Christian Was Just Holding the Title Until Randy Orton Got to Smackdown

by Brian Phelps

In the aftermath of Christians shocking title loss just days after he won it, the majority of wrestling fans were outraged. Randy Orton, Jim Ross, and Joey Styles received angry e-mail/tweets from tons of fans who were angry at WWE for having Christian drop the belt almost as soon as he got it. There are a few fans who tried to defend the WWE's actions by claiming "it's part of a bigger storyline" (That idea being derived by a tweet by Chris Jericho). No offense, but I find that to be a pretty bogus excuse. A weak cop out to justify a senseless decision by WWE. There are several reasons why that excuse doesn't hold water.

1) The excuse was made by someone who is not even employed by the WWE right now, so how would he know? Jericho was just offering a possible alternative explanation, not a fact. Some of the WWE marks just took it and ran with it.

2) Every single thing that happens on wrestling is part of a bigger storyline so that excuse really makes no sense. You could use that to justify just about anything. It's no different than saying David Arquette winning the WCW World Title was just "part of a bigger storyline". Everything is part of a storyline, and a storyline is always bigger than one single action. So that excuse is nothing more than a cheap cop out.

3) History. Was Kanes 24 hour title reign in 1999 part of a bigger storyline for Kane? NO. Kane didn't win another World Title for a decade.

4) My theory is that Christian was just holding the belt until Randy Orton got there. Originally, Edge was set to face Alberto Del Rio for the title at Extreme Rules. Edge's abrupt injury forced retirement threw a huge wrench in WWE's plans. So, they had to find someone else to fill Edge's spot to fight for the vacant title. That means someone new would've been champion no matter what. I knew Christian was going to win the belt because with Cena and Miz staying on RAW heading into the RAW World Title Match, and Del Rio getting drafted to RAW... the only Smackdown guy left after the draft in either World Title Match was Christian. So it was obvious he was going to win, plus it doesn't hurt that Christian winning the title is a fitting end to the Edge retirement story for him to have his best friend take his place. The thing is, it takes a month to build to a pay-per-view. Randy Orton was drafted to Smackdown 6 days before Extreme Rules. You can't build to Smackdown's ppv main event in 6 days. So, Christian beat Del Rio for the belt and then the first Smackdown after the PPV Randy Orton beats Christian for the title. Hence, Christian was just holding the belt for Randy Orton.