A Twist In The Orton/Rollins Feud

I talked about Randy Orton's return back on Monday. As you might have noticed, I did not say much. What was there really to say? It seemed like it would be a straightforward feud. Orton was a part of The Authority. He started to have some issues with Seth Rollins, who took him out for a few months. Orton came back and targeted The Authority, specifically wanting Seth Rollins. It seemed pretty obvious what was going on. Nothing too fancy. I did not think I would bring this feud back up until a final preview before Wrestlemania.

There was a storyline twist on Raw. The Authority wanted Randy Orton back in the group. Orton seemed like he wasn't going to do it, but later started to play along with them. What is going on? Orton is a heel again? More than likely, this will still lead up to Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania. Orton is either playing with them or would like to once again be a part of The Authority, but his issues with Rollins will boil over and ruin that. The WWE can handle it either way.

I have seen a lot of fans complain about the WWE having Orton flip back to joining The Authority. They say it doesn't make any sense. They say it ruins Orton's momentum. You go back to 2013. The WWE was teasing issues between Orton and The Authority from the start. I complained about that back then. I do not remember other fans making a fuss about that. I guess they were too busy talking about Daniel Bryan. At a time when they should have been worrying about solidifying the new stable, they are already teasing friction. More importantly, it wasn't leading to anything. It probably would have played a big role in the original plans involving Batista, but that was ruined. They were not making the stable look good, they were not making Orton look good, and the storyline just wasn't going anywhere. It's like frequently teasing Cena will turn heel and never following through. After a while, it just gets annoying.

This time, I am not complaining. I see what the WWE is doing. There is actually a storyline here. This is Wrestlemania season. You should have more than just basic grudge feuds. Keep in mind, there are five weeks in between Orton's return last Sunday and Wrestlemania. How do you work with all that time? That is difficult. I have talked about how boring it is to have Kane and Big Show always wrestling whomever The Authority has issues with. There was a lack of a better storyline between Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan. Instead, there was a ton of Big Show and Kane, which fans hated. Do those fans complaining now understand they likely would have been in for a heavy dose of Big Show and Kane against Orton in this feud? The two heels would have been protecting Rollins from Orton. You will still eventually get these encounters, but the WWE is at least prolonging it.

If the WWE had gone with the basic story of Orton chasing after Rollins and Rollins always avoiding him or hiding behind his heel allies until the encounter at Wrestlemania, they would be telling a familiar story. This is what you had between Rollins and Dean Ambrose. That feud ended less than six months ago. They even inserted John Cena into that feud and had him chase after Rollins. Fans want to complain about the WWE always doing the same thing? They want to complain about the WWE not developing better storylines? They are doing something different now. There is actual storyline development here. If they did not do it, would these fans complain about the WWE doing the same thing they did with Rollins vs. Ambrose?

There is the idea that this will ruin Orton's momentum. He came back hot. Fans were hot for him when Raw started. Fans weren't so hot at the end of the show. Proof the WWE killed his momentum? You have to wonder about the long-term issue. Five weeks to kill. Could the WWE keep this thing fresh? Or would the momentum Orton had just naturally have dried up with him always dealing with The Authority's henchmen standing between him and Rollins. Will the fact that they just ran this kind of storyline with Rollins and Ambrose not too long ago make this current storyline even more boring? Those fans that want to see Orton snap can look forward to it again on the road to Wrestlemania. There will be some anticipation for it. People know it's coming. Besides, fans tend to be less interested in the product these days. Poor reactions are usually the norm. How likely is it that would have happened to Orton even had they not done this twist? At least the WWE can build back up to a moment that stands a chance of getting a good reaction on the road to Wrestlemania.

The ratings pattern for this week's Raw was interesting. The typical pattern is for ratings to decline over the course of the show, especially in the third hour. Ratings grew as the show went on this week. The third hour had the most viewers. Is that because fans were interested in seeing what Orton would do? Were they waiting for a part-time big name to show up? Was it just some fluke? Whatever the reason, there is still the possibility that the WWE's development of this storyline between Orton and Rollins might have had a hand in it. You are getting fans interested in what is going on and waiting to see what happens when Orton snaps. I think there is a level of intrigue there. This isn't meaningless as when they were featuring this inconsistency back in 2013. This is actually going somewhere.