On Orton vs. Christian

[Guest Dazed]

Quick recap ?

 

Raw 02.07.05

 

Christian is with a reporter. Christian wants the reporter to ask Stacy about him, but his first question is - where is Randy Orton? Christian mocks Orton's stupid fucking posing, and says that Orton isn't the legend killer, because he's never fought Christian. Christian challenges Orton to a match on Tyson's behalf.

 

Match 5: Randy Orton vs. Tyson Tomko

 

I've got bad feelings about this one already. Orton picks up his best reaction in some weeks. Tomko gets nothing. Christian surprisingly isn't with him, so expect the run in later. I really dig the idea of Christian seeing himself as a legend, it's consistent with who he is, and gives a decent enough reason for the Orton feud.

 

Orton gets an early chopblock, and the pin gets zero. Props to Tomko for not giving him a token two count.

 

Only a minute in, Christian is out with Stacy, and Orton gets another concussion from a huge clothesline. He really shouldn't be in the ring if his head is in this state. It's worth it to see him dead on his feet in a match with Tyson. The referee really doesn't give a toss about Orton's condition - real professional there.

 

Tomko smartly goes for head shots, jamming Orton's head against the mat.

 

Orton manages to get some fight back, pulling out his reverse backbreaker thing. He goes mental with clubbing shots to Tomko's chest, which is the sort of offence that makes sense for his condition. He gets a dropkick, but of course, hits his head again and fucks himself over.

 

A cheap roll up wins for Orton, which doesn't make sense in the context of the match, and is a really cheap and meaningless finish. I'm not advocating a Tomko win, but having the referee throw things out because of Orton's condition would make an interesting change and put more sympathy on Orton.

 

Post match, Christian hits him in the head and hits the unprettier. I like this slightly sadistic side to Christian, and that's your Mania match set up. It's funny to see Orton dropped into Jerichoesque death feuds.

 

Match was alright, nothing spectacular, with Orton's concussion providing a twist that both guys worked well with.

 

Raw 02.14.05

 

Trash talk to start. Christian pushes him, so Orton fells him with a single punch. Orton slaps him around a bit and goes to the side headlock. Christian misses a clothesline and gets shoulder blocked down for two. Christian rams Orton's head into the turnbuckle a few times and chokes him. Orton punches his way back and clotheslines Christian to the floor. Tomko solves the problem of Orton capitalizing by running interference. Christian runs all the way around the ring, trying to sneak up on Orton. Orton turns and PASTES him with a right hand. Back in, Orton delivers the mounted punches. They get two. Orton charges into a backdrop and goes over the top to the floor, knocking him silly. Tomko worsens the problem by whipping him into the ringsteps. During a commercial break, the ref tosses Tomko. Christian continues the punishment with a choke. Orton slips over Christian and schoolboys him for two. Christian stays on top with his usual. Christian has a sickening goose egg on the top of his head. That's J.T. Smith level sick. Is he turning back into Bill Bixby or something? Christian gets two off a reverse DDT. Orton reverses a whip out of nowhere, and Christian takes the Bret Bump to the corner. The slug it out, and Orton gets a dropkick. Orton lays in twenty forearms to Christian's chest. Half the crowd loses count at ten. Randy gets a powerslam for two. Flying crossbody! ONE, TWO, THRE--NO! Orton charges, but Christian sidesteps. Orton goes into the ringpost. Christian schoolboys him for two and unties the turnbuckle pad. As the ref is admonishing Christian, Tomko returns and boots Orton in the face. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Orton counters the Unprettier to the Stretch Backbreaker. RKO? No! Christian counters to the Unprettier. Orton then counters THAT to the RKO for the win. I guess that Christian vs. Orton feud just went out the window. Why they didn't put Christian over here and have Orton win a big rematch I don't know. Hard to imagine them having a better blowoff than this though. It wasn't particularly high-tech or anything, but it worked. ***1/2

 

(recaps taken from Nik and JD Dunn @ 411 respectively)

 

Here, we're taking what should be a long and interesting feud, and blowing it off within two weeks and with zero hype. This, to me, surmises one of the WWE's biggest problems with feud booking. Hint: I'd pay to see Orton and Christian in a match, as long as it was given time. In fact, I'd prefer that to an ad-break riddled affair for free.

