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Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown
Image Credit: WWE
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 9.26.17
– Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger by Count-Out [*1/2]
– The Usos defeated The Hype Bros [*]
– Charlotte Flair defeated Carmella [*]
– Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn [***]
THE Right:
Kevin Owens Calls Out Shane McMahon: Kevin Owens came out at the start of the show and called out Shane McMahon. He said Shane was smart because if he did the things he did to a man he liked in Vince McMahon you could only image what he’s going to do to someone he hates. Sami Zayn came out said against his better judgment he wanted to warn Owens that he’s about to cross a line that there’s no coming back from. He told Owens to get a grip but Owens told Zayn he’s out here to try and take his shine. He runs down the lists of things he had accomplished before Zayn in their WWE careers and then asked if Zayn ever did anything as impactful as Owens’ head butt on Vince. Zayn said that things haven’t gone great but his day will come and he will do it the right way while Owens cut every corner to get to the top. Both men look like they’re going to fight so naturally Daniel Bryan comes out and makes Owens/Zayn for the main event. This segment was fantastic. Owens seemed to be walking the brink of insanity and Zayn was the perfect person to try and talk him off the ledge. Zayn’s promo actually did a great job of explaining his recent in-ring struggles and ultimately could make for a reason
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens: They trade blows right at the start and Owens hit the Cannonball in the corner on Zayn to take control. Zayn answered back with some lariats but Owens cut off his run with a super kick. Owens drilled him with another super kick but Zayn came back with the Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall. Zayn hit the summersault plancha to the floor on Owens and he went for the Tornado DDT on the floor but Owens blocked with a super kick. Owens hit the Apron Bomb on Zayn and the ref called off the match due to Zayn’s injuries. Zayn was being helped out when Owens went back on the attack. He went to drive Zayn with a chair wrapped around him into the post but Shane McMahon came out. He charged toward Owens but Owens shoved Sami into Shane and escaped into the crowd to end the show. The short amount we got here was the typical great Ownes/Zayn encounter. It was intense, physical, and full of great counters and exchanged based on their familiarity with one another. The Apron Bomb finish worked here since it’s been some time since we’ve seen Owens use that maneuver and it’s one of the few moves in the company that effectively produces an aura of danger. This match worked to highlight just how dangerous Kevin Owens has become and hopefully tonight planted the seeds for the Zayn alignment with Owens at Hell in a Cell.
puRgatoRy:
Baron Corbin vs. Tye Dillinger: AJ Styles joined commentary for the match and Dillinger dumped Corbin to the outside as he was distracted. Corbin came back with a chokebreaker but Dillinger answered back with a super kick followed by a basement Codebreaker for a near fall. Corbin recovered on the floor and sent Dillinger crashing into Styles at the announce table. Dillinger couldn’t make it back into the ring before the ten count. This match was fine, the finish potentially keeps the door open to throw Dillinger into the Styles/Corbin match at Hell in the Cell or at least will set up a final match between Corbin/Dillinger for next week where Corbin gets the decisive win to send him hot into the US Title match, so I have no real problems with the booking here.
Jinder Mahal’s Insults Continue: Jinder said he may have went too far last week so this week, he’s going to compliment Shinsuke Nakamura. He continued to make fun of Nakamura’s facial expressions but the third one ended up being the real Shinsuke Nakamura. He made his way out and Jinder sent the Singh Brothers after him. They brawled in the entrance way and Mahal jumped Nakamura, sending him into the post. Nakamura fought back, laying out Mahal with the Kinsasha. They didn’t go all the way with an outright ass kicking to give Shinsuke his ultimate revenge for the weeks of insults from Mahal but the live shot of Nakamura was a clever end to this whole fiasco. The actually brawl wasn’t very good but they capped off the weeks of Mahal insults in the exact way they should of, so we can take the good with the bad here.
The Hype Bros vs. The Usos: Mojo went on the attack but the Usos clip him and began to double-team him. Mojo came back with a back suplex and Ryder tag in to clean house. Mojo blind tagged in and the Hype Bros argued, allowing Jimmy to super kick Mojo and Jey hit the Flying Splash for the win. After the match, The Usos confronted The New Day who were sitting in the front row so the New Day challenged them to change their match at Hell in a Cell to a Hell in the Cell match. The Usos accepted. The tag match amounted to nothing. They barely got any time and the Mojo/Ryder dissention felt forced. The losing and causing frustration storyling over the past few weeks was better than the typical they’re not getting along anymore story they decided to go with here. I’m excited about the prospects of the tag team Hell in a Cell match. Considering how great and crazy their encounters have been over the summer, I could only image the insane shit the New Day and Usos have up their sleeves with the Cell in play.
Rusev’s Pride of Bulgaria Celebration: Aiden English did a singing introduction for Rusev and the mayor of Rusev’s hometown delivered a proclamation to Rusev who was standing on a pedestal. He gave Rusev a key to the city and declared September 26th as Rusev Day. Rusev declared he was a hungrier predator than Randy Orton and that he ripped out the fangs of the Viper, killing the legend of the legend killer. Aiden English sang other song only to eat an RKO from Randy Orton. Orton laid out Rusev with an RKO as well. If nothing else, this segment shows how much charisma Rusev has and how disappointing it is that the company has missed the boat on him on so many occasions. Despite how entertaining this was, ultimately it was a worthless segment. This would have more effective and worthwhile had Rusev been built up strong over the past few weeks but instead ultimately this was another way to set up Orton hitting Rusev with an RKO, only building my disinterest in seeing them wrestle at Hell in a Cell.
Dolph Ziggler Does More Entrances: Dolph Ziggler came out to the Undertaker’s entrance this week and claimed anyone can walk around like a zombie but no one could do what he can do. Bobby Roode interrupted his rant, doing his glorious entrance. Roode called Ziggler a hypocrite for wasting everyone’s time over the past few weeks and he challenged Ziggler to backup his claims against him at Hell in a Cell. Ziggler told Roode he’s everything that’s wrong with WWE so he accepted his challenge. I called it last week and hopefully this ended the Ziggler entrance no sense for good. The promos were fine but now it’s time to see whether the criticism of Roode is valid, that his WWE character is all entrance and nothing more. His promo to Ziggler here wasn’t the greatest but hopefully at Hell in the Cell he puts together a good in-ring performance to back up the glamour and pizzazz of his entrance and really get the wheels going on his main roster run.
THE wRong:
Charlotte Flair vs. Carmella Ellsworth grabbed the leg of Charlotte right away, allowing Carmella to take her off the top with a handstand Frankensteiner. Carmella worked over the neck for a bit and she hit a cross body off the top for a near fall. She hit a reverse DDT for another near fall but Charlotte answered back with a big boot for the win. This match was pretty ugly. The timing between the two was way off and Carmella’s offense here did not look believable at all against the stronger and larger Charlotte. The way this was set up did neither lady any favors and the clean win for Charlotte was overshadowed by how poor the performances were here.
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
