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 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.

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Jack McGee
Smackdown 12.17.15
* Non-Title Match: Champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Ryback @ 9:30 via submission
* Titus O’Neil defeated Tyler Breeze @ 2:50 via pin
* Non-Title Match: The Lucha Dragons defeated Champions The New Day @ 9:59 via pin
* Becky Lynch defeated Brie Bella @ 2:30 via pin
* Dolph Ziggler defeated Kevin Owens @ 13:00 via DQ

THE Right:
The Drama Around the IC Title: Like many long time fans of wrestling, the way that the IC Title has been treated for so long has been something that has upset me. While I still feel that they have a long way to go, right now working with a core of Owens, Ziggler and Ambrose is a great way to really make fans care about the title and also re-establish it as the workhorse title. Throughout the show they did interviews with Owens, Ziggler and Ambrose, focusing on the title change form TLC and the angle on Raw where Owens went on a rampage and kicked all kinds of ass. That very rampage is what brought us to the Ziggler vs. Owens match on this show. Owens and Ziggler had a really good main event match, with Owens working a more aggressive style. This change in demeanor was appreciated because Owens spoke about losing “his title” and how much he wanted it back. Saying it is one thing, but the fact that he altered some thing sin the ring presentation is what really sold it. These guys work very well together, and I also felt that the DQ was the correct call here. First of all it plays into the new and ruthless Owens, and secondly if you’re moving forward with a three-way program, neither man needs to lose. The post match angle was also well done, with the three brawling and at the end Ziggler dropping Ambrose (who came to help him) with a superkick as Owens laughed. Ziggler promised to step up his game, and didn’t care about Ambrose’s help. Everything worked well here, and this would be a good choice to main event the first Smackdown on the USA Network on January 7th.

Tag Team Turmoil: The Lucha Dragons defeated Champions New Day in a damn fine little match on this week’s show. I like both teams, and feel that they have built a solid chemistry so far and are starting to put some things together that really highlight their strengths. All to often guys are worried about ‘their shit” but these teams really feel like they are working to get the best out of each other. New Day’s over confidence got the best of them at the end, because as they celebrated, Sin Cara took out Woods and Big E with a dive, allowing Kalisto to score the pin on Kofi. The most important thing is that after their third victory over the champions, they used that to build to a match for Tuesday’s live edition of Smackdown. What this means is that the wins by the Dragons, three of them on TV to be exact in two weeks, are made to be important, thusly earning them a shot at the titles. It’s simple, it’s easy and is something they need to do more of. I loathe the fact that so many fans have bought into the “wins and losses don’t matter” mantra, because it’s bullshit. One team has the titles, one team beats that team in non-title matches to build to a title match. It’s not rocket science, it’s basic math at best. Give these guys a solid 15-minutes next week without the handcuffs and they should deliver a great match on the live show.

puRgatoRy:
Roman Reigns and Sheamus Talk: Roman Reigns kicked off the show this week, discussing how important it was to win the WWE Title, and the fact that he knows he will face repercussions due to his attacks on Triple H and Vince McMahon. One thing that bothered me was the mention that Triple H hadn’t been seen since TLC; when he was live on the NXT special the day before. That’s a quality control issue. He was ready to basically do anything he wanted since the punishment would come on Raw, and Sheamus appeared. Sheamus laid out the deal, which was that Reigns is sidelined until Monday when the Authority deals him with. A bunch of security guys hit the ring, and Reigns went wild and took them all out to stand tall. It was a fine segment, but nothing really all that special or interesting. It served its purpose, but I am in the camp of people sick and tired of every show starting with a promo that generally feels the same and goes too long.

Champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Ryback: US Champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Ryback in the show’s opening match. They worked hard and delivered a solid match, with some good back and forth. I actually thought that they worked rather well together at times, but it lacked an intensity or energy to really take it up a notch. And then it became what most WWE TV matches feel like these days; the League of Nations came out, there was a distraction and Del Rio won. Post match they also beat down Ryback to get their heat back for looking like bitches at the hand of Roman Reigns on Raw. It was solid, but the bloom is already off the rose when it comes to Del Rio’s WWE return, he feels like he’s been back for a year already, and I have personally lost interest.

Becky Lynch defeated Brie Bella: Becky Lynch defeated Brie Bella in a short, and not smooth match. It wasn’t bad, but it felt completely rusted, like they were given 5-minutes of work to fit into a sub-three minute match. They tried, they certainly worked hard, but the wrestling wasn’t great. The good news is that the story work here was overall well done, continuing the issues between Charlotte and Lynch. Charlotte came out mid-match to root for Charlotte, and then tripped Brie, allowing Lynch to pick up the win. The difference between this and Raw was the A) Charlotte was the one cheating and 2) Charlotte saw it this time, on Raw she saw it after the fact. The post match confrontation backstage was also solid, where Lynch stated she wanted to win or lose on her own, and didn’t appreciate that Charlotte thought she would lose without her help. The match was rough as was some of the delivery of the verbiage, but the story is there and coming together nicely.

THE wRong:
Titus O’Neil defeated Tyler Breeze: Poor Tyler Breeze, so much for “having a six-month plan” set in place for all NXT call ups. They have no idea what to do with the guy, and it is a shame. I don’t think that Breeze is a main event guy by any means, but I feel that he has a strong character and is a good performer, and if they were actually interested in building a compelling mid-card, he’d be a great addition. Instead, he’s here losing to Titus O’Neil. Now obviously with the Goldust appearance, and the fact that his distraction cost Breeze the match, we’re going to get a program between the two, and personally I like that. Goldust is a veteran with an established character that people react too, and he can also still go; a short term program where Breeze dominates and comes out on top would be a nice thing to get him back on track. I don’t have a lot of faith in the creative right now, but lets hope for the best.

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 411:
Smackdown is a steady and solid show, there is usually nothing all that wrong with it, but there is also not all that much that really feels important when you’re done watching the show. Also so many things feel the same or run together (back to back distraction finishes) that It is hard to get invested when the show feels like an afterthought to creative. This week’s show was average, they did do a good job setting up the tag title match for the live Smackdown and the IC Title drama was also well done, but everything else was just fine or just there. It’s certainly a much easier watch than Raw, but they really need to make some changes when January comes to make the show feel worth your time.

Show Rating: 6.3

As a reminder, I will be going by the 411 scale…

0 – 0.9: Torture
1 – 1.9: Extremely Horrendous
2 – 2.9: Very Bad
3 – 3.9: Bad
4 – 4.9: Poor
5 – 5.9: Not So Good
6 – 6.9: Average
7 – 7.9: Good
8 – 8.9:Very Good
9 – 9.9: Amazing
10: Virtually Perfect

The 1049th edition is over…