Night Of Champions Corporate Storyline Aftermath

Things certainly have taken an interesting turn. Randy Orton losing the title is one thing, but how it went down and how the WWE followed up on Raw is something else. There was some referee controversy at Night of Champions, which would actually be nothing new. And it was actually a smart idea. Get people talking. With football back, you need to draw big interest somehow. So far, Raw's ratings have not taken a huge hit from football. Ratings aren't amazing, but neither horrible.

The ref made a fast count. Nice bit of analysis from Triple H to show the obvious. Show the ref making a normal count, then compare that to the controversial fast count. The real kayfabe (storyline) mystery was why the ref did it. They are setting up Daniel Bryan as needing to get the ref to cheat for him, even though Orton was out for a long time after the pin. They are just screwing with Daniel Bryan. But that does not seem to be the only person they are screwing with this.

Triple H did not hand the title back to Randy Orton. They have even teased friction between Orton and Triple H and Stephanie. That I find more interesting than the controversial finish with the ref. It is not a direction you would have expected. Controversy and intrigue can draw, but I really don't feel this is the kind of intrigue that will really draw big interest in terms of ratings. This is still an interesting storyline development. Pressure is now on Randy Orton to prove himself. It just seems too soon to run a story like that. You can anticipate CM Punk eventually getting involved and even Cena when he returns, but anticipating tension between Orton and Triple H so soon? And Triple H being the one to initiate it by not rewarding the title back to Orton? It would make better sense for Orton to get upset about Triple H becoming overbearing.

You also have the fact that a bunch of faces ran out at the end of Raw to stand up for Daniel Bryan. It wasn't exactly the united main-event face front I was expecting, but it is better than all of them just standing on stage and watching again. Once again, it just seems to soon to run a story like this. How do the heels properly squash this young revolt without making it seem meaningless? If they just go back to everyone standing around and being terrified to do anything in two weeks, then that is bad development. You are right back to where you were a few weeks ago. And yet, does this mean that everything is going to start crumbling for the heels now? Daniel Bryan will be making Triple H tap out by next month and Big Show will be giving Stephanie McMahon a spanking over his knee for tormenting him? I was hoping this regime could last to around Wrestlemania. Is the midcard revolt a sign of things speeding up to another level?

Another interesting thing to note, does this all mean Triple H is a tweener? He has still shown some resentment towards Paul Heyman recently, but that was not shocking. But tension with your own hand-picked WWE Champion, Randy Orton? And just reading Smackdown spoilers for this week, some of his actions are sending of a tweener vibe. He doesn't seem to be on Daniel Bryan's side, but he has tension with Randy Orton. He definitely isn't in it to please the fans. Is he acting this way to appease the faces upset with him? Is that the storyline direction things will take? Most tweener characters are intriguing. Triple H's current character just makes me confused. Let's see what it does for them during football season.