wrestling / Columns
Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown
Loading...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 8.17.17
– Natalya defeated Becky Lynch [**]
– Rusev vs. Chad Gable ends in a Double Count-Out [*]
– The Usos defeated The New Day [**]
– John Cena defeated Jinder Mahal by DQ [**1/4]
– WWE Championship – Jinder Mahal © defeated Baron Corbin [NR]
THE Right:
Becky Lynch vs. Natalya: Naomi was on commentary for the match. Lynch went on the attack early and Natalya bailed. Natalya regained control with an abdominal stretch but Lynch fought out and went wild. Flying forearm by Lynch got a near fall and they traded counters until Lynch caught Natalya with an enzuigiri. Lynch missed a leg drop off the top and Natalya grabbed the Sharpshooter, forcing Lynch to tap. After the match, Naomi chased Natalya out of the ring when she attempted to do more damage to Becky Lynch and Carmella came out. Solid little match, the crowd was hot for Lynch with the near fall from the flying forearm getting a big reaction. Natalya got a clean submission win to put over the Sharpshooter as the potential deciding factor in her SummerSlam champion match so this turned out to be a well booked and well worked match.
The New Day vs. The Usos: Woods & Kingston is the New Day team tonight, as they confirmed Big E and Woods would be the duo competing at SummerSlam. New Day double teamed Jey Uso right off the bat and he was forced to bail. The Usos controlled during the commercial break and worked over Kofi but Kofi fought back and tagged Woods who cleaned house. Double super kick to Jimmy got a near fall and Jey knocked Woods off the top rope as he attempted to dive. Jey clipped Kofi and the Usos hit a double super kick for the win. Again, a solid if unspectacular TV match that served as a nice little preview for SummerSlam. It put over the idea of Big E potentially being a big game changer in the favor of the New Day on Sunday and gave the Usos a strong win over the champs to give them momentum into their match. Much like the Natalya match, simple and effective booking helped build to their rematch.
puRgatoRy:
Jinder Mahal India Independence Day Celebration: Jinder Mahal kicked off Smackdown with a India Independence Day celebration, talking about how it was a celebration of both his country and for himself. He had Indian inspired dancers perform in the entrance way and then had someone perform the India National Anthem. Jinder promised to beat John Cena tonight more convincingly than Shinsuke Nakamura did and said Nakamura’s destiny was to lose to him at SummerSlam. He tried to speak in Punjabi but Nakamura interrupted. Nakamura simply told Jinder that he would lose the WWE Championship at SummerSlam to him. It was just a segment, we’ve seen the India inspired celebration segment before so that was nothing new but I appreciate the short and simple message that Nakamura gave to Jinder. I also kind of like how they’ve really kept Mahal and Nakamura apart, for the most part, it gives a mysterious vibe to the match to the point where I think Nakamura is going to be put over incredibly strong at SummerSlam and win the title.
Rusev vs. Chad Gable: Rusev fired away to start but Gable cut him off with an overhead belly to belly suplex. They went to the floor where Rusev repeatedly drove Gable into the steps. Rusev tossed Gable over the announce table as the ref counted both men out and he locked in the Accolade on the announce table. Rusev went to cut a promo on Randy Orton but Orton snuck in and laid him out with an RKO. Well, this certainly wasn’t like the match from two weeks ago. I liked the beat down inflicted on Gable and really they should have just ended things with a Rusev promo, but of course Orton just had to get his heat back for some reason. It’s the usual with the booking of Rusev, they look like they take a step in the right direction only to take two steps backwards.
AJ Styles Apologies: Styles called out Shane McMahon to apologize for the incident from last week. Shane told Styles there is no need for an apology, as he knew what he was getting into when he signed up to be the guest referee at SummerSlam. Styles wanted confirmation that he’s not going to get screwed based on the events of last week and Shane makes it cleared he will only get physically involved if Styles’ lays his hands on him again. Kevin Owens came out and agreed with how Shane is laying down the law, as it meant that Styles isn’t going to weasel his way out of retaining the championship. Owens promised that any incident that might happen between them will be an accident. Shane demanded a handshake between the two but Styles’ wanted no part of it. Styles went to nail Owens but missed and Shane blocked the punch. Owens went to super kick Styles but missed and nailed Shane. Again, the segment was designed to put over Shane’s role as the referee rather than to build to the Styles/Owens match on its’ own. The dissension aspect is fine from a storytelling standpoint but they really need to just let Styles and Owens put on a killer match at the PPV, as their program has brought each of them down several notches over the past few months.
Jinder Mahal vs. John Cena/ Baron Corbin Cashes In: They had a test of strength to kick things off and one of the Singh Brothers got a cheap shot in on Cena as the ref attempted to break them up. Cena fought back with his signature offense but the Singh Brothers pulled him out of the ring to save him. Cena gave chase but the Singh Brothers tried to prevent him from re-entering the ring, so the ref tossed them. Cena caught Mahal in the STF but Mahal fought his way to the ropes. Mahal came back with the high knee for a near fall and went for the Khallas but Cena countered into the AA for a near fall. Cena hit a Super AA for what looked like was going to be the win but Baron Corbin attacked for the DQ. He laid out Cena with the briefcase and started to walk out but then had second thoughts and decided to cash in his opportunity. Corbin took a second to knock Cena off the apron, which allowed Mahal to quickly roll him up for the win. In regards to Cena vs. Mahal, the match was decent with the final minute or so actually being really good with a good underlying story of how much trouble Mahal is in when the Singh Brothers are eliminated from the equation. I’m glad they didn’t give Cena a clean win as having Mahal lose two weeks in a row to men who are likely not in championship programs for the time being would have been incredibly stupid. As for the cash-in, the set up for it was really good but the execution of the match was garbage. Cena hitting the Super AA was a great set-up for Corbin choosing to cash in, but Corbin looked like a moron for throwing his opportunity away to throw another shot at Cena. It’s a waste of the Money in the Bank briefcase and it pretty much confirms that the company had lost faith in Corbin as a potential top star. The cash in will only look good in retrospective if it leads to a heated feud before Cena/Corbin, but on first glance it just looks like a form of punishment for Corbin and a total waste of a cash-in that actually had the crowd going nuts when it occurred.
THE wRong:
NOTHING
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
