World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton: Who plays the foil?

[LSN80]

At the Extreme Rules PPV, Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio in a ladder match to become the World Heavyweight Champion for the first time. Five days later, on the 5/6 edition of Friday night Smackdown, General Manager Teddy Long allowed the fans to chose the opponent for Christian's first title defense. They overwhelmingly chose Randy Orton, and the match was made for later that night. Here's how the match ended.

[YOUTUBE]yRctjWFDgAI[/YOUTUBE]

In my opinion, this was one of the best Randy Orton matches he's ever had. Second, the RKO off Christian's signature springboard sunset flip was easily my second favorite RKO, behind the one he gave to Evan Bourne. 3 seconds after the RKO, Randy Orton was World Champion for the 8h time. With Over the Limit only two weeks away, why do you think they picked now to put the title on Orton?

Orton obviously is expected to be the focal point of the Smackdown brand, but as that focal point, with the title, will come a slew of challengers. Perhaps a heel Christian will swap the belt back and forth once with Orton. Sheamus was rebuilt well on Raw, and he and Orton have history feuding over the WWE title. Speaking of history, Cody Rhodes is an intriguing choice. The development of his character leads me to believe they have big plans for him, and he of course was apart of of Orton's stable Legacy. Wade Barrett, IC champion, also has history with Orton, having challenged him for the WWE Title three times in 2010. Hopefully he'll return to becoming a top heel as he was on Raw. Money in the Bank has also been a pitfall for Orton, who lost his last championship as a result of a cash-in. The PPV looms in 2 months. Orton's history with the Undertaker on Smackdown is well-known, and when he returns, he's generally around the title, which he and Orton have never feuded over before. Jinder Mahal is a dark horse, who debuted backstage 2 weeks ago on Smackdown, is someone WWE apparently has big plans for. So all of these options lead me to a few questions:

Who will end the 8th Championship reign of Randy Orton?

When will it take place?

How would you book it/how do you see it being booked?

I believe the title was put on Orton for two reasons. One, with the draft "taking effect" right after Extreme Rules, the WWE wanted to establish that Orton was the star of the show, and not Christian. As with John Cena when drafted to Raw, holding the belt when he arrived immediately made him the focal point of the show, which he's been ever since. I believe they're hoping for this same thing to happen with Orton.

The second reason was to turn Christian heel. Both his promo at the beginning of the show putting over the title, and his despondency upon losing it make me believe this. Christian's a fantastic heel, and could easily become so obsessed with gaining the title that he shows a willingness to do everything and anything to regain it. We've seen him lead factions before, so even that could be in the cards in his pursuit of regaining the title.

But Christian isn't my choice, Cody Rhodes is. They've spent alot of time investing in his character, giving him promo time week after week showing how dark his character is. With Orton's character being potrayed as "dark", I think they're going "darker" with Rhodes', and that's being done to elevate him. Counter in his experience with Orton, and he's the perfect foil. He was "under Randy's wing" for two years, and would seemingly know a counter for everything Orton can do.

However, I don't see this happening for awhile. Rhodes lost his feud with Rey Mysterio, and although he quickly compensated with a very good promo on Smackdown, he needs to win a few feuds definitively before he gets to the place where he's taken seriously as a World Title contender. I see Rhodes winning Money in the Bank on the Smackdown side, and a cash-in following a successful title defense at TLC.

Randy Orton is going to be the champion for a long time, in my opinion, and is going to lose the title in a way where it doesn't detract from him. So booking wise, the first step would be Cody winning MITB, and cashing in on a vulnerable Orton. Sound familar? That's exactly how Edge was elevated after Cena was drafted to Raw. Id have Rhodes then stay one step ahead of Orton, showing that as dark as Orton can be, Rhodes can be darker. They attempted this in a way in the Punk/Orton feud, but not consistently. Id have Rhodes, both in the build-up, and the aftermath, display an even darker side then Orton. With every Orton dominant win with the RKO, Id have Cody win with the mask. Id lean on Cody having learned under Orton to some extent as well, showing off a moveset similar to Orton's, and the ability to counter Orton at every turn. While I think it will take awhile, and Orton will be a dominant champion, I see Cody Rhodes as Randy Orton's foil in about 6-8 months.

