Christian/Orton: Week 6 - The Cole Effect

If you had your doubts about whether the WWE wanted Christian to get the boos a typical heel is supposed to get, seeing Michael Cole standing in the ring with him for his promo on Smackdown should have made you think otherwise. Even though Cole got humiliated a few weeks ago by Jerry Lawler, Cole is still a heel. He is a heel that can get heat from just simply existing. Having Christian do his promo with Cole was a simple, effective way to further his heel character. I also like that Christian has not completely turned into a serious, dry heel. He still has some cockiness and charisma to him. Remember what happened to Swagger after he won the World title last year? Complete change to his character. I was worried the WWE might have Christian follow a similar path, since it is obvious Christian the heel must get booed in the feud against Orton the face. Instead of that, they bring in Cole. It would be interesting if they bring Cole in even more. Just so he can get an RKO?

Later in the night, Christian attacked Orton again. Heel tactic. It was to be expected. More importantly, Christian will get another shot at Randy Orton's title. Even though Sheamus was still slightly in the picture, or majorly in some sense for this past Smackdown, he is still just a supporting character in the greater feud between Christian and Orton. I kind of feel bad for the other guy that was involved in this, Mark Henry. It seems he has already fallen out. But what else was there really for him to do? This thing is really between Christian and Orton.

Am I entertained? Aside from the little bit of Michael Cole, this storyline still lacks some kick to it. If you are going to screw Christian out of a proper first World title run for the sake of a larger storyline, shouldn't it be better than just a heel turn storyline? I keep hearing about poor Smackdown ticket sales and I see Smackdown ratings have not touched 2.0 for a while now. Is this storyline really drawing interest? I am not going to make the mistake of pretending the undercard doesn't matter. Yes, they have Sin Cara for the Mexican audience. They have Wade Barrett feuding with Zeke. They have AJ doing nothing too outstanding for Smackdown's diva division. Just looking over what I just listed, I can see why Smackdown is at the level it is at right now. Fact is, Christian/Orton doesn't seem to be helping matters enough to overcome the rest of the mediocrity. I do not feel I am the only one not entertained and drawn to this. They are spreading the segments with these two all across the show. If the storyline was really a huge draw, that would be smart move. It would keep people tuned in or coming back to see how things develop. But this is still the best they can do? They have a good strategy to promote the storyline, but the storyline does not seem to be drawing as well as it should be. Then again, maybe they like Smackdown not having 2.0 with Randy Orton as centerpiece?