Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Cena v. Orton... But Different This Time

From last night's Smackdown episode, the headline screams, "WWE champion John Cena defeated Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton Tuesday night on SmackDown Live" and even without watching the episode, I have some thoughts. This feud has been done before.

And before.

And before.

Orton & Cena have battled each other in numerous PPV matches. Each & every time they feud, I think of the way pro wrestling has a long history of finding two wrestlers that work well together in the ring, finding a way to get the fans to care about the outcome, and running with it, sometimes beyond when they should. The "classic" battles between Ric Flair & Sting, Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper, and, oh, say, The Undertaker & Kane. Each of those couples went through being bitter rivals to being allies and then back to bitter rivals.

Back to Orton & Cena, the history between is quite interesting. In previous clashes, Cena has been the face and Orton has been the heel. This time, when Cena won, he won with an assist from Luke Harper, who is aligned with Bray Wyatt, who is aligned with Randy Orton BUT... Harper & Orton do not like each other. I didn't see the match last night to be able to judge better, but I'm wondering if Orton, with the hugely popular Bray Wyatt, are going to assume the face role in this go-round and if that puts Cena, with the underdeveloped character of Luke Harper, as the heel role. That flip-flop of their usual roles might actually make this feud interesting.

The likelihood of Cena successfully defending his title against AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt, The Miz, Baron Corbin and Dean Ambrose in an Elimination Chamber match Sunday at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view is very high. Cena may not have an alliance with any of his opponents, but his opponents also don't like each other much. My prediction would be that Styles & The Miz battle each other in order to set up a Wrestlemania match between them. I see Dean Ambrose as needing a fresh feud and Baron Corbin fits the bill. That leaves Cena's main opponent to be Bray Wyatt, which when they feuded, it was quite memorable. Of course, Cena "won" that feud - he always "wins" the feuds in which he is involved. The wildcard in the match on Sunday, of course, is Randy Orton. If I were booking the match, since Orton & Wyatt are allies, I would have Orton not help Bray Wyatt win in order to build up the "Orton is the Viper and the Viper wants Cena at Wrestlemania" - it would make sense. Orton has had many battles with Wyatt in the past so it would be quite the twist to have Orton choose Cena as his feud - to redeem himself for the times that Cena has defeated him - and ditch his ally Wyatt. That would, of course, set up a match on the next Smackdown of Orton v. Wyatt. Maybe. I don't know.

Booking the WWE would be an ideal job if I could do it without all the travel.

Editor's Note: The above post was composed prior to reading the complete Smackdown results here.

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