 

[Joshua]

I really think people aren't realizing that Christian winning the title was more of a tribute to Edge (it was a damn ladder match) than a tribute to Christian's work with the company. This is clear as you can see from Orton winning the strap. With all that said you gotta believe Christian turns heel and fueds with Orton and eventually takes the strap back for another short reign. Vince has made it clear that he isn't high on Christian and I don't see him sticking around in the main event picture. But with Christian exit from his championship loss, you gotta think something will come of it.

 

[Peep]

Am I the only one who thinks heel Christian is overrated, especially in 2011? I mean, yeah he was a decent heel before he jumped to TNA - but that bit doesn't seem appropriate for a heel turn for a jealous world champion. If he simply becomes the arrogant version of Captain Charisma again, label me as sorely disappointed. If this Christian heel turn happens, it's got to be a side of him we've never seen before.

I hate to keep the subject of him focused on Edge, but I do think the "Edge angle" is what they should go for here. Have him be like Edge was before the crowd started permanently cheering for him. An ultimate opportunist. A rat. He could even hold the title from between Money In The Bank to Summer Slam after getting a dirty win over Orton.

 

[xg311]

You're missing a key person in the poll, and it's Chris Jericho.

I suspect that Orton is going to hold on to the title for a long while, having up-and-comers in main event matches with him (Rhodes, Barrett, etc.) and will drop it once Jericho makes his return to the Blue Brand.

The history is already there (Orton punting Jericho) and there is that lack of a true #1 heel on Smackdown right now. Sorry Sheamus, but right now you're no higher than a #2. Maybe you do the double switch with Orton and Jericho and give us one more run of Y2J, but unless Jericho plans on being out until later than early 2012 I can't see anyone but him taking the belt off of Orton.

 

[#hamler]

Who will end the 8th Championship reign of Randy Orton?

I'm going with the norm here, Cody Rhodes. It's got to be Rhodes. The storyline, match chemistry, build-up, it all writes itself. These two have had a huge past with each other, and how great would it be for Cody to win his first World Championship from someone whom he has history with? This feud is bound to happen. Cody is ready. More ready than he'll ever be.

His feud with one of Smackdown's former top baby face, Rey Mysterio, was a great feud. He's got the talent, gimmick, mic ability, look, he's got everything it takes to stand out on his own and be the top heel on Smackdown, holding the World Heavyweight Championship. Cody is my answer. And I'll be damn suprised if it isn't Cody Rhodes who ends Orton's 8th World Chapionship reign.

When will it take place?

SummerSlam-ish. Some time during the summer I hope. Cody is ready. He was ready two or three months ago. The only difference is now, you have Randy Orton. The absolute perfect guy for Rhodes to take the World Championship from.

How would you book it/how do you see it being booked?

Well, like I said, everything from the match build-up, to match chemistry, it all writes itself. Both Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton have a history with each other. While Orton is Smackdown's top babyface, Cody Rhodes is probably Smackdown's top heel. Pair the top heel with the top face in a feud and it's perfect. No need for an in depth storyline whatsoever. Just have Cody challenge Randy for the Championship one day saying "he's ready. He's ready to prove that he's better than he was before. He's better than Randy Orton." Or just have him them feud off Randy's boyish looks. I don't really know. All I know ios this feud must happen...soon.

 

[The Wrestler`s Wrestler]

If Christian dosn't turn heel and beat Orton for the belt I think they will have Orton as a long term champion and at the same time they will build up Cody Rhodes to dethrone him.

 

[SteelRevenge]

I`m going with Rhodes as well.

the history and chemistry aside, Rhodes is the darkest heel on the blue brand. People can argue over who is the biggest(though I think its Cody) but you can`t argue Rhodes is the darkest and best fit for the role.

Plus their shared mental instability makes for an even greater connection and thus feud.

