By Chris Newth, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

WWE Monday Night Raw
September 17, 2007
Upcoming PPV: No Mercy (3 episodes left until PPV)

RAW STORYLINES AND FEUDS

Welcome to the sixth edition of Raw Storylines and Feuds.

For those wondering about the Intrigue Level system that I employ, you can refer to the numbers as follows:

10 (excellent), 9 (great), 8-6 (very good, good, pretty good), 5 (decent; has its good and bad qualities), 4-3 (needs work, poor), 2 (bad), 1 (terrible)

I'd like to preface this week's analysis by stating that because I delve into the Orton-Cena feud so deeply here, the other Raw rivalries will be relatively short. Ultimately, this won't matter because all of these feuds are likely to continue to No Mercy, which is still three weeks away. There is still plenty of time to discuss them more in-depth in the future.

WWE Champion JOHN CENA vs. RANDY ORTON (9 weeks)

Many complaints originated from the WWE Title match that took place at Unforgiven last Sunday, complaints that John Cena pointed out himself. Most would argue that as a match, it was a waste, especially considering its placement on the PPV card. WWE can't afford to use a strategy like this one regularly. Their credibility for PPV headlining matches would be in jeopardy. However, looking through the perspective of story, could the events regarding the Cena-Orton feud that took place at Unforgiven be justified?

People that complain that they had spent their $40 on this PPV and were gypped are certainly within their rights. If they didn't feel good about how the PPV was handled, their opinion is more than acceptable. They are correct. I'm not trying to discount anyone who may have felt slighted by the choice of direction that WWE decided to use at Unforgiven. That said, as a storyline, the choice may have made sense.

Here you have John Cena and Randy Orton in a heated rivalry for weeks, and it's about to boil over. After Orton assaults Cena's father, the tensions have been raised to a whole new level, a level to which it would be impossible for a regular wrestling match to suffice. If these two—Cena in particular—are ready to tear each other apart, how can the WWE audience accept that they are going to enter the ring and perform a normal, well-paced main event match?

The expected action is for Cena to maul Orton immediately (possibly before the bell rings) and refuse to stop the attack. If someone punted your father in the head, would it be likely that during that match—a place and time where you finally have been allowed to meet face to face with the assailant—you would stop punching the guy when a referee reprimanded you? Absolutely not. The decision to have Cena disqualified for not halting his attack makes logical sense in a narrative perspective. Had he been able to attack Orton prior to the event, things may have been different.

The notion that they kept them apart so that the main event at Unforgiven would be more exciting, one could argue, was disingenuous. But WWE was faced with some tough decisions. If they had placed the match more in the middle of the card, they'd be providing only slightly more satisfaction, and it would be at the expense of the inherently raised status for their top feud (of all the brands). If they didn't have the title on the line, the same effect would exist. On the other hand, if they had them battle in a huge main event-style match, it may have satisfied viewers a lot more, but it may have hurt the credibility of their storyline.

When characters start doing things that don't make sense, writers are to blame. The product suffers. Yes, disgruntled PPV purchasers might be more wary the next time they consider ordering one; however, this effect is displaced by the comfort in knowing that the characters acted in such a way as to keep this feud alive. If Cena had a regular or slightly-more-intense-than-regular match with Orton at Unforgiven, the story of Cena's true anger and overwhelming emotion may have not been told properly, rendering the story unbelievable. The only thing that seemed to make sense in this situation was for Cena to tear Orton apart and get disqualified. Of course, you can question why WWE gave the match over 5 minutes if this was the intention. I guess they wanted to allow some in-ring action before implementing the plan in order to avoid a "complete gyp."

If you can't take comfort in seeing that the events at Unforgiven may have not been inherently careless and that they might have even strengthened the feud for its inevitable culmination at No Mercy, I don't blame you. That is a perfectly legitimate opinion. The idea that it was wrong for WWE to use one PPV to set up a title match for the next one is a valid concern; however, it undoubtedly fueled the more reality-based aspect of wrestling. PPVs are generally seen as the series of big matches built from the tensions of TV stories. When an angle like this is used, it clearly misaligns the formula and gives it a less-scripted atmosphere.

As far as this week's progression is concerned, it was as superbly handled as the last few weeks have been. WWE continued to utilize the story of a father/son relationship that Orton is trying to chip away. The result is a clearer understanding between the love and respect that Cena and his dad share.

Jonathan Coachman puts Cena in a predicament, where stripping the title becomes a clear consequence for his father's absence in the main event. Cena's dad, on the other hand, portrays an equally strong man in a dire situation. He is willing to put himself in dangerous spot where his physical safety is unequivocally sacrificed to save his son from losing the WWE Championship. The mutual pride here was well-told.

What's the only thing more grueling than seeing your family be dismantled by the villainous Randy Orton? Having the best seat in the house (ringside) and not being able to stop it. The handcuffing dynamic, which has been overused in wrestling over the years, was done effectively here. Instead of Orton using it as a means to beat up a defenseless Cena, he did it for the sole purpose of torturing him emotionally. The mental destruction of Cena here was brilliant.