 

In this era of everything being blown by in a matter of weeks and then forgotten about, it'd be refreshing to have a mid-card feud given a decent amount of hype and promotion, made to seem important.

 

The match got almost zero hype, aside from a small mention from Ross that Orton had challenged Christian. As it stands, what did we gain from it? Okay, there was 35 minutes of TV killed, and Orton / Christian put on a decent match, but in the long term? Nothing.

 

The Tomko match alone could have been built up for weeks, maybe with Orton underestimating him or something. That way, even when Tomko loses, they can talk about how much of a fight he put up. Orton should have been pissed as anything after Christian's sneak attack post match, in fact, maybe even taken some time off to sell the injury and make him more sympathetic. It also gives more meaning to him going over Christian afterwards, and a sense of retribution and keeping the fans happy.

 

As it stands, the concussion angle went nowhere, aside from giving both opponents a chance to attack his head and try to take him out that way. But then even as he was attacked post match, there was no real emphasis on how serious things are with a concussion. To JR it was just used synonymously with "injured", and provided no insight whatsoever as to Orton's condition.

 

Come on ? the whole concept of Christian putting himself over as a "legend" waiting to be killed by Orton is brilliant, and totally consistent with the way Christian perceives himself. It also gives Orton a change of pace from the serious stuff with Triple H, that has hardly set the world on fire.

 

It could be argued that having him job quietly to Orton does less damage to him, but doing high profile jobs doesn't matter any more, since especially with comedic characters, there is ample opportunity to remain over. See: Jericho, Christopher. Having the match come about so quickly though, has killed the feud before it is done, especially with Orton getting such a decisive win over Christian.

 

 

With a few more promos (which are a particular speciality of Christian) and a leave of absence from Orton, this could have been a meaningful feud and not just a throwaway, as well as giving Orton a break from the top of the card, which he especially needs. It also elevates Christian, as we're seriously lacking non-HHH top heels in a card overcrowded with top faces.

 

Were there any advantages to run things like this, aside from killing a couple of weeks of Orton's time and throwing him on TV?

[Guest Cam Chaos]

Considering they had originally booked things to end up with Orton vs HHH at Mania but Orton has fizzled out due to shitty booking, much like this, I think now they are winging it with Orton, booking on a short term basis. As a result, nonsensical blow offs are to be expected.

 

I agree the feud could have been extended, maybe even to Mania. Get Trish involved, have Christian get her to come onto Orton and have Stacy catch them and get pissed off at his womanising, have Christian on the Tron make fun of Orton then get punked out by Tomko because he's beneath real legend like Christian, have them "break his arm" so he gets a cast and then they can do a nod to his dad, with Randy using the cast to even the odds... much could have been done.

 

However I don't think even WWE know what to do with Orton since they can't decide if they want him as a main eventer or if they want to drop him down to mid-carder status.

[Guest Some Guy]

For the time being he should be a an upper-midcarder. A feud with Christian would've gotten over and showed a different side of Orton (one not in a boring feud in which he loses every match to HHH). Now more so than I can remember the WWE has booked one match PPVs. NYR and NWO are prime examples. They need to develop their midcard or they'll never leave their current buyrate funk. There is no Austin or Rock on the horizen to carry a show all by themselves. They need everybody to contributea dn they are unwilling to let them.

 

Building a midcard is not hard. Pick a heel and pick a face, have them win matches every week for 2 months with the face going over clean and the heel cheating. Then have them get pissed at one another and you've got a feud. Rather rinse and repeat until you've got about 6 guys who are reasonably over, who you can mix and match with, if one guy gets over enough you move him up and bring somebody up to take their spot.

 

They have more than enough guys under contract to accomplish this, but at this point it has to be new guys. They've damaged the Bookers and RVD so much that people don't care about them any more. Orton, Christian, Val (with a new gimmick), Nova (with a new gimmick), Shelton, and Regal would be a solid midcard if they pushed them.

 

And it's well past time that they put some real tag teams out there and not have them lose to Batista in a handicap match. This also isn't difficult. Start with Benoit and Jericho as champs and have them beat a few cobbled together tag teams for a month or two, while you push a few other teams. Team a few guys together, give them a name, a few double team moves (make them watch a bunch of Bulldogs, Hart Foundation, Rock n Roll, and Midnight Express matches) and have them win matches. If they can't talk then give them a manager (Coach, Heymen, whoever).