However; having said that I`m not sure it`ll happ right away.
Orton will prob hold the title for a while, possibly feud with a heel christian and maybe even see mark henry as a feud(though not champ) until its Cody`s time(meaning months, not years).

if the later is the case, then while Orts is busy Rhodes can take the Ic title and maybe take MITB afterwards via a title vs briefcase match.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

I believe all of this is leading to a Christian heel turn, but of course, I could be wrong. So, with that being said, I'm going with Christian.

If this is setting up a Christian heel turn, I don't see how the next challenger isn't Christian. He drops the belt to Orton, turns heel...then feuds with someone else? That would look really, really stupid.

If spaced out, this could last all the way through Summerslam. They have shown the ability to put on a good match together, so I'm guessing this is where it's going. If not, Christian is headed back to the mid-card, which pretty much sucks.

 

[Notorious718]

why do you think they picked now to put the title on Orton?

I think you said it best, LSN. It was to make him the face of the Smackdown brand and to effectively remove him from the shadow of John Cena, who I feel Orton was playing second fiddle to on RAW.

Who will end the 8th Championship reign of Randy Orton?

I'm a Christian mark so I obviously want to see Christian get retribution as well as his world title back. Sadly, I don't know nor do I think it will happen especially since the higher ups in WWE apparently don't have faith in Christian to carry the brand (which I don't understand considering both he is every bit as good as Edge but that's for another thread). I do think Cody Rhodes seems to be the most likely choice given the effort that has been put into his character development. And to be honest, a world title run by Rhodes would interest me far more than another Orton title run.

When will it take place?

I actually see Orton holding the title for a long time. The earliest I see him dropping the title is shortly after the MITB PPV and even then I don't see it happening. I think he'll drop it by Elimination Chamber but I won't be surprised if he's defending the belt at Wrestlemania.

How would you book it/how do you see it being booked?

Tough question. I do think that the MITB briefcase has the name of Cody Rhodes written all over it. If he does win the contract, I would love to see him hold the contract for a long time as well as defending it in matches. I'd love to see Rhodes cash in the contract at Wrestlemania and win. Or he could cash in on a weakend Orton after Elimination Chamber and defend the belt at Wrestlemania. So while I WANT for Christian to be the foil, I think that WWE will go the route of (and I'd like to see this too) having Cody Rhodes play Randy Orton's foil.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

I think Hamler's got the right idea here. It, without a doubt, has to be Chody Rhodes. Chody Rhodes, for the past few weeks, has been showing day-in and day-out that he has what it takes to be champion. Promo after promo, match after match, he gives it the right feel out there. He puts effort; shows determination; makes his gimmick/character believable -- it's like the complete package, really. I don't doubt WWE is setting him up for a future title reign in the forthcoming months.

That being said, however, anyone who thinks Christian is the next champion is sadly mistaken. It's already been reported numerous times; and for people to deny that truth are ignorant. No one with any real influence in the WWE believes in Christian to carry the company on its shoulders or even remotely see him as the top guy. Does it suck? Of course it does, but as I've said before, that's just the way the ball rolls. And unfortunately, the ball don't roll too good for Christian.

But yeah, I highly expect Chody to be the foil here. But as to when it will happen, I doubt anytime soon. Perhaps in a few months or so. I'm pretty sure WWE wants to keep the title on Orton for quite a while at this point. And that's perfectly fine for me.

 

[JWGunslinger]

Randy was most definitely given the title to be the face of the brand as Cena is for Raw. As for who will take it I have to say my pick goes to Cody Rhodes, he is without a doubt a future world champion and he is the biggest heel currently on Smackdown. However this is not going to happen for quite some time, I dont see anything happening to Randy's reign until around November. I think the best way to do this, and the way they will do it is have Rhodes win the Smackdown Money in the Bank this year. Set up for his cash in would be great if he did it after they feud, then once Orton has begun a new feud and ofcourse finishes a rough and taxing match with his new enemy then Cody cashes in and becomes World Champion.

 

[Dwayne_Jason]

Who will end the 8th Championship reign of Randy Orton?

