By Chris Newth, PWTorch contributor

WWE kept the fire burning strong on Raw this week for the main event WWE Title feud between Triple H and Randy Orton. You'll notice that the story requires less than the arguably more complex World Heavyweight Title rivalry between Edge, Cena, and Big Show, with Vickie Guerrero caught in the middle of it all. That storyline involves romantic confusion, a love triangle, hatred and friendships that are completely uncertain, and the World Title that hangs in the balance.

The strength of the Orton-Triple H feud lies in its energetic simplicity. The story revolves exclusively around a personal issue between two of WWE's biggest stars. The WWE Title, which remained in the narrative's background since the rivalry began a month ago, has since been brought into clearer view.

Randy Orton's backstage interview with Todd Grisham highlighted his goals here: to defeat Triple H (which would solve his personal issues) and to win the WWE Title (which would be a professional accomplishment). He also mentioned a new term, Orton's Law, referring to his punishing the Game for breaking into his home and frightening his wife.

WWE also used the steel cage in a new and interesting way this week when Triple H trapped Cody Rhodes inside with him while Orton and Ted DiBiase helplessly watched their fellow Legacy member decimated at the hands of the Game. Jerry Lawler accurately defined the stunt as clever. We later found out that Triple H pulled it off with the help of Stephanie McMahon, who made a brief appearance when the Cerebral Assassin left the building.

Overall, this week continued the story nicely. As I've been noting in the past few weeks, WWE should probably have Triple H eliminate Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase from the equation before WrestleMania to isolate Randy Orton. It's the next logical step. This week the Game clearly took care of one-third of the problem by assaulting Cody inside the steel cage and knocking him out cold with a sledgehammer.

It's also interesting to note the momentum as we head into April's pay-per-view event. Almost every week it rests on the babyface side. A few weeks ago, Triple H stalked Orton and DiBiase through the backstage halls brandishing his sledgehammer. Last week Triple H broke into Orton's home, frightened his wife, and tossed Orton through his own front window. And this week he dropped the cage over the ring and kept Orton and DiBiase at ringside as Cody Rhodes was mauled inside.

It would be logical to assume that Ted DiBiase is next on Triple H's list. That likely means another week of building momentum for Triple H in this feud. WWE must be extremely confident that Randy Orton has enough heel credibility to face Triple H at WrestleMania without much narrative assistance.

I'm not saying that Orton isn't credible; in fact, he's still WWE's strongest heel character by far. However, it's strange that in a storyline with Triple H, he's not being built as a bigger threat. The Game has had the ball in his proverbial court for weeks. The only time Orton had real momentum was before Triple H entered the picture—when Randy was picking off the McMahon family one member at a time.

Ever since, Triple H has been on a rampage, scouring the backstage area and St. Louis to hunt down Legacy at all costs. Orton has only a few weeks to grab that momentum back and appear like the fierce heel character that he is.

By the way, WWE could have easily continued the "no physical provocation" stipulation that Orton and Triple H agreed to weeks ago. Aside from Triple H's break-in at the Legend Killer's house, Triple H has largely avoided fighting Orton. This week's dismantling of Cody Rhodes in the cage would also have worked within the bounds of that stipulation because Triple H made no deal regarding the other members of Legacy.

Clearly Orton is showing a great amount of confidence despite everything that has happened, but without doing anything further to anger Triple H, Orton will be heading into WrestleMania as the underdog in a match that should appear even. If WWE doesn't change the course a little bit in the coming weeks, the concept of Orton's Law—and, by proxy, Orton's reputation as the lead heel in the company—may fade away as quickly as the Age of Orton did.


Comments? Suggestions? Thoughts on the storyline? Feel free to email me at newthtorch@hotmail.com

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