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Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown
Loading...How the 4Rs of wRestling Work! (WWE Smackdown Edition)
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R’s. I will group my feelings on the show 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 11.28.17
– The New Day d. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable [***]
– The Bludgeon Brothers d. The Hype Bros [SQUASH]
– AJ Styles d. The Singh Brothers [**]
– Riott Squad d. Natalya, Charlotte Flair & Naomi [*1/2]
– No DQ Match- Kevin Owens d. Randy Orton [***]
THE Right:
The New Day vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable: The Usos were on commentary for the match. Kofi & Woods represented the New Day in the match. The New Day double teamed Gable in the early going but after the break, Benjamin threw some knees on Woods to gain control. Back suplex/second rope knee strike combo on Woods got a near fall and Gable went up top with Woods but Woods fought him off and followed with a missile dropkick. Kofi got the hot tag and cleaned house, sending Gable and Benjamin to the floor. Woods caught them with a summersault plancha and back in, Kofi hit a spin kick on Benjamin. UpUpDownDown on Benjamin gave the New Day the victory. This was a damn good TV tag match. Kofi & Woods were on their A game, all their high spots looked crisp and they looked like a well oiled machine against Benjamin & Gable. I’m find with putting New Day back into the title picture for now, the clean victory here set up the three way tag for Clash of Champions which on paper looks like a show stealer.
The Hype Bros vs. The Bludgeon Brothers: Harper hit the Black Hole Slam on Ryder and they quickly followed up with the T-Bomb for the victory. After the match, the Hype Bros were asked about their recent lack of success and Ryder tried to explain they needed to focus and get back to the level they were at months ago but Mojo Rawley attacked Ryder, pummeling him until officials finally pulled him off. I liked the set-up of this segment and how everything flowed from the match right into the breakup of the Hype Bros. They explained that the Hype Bros asked for the rematch, so having this match occur two weeks in a row made sense in this instance. The Bludgeon Brothers were even more dominant this week, continuing their strong built so far and finally the lack of success got Rawley fed up and forced him to do something drastic to change his fortunes. I’m not sure how well this Rawley heel turn will go, but at least the start of it was effective and Rawley vs. Ryder is a perfectly fine little program to put in the mid card.
The Singh Brothers vs. AJ Styles: Jinder Mahal attacked Styles before the match began, sending him ribs first into the post. When the match began, the Singh Brothers went right after the ribs of Styles. They hit a double suplex on Styles and continued their assault on the ribs. They put Styles on top but Styles fought them off. Sunil went for a Frankensteiner but Styles blocked and hit a second rope Styles’ Clash on Sunil, driving both of them on top of Samir for the win. Jinder Mahal laid out both Singh Brothers after the match in a show of frustration. Make it 3 for 3 on the evening for matches that were laid out incredibly well. This was much better than I thought it was going to be going in, the pre match attack from Mahal put Styles in danger right from the opening bell and the Singh Brothers did a good job effectively attacking Styles injured ribs in a way that made it look like Styles could potentially lose the match. The finish was really cool, a great way for Styles to take out both Singh Brothers at the same time despite the injury, so this whole segment entertained me way more than I was anticipating.
Natalya, Charlotte Flair & Naomi vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) : Riott & Logan got the better of Natalya early so she tagged out and walked out on her team. Charlotte was starting to take control but a distraction allowed Riott to knock her off the apron and turned things back in her favor. Logan & Morgan destroyed Naomi on the floor, sending crashing into the steps to take her out of the match. Charlotte started to fight back, hitting the Lethal Combination into the corner on Riott and then catching Morgan with a Spear. Logan caught her with a knee strike from the apron and Riott hit the Riot Kick for the victory. From an in-ring standpoint, the Riott Squad at this moment have no chemistry as a trio, so the in-ring work was pretty bland until they began the beating on Naomi, taking their intensity to the next level. The story of the match was very good, I liked the ways each of Charlotte’s partners were taking out of the equation and despite one little furry, Charlotte was no match for the new unit as a result. This match did a tremendous job of putting over the Riott Squad strongly and Ruby Riott is already looking like a star.
puRgatoRy:
NO WAY! Shane McMahon Kicks off Smackdown: In an absolutely shocking moment, Shane McMahon came out to start the show. He talked about how he was looking forward to firing Owens & Zayn last week but Daniel Bryan intervened so he brought him out to explain his decision. Bryan said Owens & Zayn’s temper got the better of them and he said Shane had been guilty of the same thing previously. He said ultimately he didn’t want Owens & Zayn to end up on Raw and said he was put in charge to make decisions for the brand, not to be a Yes man for Shane. Shane said he liked the idea of Owens vs. Orton, but he added two stipulations. He said Sami Zayn would be barred from ringside and the match would be No DQ. This was decent by opening segment standards. It went pretty quickly and highlighted the dissension between Shane & Bryan, which looks to be the big TV storyline over the next few months. Nothing of note was really said but they got their point across without going too long or getting wacky with things, so this was serviceable.
No DQ Match- Kevin Owens vs. Randy Orton: Orton went right on the attack, sending Owens into the steps and across the announce table. Orton drilled Owens repeatedly with a kendo stick and he hit a back suplex onto the barricade. Owens nailed Orton with a kendo stick of his own and he hit a fall-a-way slam into the barricade on Orton. Owens hit a DDT for a near fall and they went up top, with Orton taking Owens off the top with a super plex for a near fall. They went back to the floor where Orton hit another back suplex onto the barricade and then hit one onto the announce table. Owens tried to run away in the crowd but Orton followed him, taking the brawl onto the entrance ramp. Sami Zayn attacked Orton with a series of chair shots, not violating the barred from ringside rule since it took place in the entrance way. Back in, Orton still caught Owens with the draping DDT and he went for the RKO but Owens clipped him. Super kick by Owens and he followed up with a Frog Splash for the victory. The first few minutes of the match were very intense and physical and I was beginning to think we were in store for a great brawl. As the match progressed though, it slowed down and began to drag, losing that momentum that it had early on. They resorted to more slow paced wrestling going into their usual repertoire, moving away from the creativity and fun the beginning of the match was setting up. They found a way to get Zayn involved and his interference directly led to the Owens victory, so the finish was booked in an effective way that both gave Owens a much needed victory and keeps the Owens & Zayn vs. Orton feud going, so despite some flaws this turned out to be a solid main event.
THE wRong:
NOTHING
THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING
