The last seven days in the world of WWE were pretty big. It wasn't supposed to be. Extreme Rules was the PPV that followed WrestleMania and they delivered a good show full of matches that had stipulations. There were two major title changes with John Cena capturing the WWE Title for the tenth time (yawn) and Christian winning the World Title for the first time (woohoo). It was long overdue for Captain Charisma, who started in WWE 13 years ago.
Two days later, as I was doing a radio appearance with my friends Rome & Gib (you can listen to that here) I decided to check out the Smackdown spoilers. My reaction was one of shock. What? I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was correct. I checked another site. There it was again. Christian lost the belt to Randy Orton. Huh? What?
It didn't take long for word to spread. My Facebook wall, Twitter feed and comment section on TJR were filled people talking about it. Some people were furious that spoilers were posted. Me? I never really talked about it because I wanted to wait and see this week's edition of Smackdown. I'm not about to write a recap because Christian Michael already does a great job of that, but let's focus on the one match.
I really liked the effort put forth by Orton and Christian. They had a really good, 17 minute TV match that I'd rate at **** out of five. They didn't go outside of the ring much. They didn't use props. It was straight up wrestling between two babyfaces who went all out to get the job done. As the match wore on, the crowd popped for everything as they are supposed to and the nearfalls in the last few minutes were great. Both guys sold shock when they hit a move without managing to get the victory. I loved that. Selling is more than just moves. You need to use your face to react to things. Both of them were fantastic at doing that. The finish was awesome with Orton fighting out of the Killswitch, Christian leaping off the middle rope and Orton finishing him with a beautiful RKO to win the match. It was one of the better matches Orton has had in his career without the use of a gimmick. Christian? He always has great matches. He's one of the best workers in the company.
The reason I wanted to watch it on TV was because of the post match. That was key for me. How would they play it up? How would they react to it? I liked what I saw. The match ended a few minutes before the top of the hour. Orton celebrated with the belt, he left the ring and Christian was alone to collect his thoughts. The last 90 seconds of Smackdown was all about Christian's reaction. How many times do you see them focus so much on the guy that lost? It's rare. The announcers didn't talk. The fans chanted his name and applauded his effort, but his face told the story of a distraught man who was shocked that he lost. It was the perfect end to the show, in my opinion because it leaves me wanting more.
What now? Where does Christian go from here? There seems to be plenty of options with the main one being that Christian will be a heel. If I was WWE I'd put a video package on Raw putting over how good this match was and make sure to focus on Christian's reactions at the end of it. Their video package team is phenomenal. The videos can help tell the story and it will show the people that don't watch Raw what can happen on any weekly show in WWE.
I always liked Christian as a face, but he's better as a heel. His heel run in the middle of the 2000s was a lot of fun and I think a lot of fans, like myself, were clamoring for WWE to push him. He sniffed the main event scene while in a feud with John Cena, but he never made it over the top. Shortly after that his WWE contract expired, he jumped to TNA for a few years where he won their World Title a couple of times before coming back to WWE. He was the top guy on the ECW brand and then hovered around the upper midcard before finally winning the World Title.
Did Vince McMahon finally believe in Christian as a top guy? For two days it felt like that. Then it was gone. People were furious. In many ways I agreed, but the bigger picture is brighter.
I think the next step should be a rematch with Orton defending the title against Christian at the Over The Limit PPV in a couple of weeks. They can have Christian go into it as a babyface. He gives it all, they go 15 minutes again and Orton finds a way to finish him off with the RKO. Post match, Orton goes to shake his hand. As Christian shakes it he looks Orton in the eye and kicks him in the groin. The crowd boos. Christian snaps. He hits Orton with the Killswitch. Then, he follows that up by getting a chair and attacking Orton with it. The heel turn begins. On Smackdown, Christian can cut a promo talking about how the fans were the ones that picked Orton to face him. He can blame the fans for the loss rather than himself. That's what heels do. They lie. They blame others. He's a great whiner and now he's got the motivation to be that guy again. I look forward to those promos.
From there they have a lot of options. I'd love to see Christian form some kind of stable as the leader because he's one of the best talkers in the company. He could have somebody like Brodus Clay be a bodyguard type while fellow Canadian Tyson Kidd could work along with him as somebody that can work quality matches in the group. Maybe you add another guy or two. Christian's a smaller guy. We know that. Of course Vince knows that or else he would have been pushed years ago. The point is getting him backup and guys to hide behind will only add to his heel character. It also lifts their status because they're associated with a top guy. The purpose of groups is to elevate those that are within it due to who they are teaming up with. Then again WWE has handled the booking of stables so poorly in the last two years (Nexus, new Nexus, Corre, etc.) that maybe a stable is a bad idea.
I think it's obvious that Vince McMahon doesn't see a guy like Christian at the same level as his two prized possessions Cena and Orton. Do I agree? No. I don't. Vince is a man in his 60s, though. He's set in his ways. I don't see his opinion changing too much. That doesn't mean his future as a main eventer is open. A heel run as champion could happen. After I saw the quality of the Orton-Christian match on Smackdown it made me want to see more of them. Imagine a title match feud that culminated in Christian getting the belt back, as a heel, at Summerslam? I don't know if WWE can book a storyline that long anymore since they love to rush things, but we'd likely be talking about the feud of the year.
I think it's okay to be mad that Christian lost the belt after just two days. There's nothing wrong with that. People are pissed off. They are passionate wrestling fans that wanted to see a guy achieve his dream and have a long run with at title that he went after for over a decade. They wanted to see him have a longer run. I did too. To those people I say try to look at this from a storyline perspective because this could be the start of something big. If the story is dropped fast then I'll be mad too. I don't think it will be too. Maybe I'm crazy, but I'm optimistic.
I don't think this is the end of Christian's run as a main eventer. No. Not at all. I think this is the start of something big. At least I hope it is.
Here's the end of the match as well as Christian's reaction post-match so you can see for yourself.
I'll be back on thejohnreport.net on Monday to answer your questions for the monthly Q&A. Got over 100+ to sift through, so I'll get that posted exclusively on TJR prior to Raw. Happy Mother's Day!
John Canton - john@thejohnreport.net
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