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

May 9, 2017 | Posted by Dylan Diot
Kevin Owens US Champion
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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 5.02.17
– Jinder Mahal d. Sami Zayn [**1/2]
– Tye Dillinger d. Aiden English [SQUASH]
– Natalya & Carmella d. Naomi & Charlotte [**]
– Dolph Ziggler d. Sin Cara [*1/2]
– WWE US Championship- Kevin Owens d. Chris Jericho © [***1/2]


THE Right:
Chris Jericho Joins Smackdown: Shane McMahon opened the show and introduced the newest member of Smackdown Live! Due to his victory over Kevin Owens at Payback, Chris Jericho. Shane told Jericho that he would defend his newly won US Championship in a rematch against Owens and Jericho promised to make Smackdown his house. This brought out AJ Styles who reminded Jericho of their history and said he looked forward to beating Jericho at Backlash. Kevin Owens came out and passionately promised to win back the championship that belonged to him and he warned Jericho that this would be worse than the Festival of Friendship or WrestleMania. He told Styles that this was none of his business, so Styles decided to meet Owens in the entranceway for a pull apart brawl. First off, I think it was a good call to give Jericho the championship in order to bring him over to Smackdown. He adds more star power to the show and will provide a nice boost once he returns from his Fozzy tour. This ended up being a rock solid segment, it did a good job bringing Jericho into the Owens/Styles program for the time being and was an easy set-up for the main event, so it was a simple and very effective segment to kick things off.

Sami Zayn vs. Jinder Mahal: Zayn got the better of Mahal early using his quickness but Mahal gained control during the break, cutting off Zayn with a tilt-a-whirl slam for a near fall. Zayn eventually fought his way back into the match and connected with a nice cross body for a near fall of his own. Zayn was looking to dive to the floor but back-to-back Singh Brothers distractions allowed Mahal to catch Zayn with the Cobra Slam to pick up the win. This was a solid match to help continue to give Mahal some momentum heading into his match with Orton. No one makes his opponents look better in WWE right now than Zayn, he bounced around like a pinball for Mahal and made his offense look devastating and effective. I have to say, the addition of the Singh Brothers to Jinder’s act has been a complete success so far. They’ve been essential to Mahal gaining believable victories and have helped him become shockingly one of WWE’s stronger heels at the moment. I have to give credit where its due and right now the Mahal push is certainly exceeding expectations.

Naomi & Charlotte vs. Natalya & Carmella: Before the match, the Welcoming Committee interrupted Charlotte’s promo and attacked her backstage, so Naomi had to start the match on her own. Naomi held her own early but Natalya blocked a baseball slide attempt and slammed Naomi’s head off the steps to gain control. They work her over for a bit until Naomi & Natalya collide on a stereo cross body attempt, at which point Charlotte finally comes out and got the hot tag. She cleaned house until Natalya cut her off with a discus clothesline on the apron. Charlotte fought out of that jam and tagged Naomi who ran wild. Natalya & James Ellsworth distracted Naomi, allowing Carmella to roll her up for the win. After the match, they started to beat down Naomi & Charlotte similar to last week but Becky Lynch came out. The Welcoming Committee, who tried to recruit Becky earlier in the show, embraced her but Lynch eventually went on the attack but the Welcoming Committee got the better of her as well. This is the best feud going on Smackdown right now. It’s a very simple story of the group of women who feel overshadowed by the big fish, in this case Charlotte, and they are drawing a line in the sand. Everything from the pre match and post match beat downs to the match itself were well executed and I’m actually really excited for the upcoming six women’s tag that is going to come out of this.

WWE US Championship- Chris Jericho © vs. Kevin Owens: They traded blows right at the opening bell to start and Jericho got the better of Owens. Jericho caught Owens with the second rope dropkick and he charged at him but missed and crashed all the way to the floor. They had a sequence they countered and avoid each other’s signature offense until Jericho finally landed the big strike, catching Owens with a Lionsault for a near fall. Jericho followed up with the Walls of Jericho but Owens fought his way to the ropes. Owens hit the super kick on Jericho for a near fall and he went for the Pop Up Powerbomb but Jericho rolled through back into the Walls with Owens again making his way to the ropes. They went to the floor where Owens hit a super kick followed by a DDT onto the entrance ramp. Back in, Owens continued with the aggression and finished things with a Pop Up Powerbomb to regain the US Championship. After the match, Owens attacked Jericho and drove his head in a chair into the post to end the show. This was a great main event and the post-match was a good way to end this chapter of their feud until Jericho returns. I loved the final stretch in which Jericho kept resorting to the Walls of Jericho as it had been Owens’ Achilles’ heel in their matches but after Owens survived, he ramped up his aggressiveness and flat out destroyed Jericho to get a decisive victory. The post-match provided a very dangerous edge to Owens, which will carry over nicely into the Styles program over the next few weeks.

puRgatoRy:
Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English: English did his pre-match singing before Dillinger came out. English went on the attack to start but Dillinger was quickly to fight back and finished English with the Tye Buster for the win. Aiden English was in tears after the match. This was a shorter version of the match they had a few weeks ago, so there really isn’t much to say about the match itself. I still believe it’s time to give Dillinger a legitimate feud and poor Aiden English is now saddled with a crybaby gimmick to go with the signing thing, so the poor guy seems trapped in this lower tier role.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Sin Cara: Sin Cara used a series of aerial maneuvers to get the better of Ziggler early and he caught Ziggler with a suicide dive on the floor. Ziggler caught him coming back in with a neck breaker for a near fall but Sin Cara answered back with a roll-up powerbomb for his own near fall. Sin Cara went for a Lionsault but it hit the knees of Ziggler and Ziggler finished things with a super kick for 3. A good idea in theory to give Ziggler some wins to build him up for Nakamura’s debut at Backlash, but I thought Sin Cara outworked and outshined Ziggler in this match. Sin Cara looked energetic and flashy and Ziggler just felt flat and uninspired. He really didn’t do anything that would make his look like a threat to spoil Nakamura’s debut so this came across like another blown opportunity for him.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1149th edition is over…

7.0
The final score: review Good
The 411
Another strong episode of Smackdown and so far the build to Backlash has been pretty good. They seem to be shifting back to more simple booking and it’s been effective so far, as Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens & The Welcoming Committee units have looked as strong as heels as anyone has had in the promotion in some time. The wrestling this week wasn’t as strong as last week outside of Owens/Jericho but they are currently making the right decisions in the match layouts and angles so the show is very engaging at the moment. After a slow start following the Superstar Shakeup, Smackdown is currently going in a very good direction and I’m looking forward to next week as a result.
legend

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Smackdown, Wrestling's 4Rs, WWE, Dylan Diot