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

Kevin Owens Makes a Demand
AJ Styles opened the show and laid out an open challenge for the US Championship. Kevin Owens came out but Styles told him that they were finished after his victory at SummerSlam. Owens claimed he got screwed by Shane so Shane came out and claimed that he called it down the middle like he promised. Owens reminded Shane of the incidents that occurred at SummerSlam, including Shane counting the three even though Styles’ foot was on the ropes. Owens demanded his championship back, so Styles called him a whiny little bitch and offered Owens one more shot. Shane made the match, but Owens demanded a referee of his choice, so Shane gave him his request but told him this will be his last chance no matter what. Owens spent the show trying to convince Sami Zayn to take the job based on their history but Zayn turned him down. The Fashion Police offered their services but Owens was quick to dismiss them. Baron Corbin offered his services if Owens gave him the first crack at the Championship if he won and Owens agreed. I’ll go more in depth on my fought on the feud and match later on, but as its own segment it was nothing special at all. It followed up on the happenings at SummerSlam and was excuse to get one more Styles/Owens match in the program, so really there isn’t all that much to speak of here in terms of anything interesting.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Singh Brothers
Nakamura manhandled both Singh Brothers at the start of the match and delivered Good Vibrations to both. Nakamura took too much time staring down Jinder Mahal, which allowed the Singh Brothers to attack from behind and take control. Nakamura caught Samir in a Triangle Choke though and he quickly tapped. After the match, Mahal attacked Nakamura but Nakamura nailed him with the Kinsasha. I love the Singh Brothers as Mahal’s lackeys and I think they take some of the best bumps in WWE in their non-wrestling role, but they didn’t look good in an actual match here. They looked really sloppy and posed no threat to Nakamura in any fashion. In terms of making Nakamura look strong after the defeat at SummerSlam, they did a good job. Nakamura make quick work of the Singhs and he knocked out Mahal in the post match, showing that under fair conditions he would beat Mahal. It worked as a quick rebuild segment for Nakamura but I have zero desire to watch the Singhs work more matches based on the two minutes they got here.

Natalya & Carmella vs. Becky Lynch & Naomi
Natalya was worked over during the commercial break but when they came back, she stomped away on Lynch in the corner. Carmella refused to tag in, which allowed Lynch to catch her with an enzuigiri. Naomi got the tag and she caught Natalya in the Anaconda Vice but Natalya escaped. Natalya blind tagged Carmella in and chased her into the ring. Lynch caught her with an exploder suplex and Naomi followed with the split legged moonsault for the win. The match itself wasn’t good as all, the layout was based around the idea that Carmella wanted Natalya to get beaten down so she could attempt cash in, only for it to backfire and she was defeated instead. That’s a cute little idea for one week but I have a feeling they’re going to keep doing this for awhile despite about how illogical and downright stupid the idea of having the champion constantly be backstabbed by her Money in the Bank holding partner is.

4.5

The final score: review Poor

The 411

As an overall show, this was a poor follow-up to SummerSlam. The matches on this show were not good which the exception of the Usos tag which was too short. There was no point in doing another special referee gimmick after everyone in the SAME BUILDING saw it play out two days earlier and was just an excuse to get the ball rolling on Owens vs. Shane. Bobby Roode’s debut was fantastic but the show fell off a cliff real quick after that, so just check out his debut segment and nothing else. With all that said, they did hype up some segments for next week’s so starting with Roode’s debut tonight and going forward, Smackdown at least will feel fresh with new feuds, talents and gimmicks coming down the pike, so hopefully the show improves upon this one.