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 10.10.17
– Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable d. The Hype Bros, Breezango & The Ascension [**¾]
– Becky Lynch d. Carmella [*]
– Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura d. Rusev & Aiden English [**]
– WWE US Championship – Baron Corbin © d. AJ Styles [***½]

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THE Right:
The Usos and New Day Make Peace/Four Way Tag Match: The Usos came out to kick off Smackdown and called out the New Day to deliver a message. The New Day came out and Usos gave them props for going to war at Hell in a Cell and said the rest of the tag division sucked compared to the two of them. They beat the hell of each other and yet they drove to the next town banged up and bruised. Both teams looked to shake hands as a sign of respect but the Hype Bros, Benjamin & Gable, Breezango & The Ascension call came out to make their intentions clear that they want to enter the tag team championship picture. Daniel Bryan then made a four way #1 Contender’s match between those four teams. The Ascension was the target early in the match, with Viktor being worked over by both the Hype Bros & Benjamin and Gable. Viktor finally cut off Gable with a high knee and it brought all the teams in to fight. Mojo ran wild on Breeze, culminating in a tilt-a-whirl slam for a near fall. The Ascension caused dissention between the Hype Bros by shoving them into each other and Breeze almost scored the win off a roll-up on Ryder. Benjamin and Gable ran wild with a series of suplexes and spine busters and Gable hit a moonsault on Fandango. They hit a Doomsday Powerbomb on Breeze for the win. The whole segment was one of the better starts to Smackdown I’ve seen in some time due to the fun factor. The Usos promo was fantastic and their retorts to the challenges was outstanding, they just totally blew me away on microphone tonight. The match itself was fun, full of action with each team having a moment to shine. Gable and Benjamin came out of this segment as strong challenges, so this total package was a success from start to finish.

Sami Zayn Explains Himself: Kevin Owens came out and bragged about how he sent Shane McMahon to hell just like he promised and he isn’t coming back. Owens said he felt like he was being ascending into heaven but he met St. Peter at the gates and said that the WWE needs Kevin Owens, so he gave him his guardian angel in Sami Zayn. Owens said his new purpose is to turn Smackdown Live into his own paradise and Smackdown is now the Kevin Owens Show. He brought out Sami Zayn who had a huge smile on his face as he came out. Owens claimed that he didn’t know that Sami Zayn was going to save him at Hell in the Cell and he thanks Sami for doing so. Sami said that Owens’ Apron Bomb two weeks ago finally opened his eyes. He put good values and the people in front of his own career and it only brought him to mediocrity while Owens achieved numerous successes. He said Shane McMahon fed him nothing but lies when he came to Smackdown and he brushed him off when he tried to warn Shane about what Owens was capable of. At Hell in the Cell, Shane had Owens defeated but he decided to go one step further and despite what he and Owens have been through, he was his brother and he was going to protect him. He now realized he only despised Owens because he was right and he thanked Owens for helping him see the light as they hugged. I loved this; it was the redemption moment for Sami Zayn after almost a year of lackluster results for him. Owens’ guardian angel set-up for him was fantastic and Zayn crushed it on the microphone, beautifully illustrating his WWE story and how everything has built to that very moment. The reunion of Owens and Zayn now becomes the most interesting and fascinating story in WWE and I can’t wait to see where they go over the next few weeks.

WWE US Championship – Baron Corbin © vs. AJ Styles: Styles caught Corbin with an enzuigiri and a dropkick right at the bell and Corbin was forced to bail. Corbin drilled Styles with a lariat but Styles came back with a dropkick to the leg followed by the basement forearm. A baseball slide knocked Corbin over the announce table and back in, he hit the DVD back breaker for a near fall. Corbin answered back with Deep Six but Styles shoved Corbin shoulder first into the post and rolled him into the Calf Crusher. Corbin drove Styles’ head into the mat to break and Styles caught Corbin with the Pele. Styles went for the knee strike from the apron but Corbin chucked him off the apron to the floor in a sick spot. Corbin hit the End of Days for the win. I was shocked by how great this turned out. Both guys treated like a blow off, with some hot near falls and really sick bumps to put it over the top. A clean win for Corbin was absolutely the right choice here, it adds some validity to his title win from Hell in the Cell after weeks of poor build up and it cements that the championship is his for the long run. It was also the perfect way to take Styles out of the picture and move him on to something different, he puts over Corbin as the mid-card champion and all it’ll take is a couple of big wins to build him up as the likely challenge for Jinder Mahal and bring him back into the WWE Championship picture where he belongs.

puRgatoRy:
Carmella vs. Becky Lynch: Lynch is right on the attack to start and as Lynch went to the floor to go after her, Carmella used Ellsworth to shield her, giving her a chance to clip Lynch and take control. Lynch soon after was able to grab Carmella and lock in the Disarmer for the victory. Way too short to really dive into, but it really just existed to continue the trend of the briefcase holding losing prior to the cash-in, which should do nothing to elevate or put Carmella in a strong position when that moment finally arrives.

Aiden English & Rusev vs. Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura: Orton hit the back suplex onto the announce table right at the start but an assist from English allowed Rusev to hit a high kick that knocked Orton off the apron and to the floor. Rusev and English grounded Orton for a bit but Orton came back with a power slam and he tagged Nakamura who cleaned house. Nakamura hit a spin kick on Rusev right into the RKO from Orton and he finished English off with the Kinsasha for the victory. This was a decent little match that was designed to give Nakamura a strong win after failing twice against Jinder. Giving Nakamura some wins and keeping him out of title picture for a while is a good idea, as they can easily build him back up again with a collection of solid wins and in-ring performances. They have to find something better to do with Rusev & English, if they refuse to give Rusev a push then build them up as a strong heel team for the tag division.

Bobby Roode Challenges Dolph Ziggler: Bobby Roode came out and declared his PPV debut to be glorious until Ziggler attacked him from behind. He challenged Ziggler to a fight and Ziggler came out. Ziggler claimed he exposed Roode as a fraud at Hell in the Cell, proving he was the better man until Roode panicked and cheated to win. Ziggler wanted a rematch and Roode accepted, wanting to fight right now. Ziggler decides against that and walked out. As a way to set up their rematch for next week, the layout of this segment work. Unfortunately, they tried to play up to the crowd way too much and the crowd really couldn’t care about their feud as the moment, so it generated a lot of awkward pauses and flat moments. Roode struggling with his promo didn’t help things, so despite the simple set-up, there seems to be no heat heading into the match next week.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1170th edition is over…

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

I loved this week’s episode of Smackdown. The first time in months, things feel fresh and different on the show. They are finally done with all the summer programs and feuds that in some cases dragged on forever and now it looks like almost the entire show is going in a different direction which is great to see. We got The Usos getting to face new teams in the tag division, AJ Styles is moving on from the US Champion & Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn getting ready to take off as the company’s best act. This show desperately needed a new coat of paint and to shake things up as begin the shift toward WrestleMania season and I totally got that vibe coming out of it. Two outstanding promo segments and a great main event makes this one of the best editions of Smackdown of the year, check it out if you haven’t yet.