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 6.20.17
– Big E d. Jimmy Uso [*]
– Shinsuke Nakamura d. Dolph Ziggler [***1/2]
– US Championship- Kevin Owens © d. Chad Gable [**1/4]
– Jinder Mahal d. Luke Harper [**]

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THE Right:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: They grappled to start and Ziggler bailed when Nakamura attempted the cross arm breaker. Nakamura caught Ziggler with an enzuigiri and he threw a series of knees at Ziggler. Ziggler pulled him shoulder first into the post to come back and he works over the face of Nakamura. Nakamura backdropped Ziggler to the floor to create separation and he caught Ziggler with a spinning heel kick. Nakamura fired away and caught Ziggler with the knee lift in the corner for a near fall. Nakamura hit the Gordbuster and went for the Kinsasha but Ziggler clipped him and hit the Fameasser for his own big near fall. Ziggler rolled Nakamura up but Nakamura caught the arm and grabbed the cross arm breaker. Ziggler raked the eyes to break it up and he escaped the reverse Exploder in order to hit the Zig Zag for another near fall. Ziggler grabbed the sleeper but Nakamura escaped and hit a Kinsasha to the back of the head and square in the jaw for the win. This was a great TV match. It was a little rough around the edges but it was a thrilling back and forth match. I loved that this worked with the idea that both men now have familiarity with one another from recent battles, so they were able to pick their openings and Nakamura ended up with the big shot with the Kinsasha to the back of the head that led to a victory. Nakamura is finally starting to look comfortable working on the main roster and I think Ziggler has being doing great in his role over the past few weeks after the terrible start to his heel run.

Kevin Owen’s Face of America Open Challenge: Owens came out and complained that everyone conspired against him and ganged up on him which is why he was not the current Money in the Bank winner. He offered anyone from Dayton, Ohio the chance to face him for the US Championship and AJ Styles came out. Owens told him he knows that Styles’ isn’t from Dayton, Ohio and now American Alpha comes out, with Chad Gable in particular ready to wrestle. Gable told Owens that he moved to Dayton, OH that morning and provided him with an address. The match began as Owens was complaining and Gable tossed Owens around. Gable caught Owens with a wheelbarrow roll-up for a near fall but Owens answered back with a super kick for one of his own. Gable caught Owens with a DDT and he followed up with a moonsault for another near fall. Gable almost won with the Chaos Theory and Owens nailed him with the Pop Up Powerbomb for the win. Overall, this was a fun little segment. I love the idea of having some mid-carders come out and challenge for the title in order to give them so shine in the same vein as the Cena open challenge did two years ago. Hopefully they keep this going while Styles and Owens feud, as it serves as nice time filler for the show. As for the direction of Owens, I’m disappointed they’re not going with Owens/Nakamura after giving Nakamura three victories over him BUT if they bring that up when they finally feud, then I’m willing to accept that, so again we’ll have to wait and see.

puRgatoRy:
The Carmella & James Ellsworth Controversy: Carmella opened the show and welcomed everyone to her era and she discussed what everyone’s been saying about her victory at Money in the Bank. She didn’t care, because she had been overlook in comparison to the rest of the division. She said that there has been recent history of people winning the Money in the Bank briefcase with some help and she called everyone pathetic for forcing Daniel Bryan to publicly address the issue tonight. She said Bryan will have to reinforce the fact that she is Ms. Money in the Bank. Later in the show Daniel Bryan came out and brought out all the participants from the Women’s Money in the Bank match. Bryan made a point that the first Women to hold the briefcase win the match, but in this case a man unhook and grabbed the briefcase to hand it to someone else. Ellsworth claimed that Bryan got soft after having a child and Bryan warned him if he brought up his daughter again, he would get punched in the face and fired immediately. The rest of the women argued for a bit and Bryan officially ordered Carmella to hand over the briefcase. Bryan made a rematch for next week on Smackdown Live! to settle this once and for all. Everyone proceeded to brawl and Carmella was left alone with Lynch & Charlotte. Charlotte nailed Natural Selection and Lynch locked in the Disarmer. First off, the opening promo from Carmella was pretty great. She made some valid points to try and justify the way she won at Money in the Bank while still across as obnoxious and clueless, so she played her role in both segments to perfect. Still, they struggled to have this whole dispute make sense and really everyone looks stupid for dragging out what should be a simple decision of stripping Carmella and doing a rematch. Everyone did a good job in their roles but building the whole show around an obvious decision was a waste.

Big E vs. Jimmy Uso: Jimmy worked over Big E on the apron as the match started during the commercial and he leaped off the top but Big E caught him with an overhead belly to belly suplex. Big E went for the big splash but Jimmy caught him with a Samoan Drop for a near fall. Jimmy bailed when Big E went for the Big Ending and the Usos attempted to walk out but Kofi took Jey out. Big E caught Jimmy back in the ring with the Big Ending for the win. We only ended up seeing a small portion of the whole match and what we saw was fine but nothing to write home about. Preventing a Uso walkout was a nice callback to the finish at Money in the Bank and it was good win to keep building up the idea that New Day is a huge threat to the Uso’s reign.

Jinder Mahal vs. Luke Harper: Harper got the better of Mahal early, drilling him with a dropkick that sent Mahal bailing. Harper took out one of the Singh Brothers with a suicide dive but Mahal caught him with a knee strike to take control. He worked a half nelson but Harper fought out and hit a butterfly suplex. Harper fired away and hit a big boot on Mahal for a near fall. Truck Stop by Harper gets a near fall and he went up but Mahal follows up. Mahal hit a superplex on Harper, which brought out Baron Corbin. Corbin toyed with Mahal as he chose not to cash in his briefcase and warned Mahal that he’s in his head. Harper rolled Mahal up for a near fall and he hit a super kick. Mahal hit one of his own after a distraction from the Singh Brothers and he finished him with the Khallas. After the match, Randy Orton came out and laid out the Singh Brothers. He attacked Mahal at ringside, planting him with the hanging DDT on the floor. The Singh Brothers saved Mahal from an RKO so they each ate one for their troubles as Mahal escaped in the crowd to end the show. The match was fine but unless there is a proven main event star in the match, these Mahal matches have little to no heat. They tried to spice it up with the Corbin fake out and other shenanigans but it did nothing to help things. The post match was solid though, as a pissed off and vengeful Orton finally adds the spark this feud has been lacking for several weeks, so at least they’re making us a little bit more interested in seeing their third contest.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1155th edition is over…

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

I thought this was a very productive and overall solid edition of Smackdown. They did a good job throughout the show of setting things up both for next week’s episode and for the start of the build to Battleground. Coming out of this show through backstage segments and the show long Carmella angle, we have three matches already set for next week (Corbin/Zayn, Usos/Hype Bros & Women’s Money in the Bank) along with clear directions of Mahal/Orton & Owens/Styles. The wrestling this week was good for the most part with Nakamura/Ziggler being something that is well worth checking out. This show had its flaws but I’m actually pretty excited about next week’s showing coming out of this, so I have zero complaints about the quality this week. Check this episode out.