wrestling / Columns

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

July 18, 2017 | Posted by Dylan Diot
AJ Styles John Cena Smackdown 71117 Image Credit: WWE
6.5
The 411 Rating
Community Grade
12345678910
Your Grade
Loading...
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 7.11.17
– Jinder Mahal d. Tye Dillinger [**]
– Xavier Woods d. Jey Uso [*1/2]
– Natalya & Tamina d. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair [**]
– AJ Styles & John Cena d. Kevin Owens & Rusev [***1/4]


THE Right:
AJ Styles Opens the Show: New WWE US Champion AJ Styles opened the show. Styles talked about what the US Championship will represent going forward. He wanted to bring back the US Championship Open Challenge as he wanted to have the absolute best compete for the championship. Styles said tonight would be the first challenge and the first person to respond was John Cena. They brought out the referee and ring announcer and before they could throw down, Kevin Owens came out. He said no one wanted to see another Cena/Styles match and that they only care about the rightful champion getting it back. Cena challenged Owens to come after him but he was attacked by Rusev. Owens laid out Styles with a Pop-Up Powerbomb and Rusev locked in the Accolade on Cena. Good start to the show with the sneak attack perfectly set up tag match for later in the evening. I’m a big fan of bringing the US Championship Open Challenge back, especially with Styles in the role as champion as it will hopefully led to weekly quality matches in the same way Cena’s did two years ago. This segment also did a good job planting the seeds for the return of the Cena/Styles feud, which you could tell by the crowd reaction here people are clearly not close to being done with watching them face each other.

Jinder Mahal vs. Tye Dillinger: Dillinger caught Mahal with a springboard cross body for a near fall but Mahal drilled him with a lariat to take control. Dillinger fired back but Mahal cut him off with a high knee and then hit the Khallas for the win. After the match, Jinder Mahal announced he was bringing the Punjabi Prison to Smackdown next week. In terms of making Mahal look good from an in-ring standpoint, this was the best individual match he’s had to date. He looked vicious and aggressive in everything he did and making quick work of someone who was undefeated to this point helps enhance his credibility as champion. Losing his first match to the WWE Champion won’t do any damage to Dillinger but it bears repeating that they need to find something for him to do, otherwise he will quickly fall to obscurity.

Kevin Owens & Rusev vs. AJ Styles & John Cena: Cena and Rusev showed off their strength early and Cena hit a bulldog for a near fall. Owens got the better of Cena and they began double teaming him in the corner. Rusev cut off a comeback attempt with a spinning heel kick for a near fall and he missed a second rope splash. Styles got the tag and he began to clean house on Rusev. Styles caught him in the Calf Crusher but Owens quickly broke it up. Rusev caught Styles with a high kick and Owens worked him over with a chin lock. Styles fought out but Owens clotheslined him hard to retake control. Rusev grabbed a bear hug but Styles fought out and connected with an enzuigiri. Cena finally got the tag and cleaned house himself. Styles hit a Pele on Owens and Cena followed up with the AA for the victory. This was a fun main event, having Owens take the loss here plays up the terrible week he’s had and they can get his heat back next week in some type of beat down on Styles prior to the PPV. Owens and Rusev did well in the heat segments and I loved the finish as it played up the idea of Cena and Styles being just as good of partners as opponents due to their history together.

puRgatoRy:
Xavier Woods vs. Jey Uso: Woods fired away to start but Jimmy tripped Wood up from the outside. The Usos & New Day got into an argument so the ref kicked everyone out from ringside. Jey super kicked Woods for a near fall and he went for the Superfly Splash but it hit the knees. Enzuigiri from the apron by Woods and he followed up with the guillotine elbow drop for the win. This was fine for the short amount of time it was given and at the very least was a major step up from the Rap Battle garbage from last week. I liked they kept this a simple singles match and New Day got a clean win on their side to continue to give them the in-ring edge over the champs.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Baron Corbin: Nakamura attacked Corbin in the entrance way and then took the brawl into the crowd. Officials came out to get them separated as the match is thrown out. Well, this didn’t come across as the crazy, out of control brawl that should’ve caused the match to get thrown out. It was good idea for Nakamura to get the jump on Corbin to send a message after some recent sneak attacks but at the end of day, this brawl really didn’t leave me with any extra excitement for their official match at Battleground. Again, really needed a bit more brutality or physically to really get the segment over so it just ended up falling a little flat.

Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya & Tamina: Tamina attacked Becky to start but Becky answered back with a low dropkick. Lynch caught Natalya with an exploder suplex but Natalya shoved her into the steps to take control. Tamina and Natalya worked her over as Lana made her way out to ringside. Lynch blocked a Sharpshooter attempt and finally made the tag to Charlotte who went to work on Natalya. Lana distracted Charlotte, allowing Natalya to get the tag to Tamina who super kicked Charlotte as she began to lock in the Figure-8 on Natalya for the victory. This was every woman’s tag match we have seen on this show. It followed a simple formula and built to the finish where Lana helped her new mentor pick up a huge win over Charlotte, building up their new partnership. The finish was a clever twist on the distraction finish cliché but there wasn’t all that much preceding it and sadly we are getting ANOTHER multi-women match at Battleground as that style of match is just run into the ground at this point.

THE wRong:
NOTHING

THE Ridiculous:
NOTHING

The 1157th edition is over…

6.5
The final score: review Average
The 411
This was the epitome of a basic wrestling show which I enjoyed for the most part. They smartly decided not to throw their eggs into one basket this week, as they saved the bigger, more eventful stuff for the go home show to Battleground next week. They filled the show with plenty of matches that helped build all their programs in some shape or form. There was no match or segment to go crazy over but the simple layout and quick matches this week made for one of the easier episodes to watch. This is a skippable edition of the show in terms of newsworthy events but you wouldn’t have wasted your time watching it either, so I’ll give it a mild recommendation to watch this week.
legend

article topics :

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