Wrestling’s 4Rs: The Right, Wrong and Ridiculous of WWE Smackdown

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.

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SMACKDOWN 12.12.17
– Charlotte Flair d. Ruby Riott by DQ [*]
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin ended in a No-Contest [¼*]
– The Blugeon Brothers d. Colin Delaney & Joe Monroe [SQUASH]
– Aiden English & Rusev d. The Usos [*1/2]
– Kevin Owens d. Shinsuke Nakamura [***1/4]

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THE Right:
The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Colin Delaney & Joe Monroe: COLIN DELANEY SIGHTING~!!!! He got drilled with a dropkick from Rowan and Harper destroyed him with a lariat. Double power bomb to Monroe and The Bludgeon Brother hit the T-Bomb on Delaney for the win. These squashes are my guilty pleasure right now on Smackdown. Having teams get utterly destroyed and act in total fear of the Bludgeon Brothers only help build them as the strongest force in the tag division. Also, all the props in the world to Joe Monroe for deciding to do that scream before being hit with the power bomb, it made for an awesome and memorable moment in this squash match.

AJ Styles Opens the Show: AJ Styles came out to kick off Smackdown, talking about how he’s been obsessed with his upcoming championship defense at Clash of Champions against Jinder Mahal. He talked about every desperate act Jinder Mahal used to keep his championship, so he knows what to expect at Clash of Champions. The Singh Brothers came out and said after the attack from Jinder two weeks ago, they want to be in the corner of AJ Styles and that they’re finished with Jinder Mahal. They complained about their treatment at the hands of Jinder Mahal but Styles showed them some photos from WWE’s India show where they were still in the corner of Mahal. Jinder came out and Styles told him that he’s not a sucker; he knew the Singh Brothers were selling him crap. Styles cleared the ring of the Singhs and he challenged Mahal to enter but Jinder declined. Normally in segments like this WWE would have the baby face act like a sucker and buy the Singh’s false change of heart, so I’m glad they made Styles look by catching on to their garbage and still getting the upper hand on Jinder. This segment was fine, it was really just there to put over the idea that Styles is prepared for the Singh’s potential involvement at Clash of Champions and as a result looks like the superior foe that Jinder can’t get the better of. If the idea right now is to build up Styles as the strongest champion he could possibly be, they’re doing a great job of it.

puRgatoRy:
Ruby Riott vs. Charlotte Flair: Exploder suplex by Flair to start and Riott regrouped on the floor. Flair hit the Lethal Combination in the corner followed by a big boot. She dumped Riott to the floor and went after all the members of the Riott Squad which allowed Natalya the chance to attack her for the DQ. After the match, the Riott Squad triple teamed Charlotte and they attempted to slingshot Charlotte into the steps but Naomi returned and made the save. The Riott Squad tried to retreat but Carmella, Lana and Tamina got a shot in as well before they finally escaped. They kept this short which is fine since I think Charlotte/Riott could be a big match down the line so I’m all for saving their best stuff for later on. The post match segment was strong with Naomi’s return helping unite the women against the Riott Squad without making them look week, so a nothing match was made up for with solid booking that was a big rebound from last week.

Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn Occupy Smackdown: During the show, Owens and Zayn were handing out anti-Shane McMahon flyers and wearing Yep! Shirts. Kevin Owens said that the last nine months proved that Shane McMahon is the worst member of the family and he is on a rage bender. Owens said it was time to take a stand and called out people to join them for their occupy movement. The only person who came out was Daniel Bryan but Owens & Zayn were happy to see him. Bryan told them that the original Yes! Movement was for the people, not for himself. Owens & Zayn said that Shane is trying to take food off their family’s plates and trying to take away what they worked to get for years. Bryan gave them the guarantee that the match at Clash of Champions would be fair by making himself the second guest referee in their match against Nakamura & Orton. Owens & Zayn saw this as a victory for themselves and they celebrate with chants of Yes! There were some cute moments in this segment but I really wanted Owens & Zayn to just go over the top with their obnoxious personalities here but they just didn’t go that far. The Daniel Bryan entering the match as a segment ref announcement does nothing for me and just adds way too much to a match that is going to be overbooked like crazy to begin with. This was one of the better Owens & Zayn segments in recent weeks but the fun vibe to their act is missing right now in this Shane/Bryan dissension story.

Aiden English & Rusev vs. The Usos: The match started during the commercial break and came back with Rusev locking in a bear hug on Jey. Jey fought out and tagged in Jimmy who fired away on English. Jimmy super kicked English and Jey looked to dive at Rusev on the floor but Rusev nailed him to block. Rusev caught Jimmy with a super kick from the floor and English hit a release DDT for the victory. They cut short on time which is a shame because what we got was fun. They did the smart thing by giving the team that needs the momentum the clean victory and I’m glad they resisted the urge to get the New Day or Benjamin & Gable involved, so this was a well booked albeit criminally short match.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens: Owens went on the attack to start and he rammed Nakamura into the apron a few times before hitting a back senton for a near fall. Nakamura threw some knees in the corner but missed the corner knee lift, giving Owens a chance to take him to the floor and drive him into the barricade. Owens went for another back senton but it hit the knees of Nakamrua and Nakamura began to fire back. Nakamura hit a sit-out Gordbuster followed by an enzuigiri to Owens. Nakamura connected on the corner knee lift and they went up top. Owens fought him off and went for the Swanton Bomb but it hit the knees of Nakamura. Owens went for a forearm but missed Nakamura and he nailed the ref. Daniel Bryan left the commentary table and began to put on the ref shirt. Nakamura hit the spinning heel kick on Owens for a near fall. Sami Zayn argued Daniel Bryan for getting involved which triggered a brawl between him and Orton. Nakamura knocked Zayn off the apron but he walked into the Pop-Up Powerbomb from Owens for the victory. They were given plenty of time to develop something pretty good and as you watch the match, you felt we were building to a hot finishing stretch but then they went into overbook move with the ref bump and Bryan entering the match and it brought things to a halt. The spot accomplished nothing, the announcers tried to put over the idea Daniel Bryan might be on Owens & Zayn’s side even thought his actions in the match did nothing to ever highlight that point. It’s a shame as this was building into one of the better Smackdown matches in weeks, but they just couldn’t help themselves by giving us a preview of the garbage we are going to have to sit through at Clash of Champions.

THE wRong:
Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin: Corbin charged at Ziggler in the corner but missed and hit the post shoulder first. Bobby Roode left the commentary table and he laid out Ziggler with the Glorious DDT. He delivered it to Corbin as well and was the one who stood tall this week. They basically did the exact same finish as last week except letting Roode stand tall at the end of the segment. It did nothing to make Ziggler look like a threat for the US Championship and it did nothing to help Roode either. It was a lazy way to build the three way match and based on the build no matter the result no one looks to gain any momentum coming out of that match.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1177th edition is over…

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

This was a significantly better effort than we got last week but that’s not saying much. If you’re looking for a solid slate of matches, then you should avoid this one, as this was all about the build to Clash of Champions with the typical go home style show we’re used to. The one match that did stand out was marred by a bad finish and everything else was rushed. In terms of the final push for the PPV, I will say they did a decent job of adding some juice to some of the programs some simple booking and a decent post-match angle in the Women’s match. That being said, it still looks on paper to be one of WWE’s weakest PPV line-ups in some time. This wasn’t a horrible show but even as the go-home, this episode can be skipped as it really won’t get more excited or interested in Clash of Champions as you already were beforehand.