Orton played the part perfectly. Before the match started, he stared down at Cena for several seconds, ostensibly proud of his accomplishments. Other heels are arrogant and snobbish; Orton is dangerous and evil. His intelligent actions worked on many levels. Not only did he manage to get revenge for Mr. Cena's retaliatory kick at Unforgiven, but he also set up a perfect plot to exact his revenge right in front of the man who would be most affected by it—John Cena.

So pre-match, Orton stares directly at Cena, proudly observing what he's done and contemplating what he's about to do. If you put yourself in Cena's shoes here, which is what WWE ideally wants you to do with all babyfaces, what would be running through your head? Hatred, fear, hopelessness, helplessness. And the guy causing all this anger is ten feet away, but you can't do a thing about it.

During the match, Orton meticulously tore Cena's father apart, methodically hitting move after move on a prone Mr. Cena. He often looked to Cena for reactions, and then suddenly (as foreshadowing indicated earlier) Cody Rhodes made a brave appearance to try his hand at stopping the vile Orton. Of course, Orton was able to take care of Rhodes, but it did provide Cena enough time to creatively escape his bottom rope prison.

The importance of this sequence is twofold. First, it helps to elevate Cody Rhodes. Babyfaces who are brave enough to attack someone in order to help another when it's the right thing to do are generally perceived as stronger good guys (as compared to faces that only abstain from doing bad things). Does the audience care that they realize Cody is no real match for Orton? No. That isn't relevant. What's relevant is that he went out of his way to essentially help two people that were in trouble. Cody's brief history with Orton is also an interesting sub-plot development.

The other important feature here was the sight of Cena's great escape. It was a creative and original idea to have Cena disassemble the ring in order to free himself. In terms of entertaining viewing, this specific action hit its mark.

Overall, this feud continues to be the highlight of all WWE television. It is excellent. Unfortunately, I don't give intrigue level numbers greater than 10, because the constant and steady build of tension, character, and originality certainly warrant an increase. However, as long as WWE continues to put in the effort, this feud will maintain its status atop the storyline ladder.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 10 [same as last week]

Previous Feuds
John Cena: Bobby Lashley
Randy Orton: Dusty Rhodes & Cody Rhodes

MR. McMAHON vs. HORNSWOGGLE (2 weeks)

Mr. McMahon surprisingly doesn't enjoy having Hornswoggle as his son. As a result, he's tried to put the Leprechaun up for adoption. Does it make sense? No, but does the fact that there's a leprechaun on television every week make sense? There will always be controversy in how WWE handles specific portrayals of various races, creeds, and sizes. This storyline is no different; however, within the realm of the story, are the right moves being made?

Despite the idea that this storyline may wear thin very quickly if not adequately enhanced, there are some positive points here, namely Hornswoggle's character. Since arriving as the Little Bastard and working beneath the ring to assist Finlay in winning matches on Smackdown, Hornswoggle hasn't really had any depth. He's seen as simply a nuisance to Finlay's opponents and not much else. Interestingly, his appearances to help a heel Finlay have been well-received by the live audience, as was the case when he won the Cruiserweight Championship.

His interaction with Mr. McMahon on Raw this week started to pry more emotion out of his character. When The Chairman of the Board blatantly yells at someone whose only crime was literally being born, the audience can't help but sympathize. The innocent, sad look in the disheartened Cruiserweight Champion as Mr. McMahon ordered him to leave is hard to ignore. He looks legitimately dispirited, not because he doesn't think he can get McMahon's money, but because he really is looking for familial love. Although heavily cartoonish, this premise makes the Hornswoggle character easily relatable.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6.5 [up 0.5 from last week]

TRIPLE H vs. CARLITO (4 weeks)

Triple H's clean victory over Carlito ostensibly isn't enough to satisfy WWE. The feud is going to continue, even though it is clearly one-sided. It is problematic to have Triple H rid Raw of their tag team division, but on the bright side, it wasn’t too great to begin with. Particularly frustrating is the attack on London and Kendrick, who arrived to help The Game fend off three attackers at once. J.R. pointed out that Triple H works alone, but I don't see any reason for this specific method. Personally, this type of an event might actually be justified in some circumstances. However, if the decision for this particular account on Raw was a good one, then evidence of how it helped anyone would need to be provided. How taking out the exciting babyface team of London and Kendrick helps Triple H in any significant way remains a mystery.

