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.

---

SMACKDOWN 8.08.17
– The Usos d. Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger [**]
– Charlotte Flair d. Lana [SQUASH]
– Carmella d. Naomi [*1/2]
– Randy Orton d. Jinder Mahal [***]

---

THE Right:
John Cena Addresses The Events of Last Week: Cena came out to kick off Smackdown, addressing the match with Shinsuke Nakamura from last week. He talked about how one minute he was doing his thing and the next minute, he woke up having realized he lost. Baron Corbin interrupted him, saying he could care less about the respect Cena has for Nakamura and told him that he is the future who planned to put Cena in the past. Cena called him an overrated dumpster fire and challenged him to come to the ring. Corbin declined, saying that with the Money in the Bank briefcase, Cena wasn’t worth his time. Daniel Bryan came out and made Corbin vs. Cena for SummerSlam. Solid opening promo, Cena was great as usual on the microphone, putting over Nakamura’s victory over him from last week and presenting it as a big deal. The Cena/Corbin back and forth was solid and was an easy set-up for SummerSlam, so no complaints here.

Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton: They traded blows to start and Mahal bailed when Orton got the better of him. Orton worked him over around ringside and went for the RKO on the announce table but Mahal shoved him into the timekeeper’s era to block. Orton came back with a superplex for a near fall and he ran wild on Mahal with his signature offense. Mahal cut Orton off with a knee strike for a near fall but Orton came right back with the hanging DDT. Mahal rolled through the RKO and hit a super kick on Orton, setting him up for the Khallas but Orton countered into the RKO for the victory. Rusev laid out Orton on the stage to end the show. This match was actually pretty good, probably the second best match they had together behind Money in the Bank. They didn’t screw around with rest holds, they maintained the physicality and action throughout and it made for a pretty hot final stretch. That being said, I don’t understand the reasoning for booking this match in the first place and the reasoning for an Orton clean win here. Mahal losing clean doesn’t do anything to help build up his match with Nakamura and Orton’s win really doesn’t do anything for him after losing three straight PPV matches to Jinder previously. As much as I enjoyed this match, the booking here really means absolutely nothing in the big picture.

puRgatoRy:
The Usos vs. Sami Zayn & Tye Dillinger: Dillinger went on the attack early on Jimmy to start and when they came back from commercial, Zayn fought out of the clutches of the Usos, allowing Dillinger to get the hot tag and run wild. Dillinger looked to dive but Jey nailed him to block, so Zayn took the Usos out with a summersault plancha. Sky High by Dillinger got a near fall and he went on top but Jey stopped him and followed up. Jimmy and Jey targeted the knee of Dillinger and Jimmy locked in the Tequila Sunrise, forcing Dillinger to tap. After the match, the New Day’s music played but only Big E came out. The New Day jumped the Usos from behind and went to attack with chairs but the Usos quickly bailed. Naturally, the Canadian team took the loss in Toronto. The little bit of the match we saw was solid and the crowd was hot for the Dillinger/Zayn duo so they were into the match. The Usos picked up a nice win to get momentum for SummerSlam and if they really don’t have plans for Zayn & Dillinger, putting them as a tag team full time may not be the worst idea.

Charlotte Flair vs. Lana: Charlotte got the better of Lana early on and had a smile on her face, so Lana slapped her to send a message. Charlotte creamed her with a big boot and she grabbed the Figure-8. Lana quickly tapped. Early in this match Lana was awful, looking totally sloppy and green but the finish came together, so it wasn’t a complete disaster like it was heading toward. It was a simple squash that continues to play to the idea that Lana is a long way from being a threat in the Women’s division, so this was fine for a TV Filler match.

Shane McMahon Lays Down The Law: Shane McMahon came out and brought out Kevin Owens and AJ Styles to discuss the upcoming match at SummerSlam. Owens apologized to Shane for getting heated last week, as he’s not concerned despite the McMahon’s having an history of screwing over famous Canadians. Owens replayed footage of Styles’ attack on Shane from a few months ago, trying to play up distrust between the two. Styles warned Shane that if he doesn’t call the match fairly, he’ll provide a repeat of WrestleMania. Owens played footage of the 1998 Survivor Series when Shane screwed over Stone Cold and said on the WWE Network there was a history of Shane screwing guys over when he acted as a guest referee. Shane told both of them that he will call the match down the middle and will not get involved unless he needs to. Styles offered Owens a match at that moment for the championship with Shane out of the equation but Owens declared he wanted to win in the US. Owens threw a cheap shot at Styles, so Styles tried to retaliate with the Pele Kick but Owens pulled Shane in front of him and bailed. This segment was fine, I liked the use of old footage to call back Shane’s history with Styles and refereeing, planting seeds of doubt about Shane’s real intentions at SummerSlam. Styles and Owens’ back and forth was pretty generic and didn’t have an edge to hit, so outside of the final spot this really lacked something to really put it over the top and add more heat to the PPV bout. The segment as a whole was a mixed bag but the point of building up the Shane aspect was well executed.

Carmella vs. Naomi: Naomi hit an enzuigiri on Carmella right at the bell and Carmella took Naomi down by the hair. Naomi came back with a backbreaker and she hit an enzuigiri. Naomi went up but Carmella stopped her and followed up. Naomi fought her off but James Ellsworth returned and shoved her off the top. Carmella super kicked Naomi for the victory. It’s nice to have Ellsworth back in the fold and I’m glad the WWE actually went through a legit thirty day suspension storyline with him, as the crowd popped for his return. Match had some rough patches but it wasn’t anything too bad and the Ellsworth return now makes Carmella a big threat for the championship.

THE wRong:

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1161st edition is over…

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

After a few weeks of really strong episodes, this week seemed like a step down. The in-ring action was significantly weaker than it has been recently, with only a shockingly good Orton/Mahal match standing out. The promo segments were fine but they weren’t anything that set the world on fire or blew anyone away. We also had some really odd booking, with two of the champions (Mahal and Naomi) losing matches to people they are not defending against at SummerSlam. This episode is fine and might be worth a watch, but there is a significant setback between booking and wrestling quality this week.