Orton Moving Back On Top Of Henry

Notice Randy Orton featured in the main event on Smackdown a little more frequently recently, despite Mark Henry's title feud with Big Show not quite over? Wondering why the WWE is doing that?

Centerpiece Orton and Wade Barrett have been getting the main attention on Smackdown. People can argue that this feud is more important because Orton has been World Champion more times than either Mark Henry or Big Show, or whatever else reason like that. Fact is, that is what being the centerpiece gets you. It gets you frequently booked to win major titles and often given more attention than a title feud that may not even involve you. Randy Orton is being pushed like this because he is the centerpiece.

Of course, that rationale is lacking. He was still centerpiece when he feuded with Cody Rhodes, but that feud wasn't as prominent as Orton's feud with Barrett. What makes this current feud so special that a feud between Big Show and Mark Henry, and I'll get to the merits of this feud in a moment, must be under it? Go back a year. What made Barrett's feud with Cena so important? The whole storyline was basically designed to put over Cena. They were not really building up Barrett to surpass Cena then or be a steady main-eventer or upper-midcarder. Not yet. How about now? If they were building up Barrett better or making the storyline of the feud more elaborate, I would say that they were once again building him up to put over a centerpiece in a major way. If they are not building up a "Super Barrett" to put over Orton, then there are two possibilities. First, they are using Orton to help build up Barrett's credibility for a really great push that will be coming in 2012. Second, if they are not doing that or not planning to build things more grandly to put over Orton, you basically have a midcard feud the WWE needlessly put in the main event for a few weeks. Barrett puts over Orton, gets demoted back to the midcard, and that's that. In other words, something like what happened with Cody Rhodes.

There are some good reasons why Mark Henry vs. Big Show should still be getting the main attention on Smackdown, without even mentioning Orton and Barrett. First, the one I mention a lot, ratings went up with Mark Henry's push. That push is not over yet. If you see this push seems to be working well, play it to the end. Second, this is a feud that is months in the making. It all started back when Big Show was feuding with Alberto Del Rio. He took out Mark Henry to send a message to Del Rio. Mark Henry, however, came right back and destroyed Big Show. That is where Mark Henry's rampage started. He took out other wrestlers, won the World's Heavyweight Championship, and picked right back up with that feud with Big Show. Third, have you forgotten the crazy stunts? Destroying the cage? Killing the ring? All the injury spots they have done to each other? That goes beyond a storyline being interesting. Who cares about the plot when you are seeing exciting things like that? That is something to look forward to. That is something that could be getting the major focus heading into TLC. Fourth, and most importantly, this feud is for the top title of Smackdown. Do you really need a better reason than that to convince you that this should be the top focus of the show? It isn't even like Mark Henry is feuding with some midcarder the WWE is feeding to him for filler. Big Show has held World titles before. He has beaten top guys. Right now, both of these guys are credible enough to be in the main event.

The centerpiece or the World's Heavyweight Champion, which of the two deserved the main-event attention recently? Obviously, I see more reason for having Big Show and Mark Henry finishing their feud respectably on top. I think it is about over anyway. No need to prolong it forever. I have nothing against Orton and Barrett. I'm an Orton fan since 2003 and I'm liking Wade Barrett. However, if the WWE is using the feud between these two to propel Barrett into a great push after, it would have been a necessary evil to push him above the World title feud now. I would be a hypocrite to say otherwise. I just said recently that the WWE needs to do better in creating younger stars who can draw. Problem is, will this current push for Barrett really help him draw, or just raise his credibility with the general audience who always tunes in anyway? The way it is going, Barrett will be left looking like he can handle himself against guys like Orton and Cena, but I doubt he will be able to draw as well as Mark Henry's current push.