Leaning Towards That Orton/Cody Feud?

Another sign that Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes may be entering a feud soon. Cody ran in during Orton's match on Smackdown to attack him. He didn't look too strong before Sheamus ran in to get some of Christian, while taking Cody out too, but it is a sign that the WWE will not have Cody blow off what Orton did to him before. Mark Henry then came down to further the feud between him and Orton, but that is another issue.

Will Cody Rhodes have a hand in costing Orton the title this Sunday? Once again, I do not believe it would be a good idea to end Mark Henry's reign so soon. Smackdown has not had a heel with a good World title reign all year. Does that mean Mark Henry needs to go over Orton clean? No. Mark Henry, the heel, has already proven he can dominate Orton, the face and Smackdown centerpiece. There is no need to have Orton lose clean again, especially when having him lose through Rhodes interference can lead to a real feud between the two. In fact, I think it would have been smarter to leave Cody off TV this week. Have him pop back up during Orton's rematch. Would have had more shock value to it, even though a lot of smarter wrestling fans would have been expecting it. The way they have done things, many more fans are now expecting Rhodes to get involved for payback. Having him not follow through will be more of a letdown, not a positive shock to intrigue fans and interest them in the feud.

The WWE did not do what I think would have been the smarter move. They not only featured Cody on both Raw and Smackdown, they had him defend his title defenses on both nights. I like title defenses. I remember the good old days where title defenses were a mix of feuds with a storyline not connected to the title and occasional random title defenses. Over the past few weeks, you have definitely gotten that mix out of how they are booking Cody Rhodes. His title match with Ted DiBiase had a storyline to it. His defenses on Raw and Smackdown were more random and an extension of another feud. What I mean is, Sheamus is really feuding with Christian right now, not Cody Rhodes.All that being said, something still does not sit right with me about the recent booking of Cody Rhodes. The main part of it definitely is that I would have left him off for a while to sell his injury and build his return to screw Orton. But I am also thinking more could have been done with his storyline feud with DiBiase to make that interesting. Overall, still good use of him. Just because I think it is good use, does that mean it will draw? You cannot overdo title defenses, but I do not think that is the problem here. The problem is the lack of build in the title defenses. This does not apply to the defenses that happened this week. Putting the title on the line in a battle royal was a good idea. Would Rhodes retain? Not only is there that question, but who would win the title if not him? Not just one challenger there. There was some excitement to that. But not putting much creative energy into his title feuds outside of this week is not good. A midcard title cannot be a huge draw by itself. You have to allow the person who is holding it and the main guy going after it to do some interesting things over a few weeks to build intrigue. That is lacking. Many fans will say Cody Rhodes is one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions in a while because of all these title defenses, but is the WWE using him as best as they could they draw fans who want a little more? I doubt it.

All that out of the way, I am still hoping for a good feud between Rhodes and Orton. They made Rhodes look good against Rey Mysterio this year already. Doing it again could please a lot of the regular fan base and help to develop Rhodes into a regular star to draw fans in down the line.