Randy Orton: Franchise Player

I am going to ignore the recent Chris Jericho developments. I've been wanting to talk about Randy Orton for a while. A while ago, I heard Michael Cole describe him as the "Franchise Player" of Smackdown. Just another term to describe the top star of a show or division. Of course, I like using "centerpiece" to describe them. While looking through the polls on WWE.com a while after that, I noticed one asking fans who they thought the "Franchise Player" of Smackdown was. In case you are wondering, Orton was winning the poll. Of course, if Jinder Mahal was an option on the poll, what chance would Orton even have had?

Is Orton still the centerpiece? Is he still really the top guy? He has not had a real title feud since last year. All the PPV title matches he has been booked in this year involved more than one challenger. It wasn't a personal feud for Orton. He was then entering a feud with Chris Jericho. Chris Jericho is a top superstar and expert on flags, but that would still not be a title feud. Honestly, I would have said a feud like that would deserve to be treated higher on Smackdown than Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio. In the end, the WWE is not really treating Orton as the top guy on Smackdown. They are passing the ball around better on Smackdown. At best, I would say he is sharing the spotlight.

Ratings dropped when Orton first won the Smackdown World title last year. Thing that you always had to ask yourself, did Orton really cause the drop? Or was it something that happens around that time of year? In recent weeks, Smackdown has been as high as an 1.94, but as low as an 1.72. Going back to May 2011, that is about the same range in the ratings for this month. If you go back to last year, there was a backlash from many fans who did not like Orton winning the title from Christian as quickly as he did. I know a lot of fans said they would stop watching to protest. What's the excuse for ratings being in the same spot this time? I would say that the WWE should put the belt back on Orton again sometime this year. Will it bring ratings? Will ratings drop? Or will ratings stay the same as they tend to for whatever time of year it ends up being? That will tell whether Orton as "Franchise Player" of Smackdown can really draw or not.