glad they actually had Lana cost Naomi the match instead of going with the distraction finish as that immediately generates heat to their newly developed feud.

Mojo Rawley vs. Jinder Mahal: If Mojo won, he would have been entered into the Money in the Bank match. Mojo went on the attack and he knocked Mahal to the floor. One of the Singh Brothers provided a distraction, allowing Mahal to hit a big boot to take control. Mahal fired back but Mahal sent Mojo shoulder first into the post before hitting the Khallas for the win. After the match, Mahal promised to kill the dreams of Randy Orton at Money in the Bank like he just did to Rawley. Paint by the numbers match that didn’t do anything to make Mahal look like a dominant champion. He got the win but the performance was unimpressive and his post match promo was bland. He was presented as a mid carder that just happened to be WWE Champion and seemed like a few steps down from what they were doing with him over the past several weeks.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1154th edition is over…

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This week’s episode of Smackdown was pretty decent but nothing groundbreaker on anything. This was a very in-ring focused show which I liked but none of the matches stood out as anything exceptional. Still, all but one match ended clean and the Women’s Six Man tag finish set up Naomi/Lana perfectly for Money in the Bank, so the booking of the matches this week was excellent. We’re getting a very simple build for the PPV and I’ve been enjoying it for the most part, sometimes simple is just better. Not a must see edition of Smackdown but certainly a very easy and watchable one.