By Jake Barnett

WWE Smackdown Report Card – Air Date 6/24/2011

Feud 1: Randy Orton vs Christian for the World Heavyweight Champtionship

• I honestly don't understand why WWE seems to have lost confidence in this feud. I understand that the amount of time these guys spend on TV greatly reduces the amount of mileage you can get out of a singles feud, but the only reason you can give for the loss of excitement would be the way they booked the finishes to these title matches. If Christian beats Orton for the title, then you can get a few extra months out of this, but if he loses clean again this feud will be dead.


• I can't really complain about the work either of these guys have done in the ring during this feud. Both men have been sharp, and this past episode of Smackdown is no different. Christian and Kane pulled off one hell of a math, and the finish to the tag match that followed was well executed.


• Randy Orton attempting to brush off Christian as an also ran in his promo is exactly what this feud did not need. Whatever the plan for the future of this feud is, burying a guy who just made a hot heel turn on the mic isn't going to do him or the buyrates to the future PPV's he headlines any favors.
  

• Cody Rhodes is really running into a wall on the mic. He needs to get past the monotone paper bag schtick and onto something a little more targeted at his opponents. Insulting the fans will get you about as far as he's gotten, but now he needs a strong babyface to dig into in order to get back on track. I think Daniel Bryan could be that guy if they give him a character, but not as he is right now.


• Daniel Bryan's short promo was effective and setup the match well. He needs more promo time and a character that can identify with fans before he picks up any more steam. He's got all the tools, but no momentum. If he catches fire on the mic, the sky is the limit for Daniel Bryan.


• Well, the match was great up until the finish, which saw Cody hit his beautiful disaster and cause Bryan to get awkwardly caught in the ropes. It looked like it was a little mistimed, and as a result what was supposed to look like a win caused by interference ended up looking like a completely clean win for Rhodes. I'm surprised they didn't re-tape it, to be honest.

• Jinder Mahal and the Great Khali phoned in another squash match tonight. I understand the need to establish Jinder and Khali as a dominant team, so I'm not down on them at all, but now is the time to strike the iron. These two have beaten up enough lower card wrestlers to move up in the world and take on an established opponent. I think Ezekiel Jackson needs a new feud, so maybe they go in that direction.


• Sin Cara and Ted Dibiase gave us a very solid match that showed some legitimate improvement over the previous Sin Cara matches we've seen on WWE TV. Sin Cara is getting a decent reaction from the crowds, but he has to make strides in learning the WWE Style and conquering his language barrier before he will get the push up the card that it looks like he is in line for.


• We saw a pretty high energy performance form both the Usos and Slater and Gabriel on this week's show. The Usos came out and did a Haka before the entered the ring, and then both teams wrestled a good, albeit short match before Slater and Gabriel got their win back from last week. Is this WWE earnestly trying to put together a tag feud? Color me surprised and pleased.

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