Best: Orton vs. Christian

I don’t like that the story is “Christian just isn’t good enough to be champion, guys, we told you,” but I forgive them if they keep letting him have 15 minutes a show to wrestle. Christian and Orton always connect in the ring, and I’ve thought so all the way back to their match on Raw, where Orton played leap frog into an RKO. Christian is without a doubt Orton’s best opponent, and chances are if he was given 15 minutes against anyone else, he’d be their best opponent too. I liked the psychology (which doesn’t have to be any deeper than “he learned to avoid this because he got caught with it in the last match”), I liked the wrestling (and that there WAS wrestling), and I loved the finish.

I think Orton has really missed the boat by not capitalizing on Diamond Dallas Page’s interpretation of a cutter. If WWE wants to put an emphasis on the RKO being able to come out of nowhere and end the match at any moment, they should really have it come out of nowhere. Far too often Orton just lies there playing O-possum, then pops up and hits it. The only real variant on that is in matches like this, where he reverses a couple of things and does it. DDP was always flapjacking guys into it, or doing it off the ropes, or whipping out Yokosuka Cutters. Orton should do that sometimes, and not just wrestle guys who springboard a lot.

Worst: I Smell a “You People” Coming On

…and that Christian tease at the end has me worried. I fell in love with the guy as a heel lo so many years ago, when he stopped being a vampire and became a sunglasses-collecting surfer, but I’m hoping Smackdown isn’t littered with “I’m acting mean to people you like and it is YOUR fault” promos. WWE loves those things, and I’ve got to wonder why every bad guy has to blame the fans, as though they have anything to do with the matches whatsoever. You can engage the audience without having them be the cause of things, can’t you? Couldn’t Christian be pissed at Orton instead of me? I didn’t do anything. I like Christian. I cheered for him. Even a selfish jerk WWE bad guy can’t rationalize that into me causing him to springboard toward f**king springboard-eating Orton. I own like ten DVDs where he does that, dude, if you came over to my house and watched some tapes you wouldn’t keep losing. This is on you, I had nothing to do with it.

So yeah, please let me get through the next cycle without a “you people” or an “each and every one of you.” And if you really want my money, keep devoting 15 minutes to your wrestling. That is pretty cool.