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 9.05.17
– Natalya defeated Carmella [*1/2]
– Aiden English defeated Sami Zayn [¼*]
– Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger [**]
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Randy Orton [***1/2]

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THE Right:
The Kevin Owens/Shane McMahon Saga: The show looked it was going to open with Carmella vs. Natalya but Owens interrupted James Ellsworth’s intro. Owens told them he is the special guest referee for the match but Shane McMahon came out to prevent that from happening. Shane got sick of all the excuses Owens had been making and said on Smackdown, he has to earn victories and championships while on Raw he had Triple H handing him the Universal Championship. Owens claimed Shane is an attention seeker, trying to impress his dad and parading his kids around. Owens said the McMahon family would have been better off if Shane didn’t survive his helicopter crash and he made another comment about Shane’s kids, causing Shane to snap and attack Owens. Daniel Bryan and officials finally get Shane off him as Shane realized what he just did. Later in the evening, Bryan called Shane back out to the ring and reminded Shane of what he told him when he wanted to hit the Miz last year, saying Shane went against his own advice. Shane was remorseful for attacking Owens but he said he will go into a blind rage if his family is brought into his issues. Bryan told Shane that Vince ordered Shane to be suspended. I enjoyed this entire story arch tonight. Neither segment overstayed it’s welcome, with the Shane/Owens verbal sparring and brawl being really strong in particular. You felt the hatred on Shane’s end and you could see the maniacal tactics of Owens, showing the best in both and so far the build in this feud has been fantastic to this point.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Randy Orton: The winner challenges Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell. Orton went for some of his signature offense early but Nakamura is able to avoid it quickly. Orton hit a gord buster into the ropes and he grounded Nakamura with the chin lock. Nakamura fought out and they went to the floor where Orton hit a back suplex onto the announce table. Nakamura caught Orton with a spinning heel kick and he began throwing a series of strikes on Orton. After a battle on the top rope, Orton connected with a huge superplex for a near fall. Nakamura threw some knees at Orton but Orton countered the Kinsasha with a power slam. Hanging DDT by Orton and he went for the RKO but Nakamura countered into the Triangle Choke. Orton broke it with a power bomb and went for another RKO but Nakamura countered that with a back stabber. Kinsasha by Nakamura gives him the win and made him the #1 Contender once again. This was Orton’s best single match since a match with AJ Styles in March. Great story of Orton dominating with power offense but Nakamura waiting for his time and had an array of RKO counters in his arsenal, which ultimately led him to victory. Nakamura now has clean wins over John Cena & Randy Orton over the past two months, so clearly they still view Nakamura as a top star on the brand and still think ultimately the end game is Nakamura holding the WWE Championship, so this was a clear success in building Nakamura back up after the SummerSlam loss.

puRgatoRy:
Carmella vs. Natalya: Carmella surprisingly got the better of Natalya early but Natalya drilled her with a discus clothesline. Carmella worked a body scissors but Natalya powered into the Michinoku Driver. Natalya hit a super kick for 2 and in the excitement, Ellsworth dropped the briefcase. The ref asked if Carmella wanted to cash in but she quickly said no. She scolded Ellsworth, allowing Natalya time to roll her up for the win. Carmella degrades Ellsworth after the match and she declared that they were through. The match was fine but the finish was complete trash. It was a cheesy way to do the usual garbage distraction finish and a lame cash-in fakeout spot. It was just a bad idea for a finish and we continue the bizarre trend of the briefcase holder losing matches before the eventual cash in.

Dolph Ziggler Re-Debut: Ziggler came out and claimed the WWE universe didn’t appreciate what he can do. He left and then came out to John Cena’s entrance, doing his mannerisms. He then came out to Pomp and Circumstance, doing Randy Savage’s gimmick. He followed up with Naomi’s entrance, finally declaring that it seemed all the WWE Universe wants is special effects and gimmicks. He said anyone can have a gimmick but no one can do what he can do in the ring. Ziggler said the fans made him sick and he left for good. The overall message was fine but this was just way too long. In a way, I’m kind of glad they did the fake entrance thing in one shot since normally they would do it on a weekly basis just as time filler. In the end, Ziggler’s gimmick is all going to depend on how it translate to the ring so we’ll wait and see but I’m not seeing a glimmer of hope for him coming out of this.

Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger: AJ Styles was on commentary for the match. Corbin confronted him to start, allowing Dillinger to hit a suicide dive and go on the attack on the floor. Corbin came back with a lariat for a near fall and he kicked Dillinger back to the floor. Dillinger fired back but Corbin landed a cheap shot and stun gunned Dillinger onto the ring post. Corbin hit the End of Days to pick up the win. This was perfectly fine, the match had a perfect TV structure with Dillinger getting some offense but Corbin was ultimately too dirty and powerful for him. I liked the dynamic of Styles’ being frustrated with Corbin’s cheap shots and dirty tactics and making their issue a matter of respect. It’s a nice change from what we’ve been seeing.

THE wRong:
Aiden English vs. Sami Zayn: Zayn went right on the attack but he missed a cross body off the top and English got an inside cradle for the win. English tried to sing again after the match but Zayn gave chase after the match. I have the tiniest bit of hope for something good to happen to Sami Zayn and then this week this kill my dreams dead. The Owens/Zayn alignment is the only thing that can save Zayn at this point, as they continue to kill him dead for no reason. It’s really depressing to watch.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1165th edition is over…