No Birthday Win For Orton

On the one hand, it is surprising that the WWE would not let one of their top guys look good on his birthday with a win. On the other hand, the signs were there for weeks. Kane defeated Randy Orton at Wrestlemania. Orton had most of the momentum during the feud. Kane looked better on the Raw before the event, but not by much. Overall, it still seemed like Kane needed a big win since making his return. He got it.

It would be crazy for the feud between Orton and Kane to end now. I would have rather the WWE spent those weeks making Kane look strong, have Orton win at Wrestlemania, and then have Orton branch off into a feud with Daniel Bryan, while the fact that Bryan gave him a kayfabe injury to cost him a title shot is still fresh, while Kane can feud with someone like Zack Ryder, and win that feud. With the way the WWE did handle things, however, I am glad Kane won. Just like they raised the bar with Kane's feud with John Cena, they can now make a gimmick match for the next PPV between Orton and Kane. A triple threat between Sheamus, Orton, and Bryan would have been nice, but I'm having a tough time seeing the WWE have Orton end a feud with Kane like that.

One last thought on Randy Orton. Is he done as Smackdown's centerpiece? Over the past few months, he would still get in the main event of the show, despite not being involved in title matters. They were still treating him as a top guy. It is not unusual to give a centerpiece a rest out of major matters now and then. What makes them a centerpiece is that the WWE knows they want to go back to them to give them that major spotlight in due time. What reason would they have for giving up on Orton? Those low ratings Smackdown got last year around the time Orton took the title come to mind. Ratings went back up around the time Mark Henry got his push. Ratings have still remained pretty strong since then, as compared to the numbers with Orton last year. Now, were those low numbers really due to Orton, or was it just something to be expected during that time of year? That is, did some other popular show spring up on Fridays around that same time to draw viewers away? One thing for sure, the WWE is not in too much of a rush to get Orton back the title. Sheamus won it at Wrestlemania. Nevertheless, even if the WWE is trying to develop a new centerpiece or run something where they pass the ball around better on Smackdown, Orton is not being screwed and is still being used well.