The positive feature with this rivalry—and actually many in WWE—is the way the feuds aren't so formulaically laid out. For example, the easy way to book this would be to have both of them involved with the same segment each week, either by having a tag match or more promos. Then have them meet again at Unforgiven to finish it. But WWE sometimes switches gears and gives the audience something else. Booking Triple H and Carlito in a Steel Cage match is a decent idea. From a viewer standpoint, it's more exciting than any other kind of confrontation between these two on free TV that we might have received in its stead. From a writing standpoint, it's a brave decision. Unless WWE plans to finalize this one next week and move Triple H to something new, perhaps something stronger against a guy aligned with McMahon, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. It's nice when WWE throws in an unexpected gimmick match or a title match in the middle of an ongoing feud. From a writing perspective, I always wonder, "how are they going to do this without hurting the overall layout of the feud?"

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4.5 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Triple H: King Booker
Carlito: Umaga

PAUL LONDON & BRIAN KENDRICK vs. World Tag Team Champions LANCE CADE & TREVOR MURDOCH (3 weeks)

This one got nowhere this week. London and Kendrick interrupted Triple H's beat down, sending Cade and Murdoch fleeing. Triple H then turned on the number one contenders, leveling both them and the credibility of the tag team division simultaneously. Again, if there was a clear point to it—if it helped Triple H in some great way—then there might have been reason to use that method. But the idea that heavy justification was needed and no obvious reason given should indicate that it wasn't a good decision. Is Triple H seen as someone who is any more powerful now that he's taken out London and Kendrick? It's doubtful.

The only difference it made was introducing the idea that unlike last year when Triple H worked closely with Shawn Michaels in DX, this time he's working alone. They've highlighted this. Well, if that was the real point, they could have found other ways to do it, including having the usual Raw jobbers involved. Hurting London and Kendrick's credibility for that couldn't have been a necessity.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 4 [down 1.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
London and Kendrick: no notable feuds since being drafted from Smackdown
Cade & Murdoch: The Hardys

Women’s Champion CANDICE MICHELLE vs. BETH PHOENIX (4 weeks)

Before I begin, I'd just like to make a personal note about the butchering of English grammar each week on WWE Raw. For weeks, they've cut backstage to show a door for the women's locker room. It's labeled "Diva's Locker Room." Diva is a singular noun. If it was only for Maria, fine, but then they'd just put "Maria's Locker Room" on the door. However, since it's clearly for all the divas, put "Divas' Locker Room." That's how you correctly use a plural possessive noun. Sorry, but I'm really fastidious about grammar. I realize this means that my column might be subjected to more scrutiny now, but go ahead. I don't mind.

Alright, to the Divas' rivalry (see how I did that?). Candice finally got a much-needed victory on free television to prove she's still championship caliber. The length of her Unforgiven match surprised me, as I believed that it would be kept shorter.

Beth's role this week was simple. She silently observed the divas match and then walked up to the Women's Champion to less-than-gently push the belt against Candice. Very simple, small gesture to indicate Beth's future advancement toward getting another title shot, presumably at No Mercy.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 5 [up 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Candice Michelle: Melina
Beth Phoenix: n/a

SANTINO MARELLA (w/ Maria) vs. RON SIMMONS (7 weeks w/ 1 week hiatus)

Is it any surprise that Santino's appearances on this week's Raw can be described as welcoming? Santino has really grown into this comic heel character quite well. This week's interaction with Jillian was good stuff. When Jillian pulled a parody of that internet video with the crazy woman who was defending Britney Spears, the camera turned back to Santino, whose facial expression went from confused to shocked to saddened to contemplation all within three seconds.

His conflicted personality as he struggles to figure out what's going on with "his" Maria's feelings is entertaining. It might be easy for us to see what's happening, but one could argue that he's in a bind. He doesn't like Ron Simmons for one reason or another, but namely because of jealousy. This hatred is only exacerbated with Maria's friendship with the Former APA Member. He may assume that Maria should support his feelings because she is his girlfriend, while at the same time, she is getting increasingly upset over Santino's actions.

So as the weeks pass, we are seeing Santino deal with an internal conflict where he's trying to do various things to impress Maria, but each of those things ultimately make her more distressed. There's an interesting dynamic here. Of course, the day Santino becomes a legitimate heel figure that has the ability to get things done is still to come. The sooner, the better. Although he's great in his current role, he still needs to be able to hold a credible match against enemies. This is the time for WWE to strike on this anyway while the proverbial iron is hot. Get some moderately strong wins for Santino underway while continuing his comedy routine. It will be interesting to see how that works—substantiating a wrestler after a strong storyline base has already been created for him, instead of the usual opposite.

Intrigue Level (out of 10): 6.5 [down 0.5 from last week]

Previous Feuds
Santino Marella: Umaga
Ron Simmons: n/a

FEUD CONCLUSIONS

(1) Cody Rhodes vs. Daivari

POTENTIAL FEUDS

(1) Triple H vs. Mr. McMahon?
(2) Daivari vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan?
(3) Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton?
(4) Jeff Hardy vs. Shelton Benjamin?

Thanks for reading, everyone. If you have any suggestions or comments, feel free to email me. I appreciate all the feedback I receive: newthtorch@hotmail.com.

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt