RKO Out of Nowhere
The Maharaja came out and broke down the legacy of Randy Orton, running down his accomplishments and talking about how he will never be able to beat Mahal. This goes on for a few minutes until Mahal beings to speak to his people in Punjabi. Randy’s music hits and The Singh Brothers step out of the ring to meet Orton. Orton appears from behind Mahal in the ring and hits an RKO. He casually slides out of the ring and leaves, hitting his finisher out of nowhere.
I like this Randy Orton because they are not asking him to do too much. Doesn’t he feel natural in this role? He is a guy with all of the ability in the world, accomplishing everything in WWE and still has years in his career left. With Mahal, this feels like a fresh start for Orton. When you look at both men, they need each other. Mahal needed a guy like Orton, someone to upset for the title and target as being less than him when that is far from the case.
Randy Orton needed a guy fans did not cheer. Randy Orton was stuck in multiple feuds with guys that fans were cheering for, including Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar. It did him no good to be booed by the hardcore fans that have seen him for the past decade thrive like John Cena. This works at this time and only makes me want to see their match even more at Money in the Bank.
Charlotte defeated Natalya
Another contest in this feud starting from NXT, Charlotte and Natalya did battle on Smackdown Live. Another match and another just very average outing. They hit hard and applied some submission holds throughout, but I felt like they were a bit off on timing and they were more worried about NOT injuring themselves before the Money in the Bank Ladder Match on Sunday. That is something that I can understand, but not really love to see.
One thing I would have changed tonight was to see all of the women physically interact with each other, similar to what we would see later in the night. There is more need to do that for the women than the men. We have seen these guys, in some sort, over the past few months fight each other in tag or singles matches. Why did they not have more Carmella or Becky Lynch? Hell, this could help the fans think more on who may or may not win on Sunday. I want to be surprised, but I will say that I think WWE will give the briefcase to Carmella. Keep her in the mind of the fans, continue to get better in the ring and then cash in when the time is right.
There is no need for Charlotte or Natalya to win. Becky would be my second choice to win, as she could use this opportunity to get back to the top where she was when Smackdown Live drafted her. Historically speaking, this briefcase is held by a heel. Will history repeat itself?
