WWE has an excellent opportunity tonight. Randy Orton was screwed out of the title at WWE TLC 2010 by the Miz multiple times and, being the babyface, has to get a return match. WWE has a live, special Smackdown to take advantage of this and already booked the match. A Miz win tonight takes away from the re-match need at the Royal Rumble next month and allows a number of different things.
Miz is, right now, as hot as anyone in WWE has been since at least Jeff Hardy’s emergence. He’s a great main event heel like Sheamus, except with a well-established role and a ton of credibility from the media. Becoming a star, he should be taking someone along for the ride with him. While I’d prefer that be Daniel Bryan, John Morrison is now perfectly set up for that big push. With an amazing match with Sheamus at TLC (review here) and a PPV he doesn’t need to headline thanks to the Rumble headlining, Morrison has a great opportunity to build momentum with an excellent match, even if he loses. In losing, he elevates himself in the fans eyes and can become the favorite for a Money in the Bank win.
Beyond helping Morrison, Orton losing tonight and ending his feud with Miz helps the Royal Rumble. With Orton free of a feud, he can be the top face focusing on the Rumble. It seemed that would be John Cena, but instead, he’s being set up for a mini-feud with CM Punk. That feud is perfect to make Punk a main event star again upon his return and, since Punk gets such awesome heat, keep Cena as over as the Nexus feud made him. Orton can then focus on the importance of the Rumble and Wrestlemania, with a focus on his being an undercard match last year at Mania. He has an obvious foil here in Sheamus who’s also something of a legend killer, and he can have a mini-feud with Sheamus until Triple H is ready to come back.
Of course, if Orton is feuding with Miz through the Rumble, none of this works nearly as well, so hopefully WWE takes advantage of the opportunity they’ve presented themselves.
