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 12.19.17
– Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable d. The Usos [**1/2]
– Charlotte Flair & Naomi d. The Riott Squad [*]
– The New Day d. Aiden English & Rusev [**]
– Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura & AJ Styles d. Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn [***1/4]

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THE Right:
Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon Discuss Clash of Champions: Daniel Bryan came out to kick off the show to express his excitement for the Women’s Royal Rumble and to announce the main event of Mahal, Owens & Zayn vs. Styles, Orton & Nakamura. Shane came out to talk about the events of the tag match at Clash of Champions. Shane explained that when Bryan tripped and fell on him, preventing him from counting the three, his emotions got the better of him when he refused to count the pinfall when Zayn rolled Orton up. Shane questioned why Bryan did a fast count in that same situation and Bryan said he did it to protect Shane from himself. Bryan believes in the idea of the land of opportunity and won’t let Shane go against it to target people he doesn’t like. Shane said that from a business standpoint protecting Owens & Zayn will come back to bite Bryan but Bryan said he won’t do what’s best for business and if that’s what Shane wants, then he should fire him. Shane told Bryan he trusts him and leaves the show in his hands. I have to say, considering the train wreck the double referee match was at Clash of Champions, they did a hell of a job in this segment providing the logic for some of the events that occurred during that match. Bryan was excellent in this segment, showing that he wasn’t buying into any of the crap Shane was trying to justify and going all the way with his beliefs of the type of show Smackdown should be. I’m nowhere near invested in the story line but I’ll give them props for providing a compelling segment that at least moves the storyline in a more positive direction after the horrible start.

The Usos vs. Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable: The Usos double teamed Gable in the corner to start and he is forced to bail. Jimmy caught Benjamin with an enzuigiri and he made the tag to Jey who cleaned house. Jimmy looked to dive but Benjamin kicked him on the way out. Jey hit the super kick on Gable and went up but Benjamin quickly followed. Jey fought him off and went for the Superfly Splash but he ate the knees of Gable who followed with a small package for a near fall. Gable hit the Chaos Theory on Jey and Benjamin and Gable hit the Doomsday Powerbomb for the win. They finally got just enough time to show the potential a full length tag between these two teams have. The final stretch was red hot, with Benjmain and Gable using an awesome array of strikes and suplexes to overpower the Usos and earn a clean victory that left me excited for their next encounter.

Dolph Ziggler’s US Championship Celebration: Dolph Ziggler came out and said that his US Championship victory was out of nowhere in most people’s eyes but not in his. The last 12 years he has taken a beating but has proved that no one can do what he can in the ring. He shows footage of his first US Title victory, his five Intercontinental Championship victories and his World Heavyweight Champion victory. He said he is one of the most decorated superstars in history but he goes unappreciated for his work and achievements. Ziggler says the people don’t deserve him and he said he’ll leave something to remember him by. He left the US Championship in the ring and walked out. This was the promo Ziggler should have been cutting when he came back instead of his doing the ring entrance garbage. He made his point across about all his successes and yet was never treated as the star he should have been perceived to be. His reasons and frustrations were clear and he proved his point by winning the title at Clash of Champions when no one expected him to. Thanks to the promo, the walkout aspect of this is interesting and I’m FINALLY intrigued by where this Ziggler stuff if going. This segment worked and I’m praying they finally don’t drop the ball on a rare potentially great Ziggler storyline.

The New Day vs. Aiden English & Rusev: Both teams are dressed up in Christmas outfits. Woods & Kofi are the New Day team. Kofi dropkicked English out of the ring and they began throwing t-shirts into the crowd. This allowed Rusev and English to attack from behind and Rusev cut off a Kofi comeback with a clothesline. Kofi caught Rusev with a Tornado DDT and Woods made the hot tag and ran wild. English came back with a fireman’s carry spinebuster for a near fall and English poured whipped cream on the New Day’s pile of pancakes. English tried to drive Woods into the pancake but Kofi took out Rusev with a crazy Trust Fall. New Day hit a double flapjack into the flapjacks on English in a clever spot. Back in, Woods hit the flying elbow drop on English for the victory. You know what; this match was a blast. Normally these holiday themed matches are lame but the spots in this match were clever, the live crowd ate all this up big time and the action even with all the antics was still good. This match was just pure fun and I enjoyed every second of it.

Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura & AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn: A brawl between all the participants started things off and Orton hit the back suplex on the announce table on Mahal. Styles’ team took turns working over Zayn, culminating in Orton hitting a gord buster in the ropes for a near fall. Owens took control for his team, attempting to ground Orton but he charges him and missed, crashing into the post shoulder first. Styles tagged in and attempted to run wild but Mahal low bridged him, sending him crashing to the floor. Mahal worked Styles over in the corner but Styles came back with a Tornado DDT. Nakamura got the tag and he ran wild, throwing a series of knees at Zayn. Nakamura caught Zayn with a sick spinning heel kick for a near fall and he went for the cross arm breaker but Owens broke it with the back senton. Everyone laid each other out and the Singh Brothers pulled Nakamura down by the hair to save Zayn. The ref tosses the Singh Brothers and Orton caught Mahal with the RKO. Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Owens and Nakamura nailed the Kinsasha on Zayn for the victory. This was a perfect house main event style match with the simple isolation of different members of the baby face team followed by the hot sprint with everyone laying each other out. Nakamura was given the most shine in this match which was nice to see and the result didn’t matter as this was just a fun placeholder main event to get through the holiday episode of the show, so I have no issues with how this match turned out.

puRgatoRy:
Charlotte Flair Promo/ Charlotte Flair & Naomi vs. The Riott Squad: Charlotte Flair came out and thanked the fans for helping the women’s division get more opportunities, culminating in the announcement of the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble. She said she will be waiting for the winner of that match at WrestleMania. Naomi came out and announced that she will be the first participant from Smackdown in the Rumble match. The Riott Squad came out and Naomi questioned how they would fair in the Rumble match when it’s every woman for themselves, she then issued a tag team challenge which the Riott Squad accepted. Logan clipped the leg of Flair, giving the Riott Squad the opening to work it over for a bit. Flair was able to fight way over to her corner to tag Naomi who fired away on Logan. Flying Chuck by Naomi got a near fall after Riott saved. Logan charged at Naomi but she missed and knocked Morgan off the apron, allowing Naomi to hit the Rear View for the win. The promos from Charlotte and Naomi were fine, it was there for Smackdown to get their two cents in on the big Royal Rumble announcement and at the very least the match is coming across as a huge deal. The tag match wasn’t good, the hot tag to Naomi came out of nowhere so there was no heat for it and there seemed to be some communication issues throughout the match. I’m not a fan of the Riott Squad losing this soon either, it takes away from their unique aura and now they fell like just regular members of the women’s division instead of being something special.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1178th edition is over…

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

The default Christmas edition of Smackdown was a pleasant surprise. Coming off a poor show at Clash of Champions, this week’s episode decided to cut back on being heavy on story lines and the show had a fun vibe to it for once. Three of the four tag matches on the show were entertaining and the few story line segments they did were well done and didn’t go over the top. I’m sure we’re going to go back to business next week since they need to start the build the Rumble but this week was a nice breath of fresh air and was an incredible easy episode to watch, one that is well worth checking out.