To be honest, its hard to say. No one but Orton and possibly Christian is able to hold the belt at this point. Smackdown is littered with upper mid carders and they need to break the glass ceiling. So lets break down who are the potentials for Orton's title:

Christian
Rhodes
Taker
Jinder Mahal
Taker

Now, Christian is probably gonna be up first. They're not gonna forget about it and not give him his shot. So Christian's up first to challenge Orton til Over the Limit and perhaps the PPV after that. That being said, I do not see Christian winning the strap unless he's in MITB and gets it. Which is unlikely.

Second is Rhodes. He's my top pick but Rhodes needs to be elevated further (perhaps a win in the MITB?) He needs another feud or another program to really get him over. I see Rhodes going against Orton but Rhodes needs to really get the character over with the people. His demeted character's great but he needs to turn this character into a serious 3d character if he wants to play with Orton

Jinder Mahal is dealing with Khali and since they wanted Khli to turn heel and team up with him Mahal's gonna be busy with that

Taker's too fucked up to know what the WHC is. He's too busy gettin' McCool.

Finally, Barrett. Barrett is the only believable choice after Christian. Rhodes is getting there but he needs another program. Not Barrett. He's headed two stables. Gotten dangerously close to the WWE title, looked great while doing it and their feud still remains unfinished. Barrett is the most likely to take it from Orton



When will it take place?

It will most likely take place after Summer Slam as Orton needs some wins under his strap and till then let Barett be the sleeper. Let him take care of the Corre and actually, let him get some wins as the IC champ

How would you book it/how do you see it being booked?

I see it as Christian wanting a rematch at the next PPV losing, some others matches with Orton losing, possibly turning heel. With that, maybe 'E gives him a chance again, but Orton will probably take it back. If Slam is not over till then then I'd like Barrett to come in and become to new contender for the title. He'd go on to say that Barrett's mistakes in the past was to depend on other people when he could have took care of Orton by himself. He goes on fight Orton and loses. Frustrated, he keeps losing until he loses his IC title (put it on Ryder for fuck's sake) until MITB comes up and as the dark horse he wins it.

Finally, come Summer Slam Barrett cashes it in and becomes the WHC champion.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I would love it to be Christian but I do not think that it is going to happen for some reason. I think that he will get one, possibly two more shots at Orton but Orton is going to go over like he has done for the past one year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mark Henry being elevated to maain event status once Orton's program with Christian gets over. Henry is someone whom WWE has always viewed highly regardless of his talent. But even he will not go over Orton. He and Christian will keep Orton busy over the summer though.

The guy who is going to take the title off Orton is Cody, in my opinion by cashing in on his MITB contract. It seems logical that Cody's push will culminate into an MITB win, almost as logical as the fact that Orton will be booked like a beast on SD. I don't expect him to lose cleanly in his run on SD.

Orton vs Cody will be a good feud though. Probably a darker version of Cena vs Miz.

 

[vampireblade]

Who will end the 8th championship reign of Orton?

I would say Rhodes but I don't think McMahon has enough faith in him. It's going to be someone who has proven they can run with it Vince doesn't seem to have faith in too many young guys with miz being the exception so i'm going out on a limb and saying that if jericho returns soon it will be jericho if not i do believe that vince does have enough faith in barrett to let barrett run with it for a while

When will it take place?
on this one i agree with dwayne_jason. It should be at SS let orton have a few wins then bam jericho either returns a month before SS or have barrett and corre disband and barrett win the title at SS


how do you see it being booked/how would you book it?
I say over the limit have Christian lose challenge maybe one more time then after that orton says no you've had your chances i want to face someone else that is where barrett could come out and want his shot and complain how cena screwed him over and over while he was on raw and now he wants a fair shot then they fued till summerslam where he takes the title off orton

 

[Reddog1146]

I can see Sheamus winning the title from Randy Orton. They had great matches together and a recent feud. People can say that he is stuck in mid card but that is what they thought when he first lost hii world title after Elimination Chamber and started feuding with Kofi Kingston. Then he came near out of nowhere and won the title at Fatal 4 Way. I think something along those lines will happen after Over the Limit.

 

[90's Attitude Archetype]

I just saw Justin LaBar on CSR talking about 'striking while the iron's hot' with Christian. I agree, Christian should have a heel turn.

How does this sound: use Edge's presence and have Christian take on the mantle of the new Rated R Superstar. At Over The Limit, Edge and Christian could completely screw Orton when Orton is getting upper hand in a fair match.

Christian wins, Edge presents him with a Rated R T shirt, and the next week on Smackdown Christian cuts a promo saying Edge waited so long for his first title until he became vicious. Christian waited even longer, won it fairly, only to be forced to defend it immediately. He could say Edge and himself were so furious at management for giving Orton a quick shot that they agreed Christian needed to stop playing nice.

I think this would be a great way to end Randy's title reign, not make him look weak, and inject some much needed vitality into Christian's slightly stale character.

Thoughts?

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

Who will end the 8th championship reign of Orton?

Cody Rhodes. While it's become the "norm" to say it, Cody has shown he IS ready and he can play a gimmick along with the best of them. He's a great young worker and I could REALLY see this working.

When will it take place?
Sometime around...Bragging Rights. A long time I know...but we often see a screw job around Bragging Rights sort of time.


how do you see it being booked/how would you book it?
at Money in the Bank, Cody would win. I see him as a suitable winner for Smackdown and it would push him to heights that he would probably not reach without it. Have him tease for months, and have him actually talk about Randy's past, with Orton claiming he was the "Best looking" in WWE (Think back to Legend Killer times, he used to claim he had a perfect face until Foley scarred him). Have him then say that Orton is ugly, everything about him is ugly and have him proceed to then headbutt Orton with the mask before cashing in. Around Bragging Rights is the usual sort of time for a cash in, sometime between BR and Survivor so have it happen then and test the waters with him as a champion for a few months.

Have Rhodes go over Orton using the mask a few times before at the Rumble, have the final match, a big blow off match between the two where Orton regains the championship. Put Cody into the Elimination Chamber then, and have him lose due to his next "high impact" feud, possibly with Sin Cara (Mask vs Mask?!) and have him go onto mania as a former world champion who has all right to return back to the championship circle.

 

[ringjobber1]

I chosed christian for the simple fact they may turn him heel so he can feud with orton vince said he has no faith in him being a top face but he didn't say anything about top heel.
I can see it now christian turning on
Saying its because of his 'peeps" ant teddy long he lost the title. Then orton face him at OTL but losing then land himself in the MITB match which he wins and challenge orton the same night after orton beats Mark Henry or Sheamus but gets destroyed after the match christian comes out gets the easy pin BAM new world champion

 

[Trill Co$by]

I chose the Money in the Bank winner simply because I didn't see the guy that I so desperately want to see succeed right now. That guy is Mark Henry. This guy is another prime example of how a simple change to the right show can make you interesting. Henry has been running around Smackdown with nothing to do and he appears to be getting some heat from it. I think that if he can win the Money in the Bank briefcase, then he may just be in for a quick "testing the waters" title reign. Then again, maybe he's meant for something else, but hopefully it's a world title.

 

[Xemmy]

With the exception of the Money In the Bank Winner, the only clear threat to the World Heavyweight Championship at this moment in time is The Grotesque Cody Rhodes. No other heel is in the position to have a proper feud with Randy. I am in love with this character, but more importantly, I'm betting Vince is getting there too. While we all heard that Vince wasn't behind Cody or his Dashing gimmick, this transformation reminds me so much of Mankind's rise to power. While Cody still isn't quite ready to hold the title, I am beginning to believe that it is only a matter of time before he's ready to carry it.

The important thing to realize, beyond just a gimmick that's on fire, is that Cody and Randy have plenty to feud over. This was something we all saw as an inevitable storyline that had to happen eventually following the events of Wrestlemania 25. We all just assumed that it would be Ted to be the one to go up against Randy. But it doesn't matter. The same history is there, and the potential is there. Cody Rhodes is about to have a turning point in his career. Either he'll gain new heights, or he'll fall into obscurity for awhile.