WWE Summerslam Results: What We Learned from Randy Orton's Win

After legal threats, anger management classes and a whole lot of spitting at Summerslam 2011, Randy Orton managed to defeat enemy Christian after an incredibly brutal and violent no holds barred match and win back his World Title.

What happened to the dastardly, fool proof plan that Christian bragged of on last week's Smackdown, you may wonder? Well, he brought out Edge, who promptly turned on his friend of 20 years, berating him for being a coward and whiner and told him he was on his own. Charming, huh? With friends like that, who needs enemies? Pretty weak, especially since Christian and WWE strongly hinted he had to something big up his sleeve that would be the difference-maker.

Fickle friends aside, Christian put up a good fight but was ultimately topped by Orton after a sickening RKO onto the ring steps. He did an impressive sell job after and was shown being dragged out of the ring after Orton's celebration.

An easy match-of-the-year contender, the 25 minute bout was filled with blood, stiff kendo stick shots and a variety of other weapons, assuring it was gruelling and compelling match that no one will forget for a long time.

Both men should be commended for their performances. Orton vs. Christian has easily been WWE's in-ring feud of the year, even if the storyline hasn't been up to much. Their matches together have been so good, in fact, that I'm willing to forgive Orton for the awful beard he's been sporting lately.

So, what have we learned from Randy Orton's victory? Well, some could say it as a lack of faith in Christian from Vince McMahon, who has always had his doubts about Christian as a main event performer. Christian famously lost the title clean to Orton back at an April Smackdown taping after a staggeringly pathetic five-day title reign. He lost clean to Orton on the next PPV, too. 

However, he did win the title back at last month's Money in the Bank PPV, albeit on a weak DQ stipulation, which was credited more to Orton losing his temper than any skills Christian had.

The new champ was swiftly RKO'd on the Spanish announcer's table twice, as if to emphasize the point by WWE brass that Orton was still vastly superior to his opponent despite the loss. Christian also fell short here, losing the title.

While it is heartening that Christian did earn a sold main event spot as Smackdown's top heel, the fact is, Vince and the booking team were always reluctant to strap the rocket onto him after allow him to achieve the solid upper-hand against a firmly established star like Orton.

Will the Orton vs. Christian feud continue? It's difficult to tell. While their matches have been extremely good, some fans are complaining about the repetitive nature of the rivalry—Orton and Christian have had, by my count, five one-on-one matches on television and PPV in the last few months alone—and this match had a blow-off feel to it.

It would not be unreasonable for wrestling fans to assume this is the end of the Orton/Christian saga, especially when they look at how overdone this program has been and the sense of finality as a bruised and battered Christian was helped out of the ring after the match.

Unfortunately, the Smackdown main event scene has very little depth. Indeed, if Christian is out of the current title picture, the next challenger to Orton's title is likely to be Mark Henry who was strongly put over as a monster after brutally smashing Sheamus through a gimmicked barricade, likely indicating a main-event run in his future.

Henry has shown flashes of personality on and off over the years and can occasionally rise to the occasion, but the idea of him in regular main event matches is terrible. According to rumors, Orton is not exactly keen on working with the notoriously clumsy Henry either and is clearly more comfortable working with the likes of Christian and Sheamus.

If the Christian vs. Orton bouts are over, this is likely the only direction for WWE to go—bad news for the WWE fans who've grown spoilt by all the great Orton/Christian matches in recent months.

However—and this is something I am hoping for—an under utilized mid-carder may also come over to Smackdown from Raw and be the new challenger for Orton's title.

It's not like the brand split matters anyway. John Morrison was on Smackdown this week and nobody blinked an eye. For WWE management, this may be preferable to yet another doomed-to-fail Mark Henry main event run and fans will be grateful for the change too.

So, what have we learned?

Well, Christian may never get the Vince McMahon stamp of approval, but he still made it farther in WWE than many predicted.

Orton will remain the guy SD is built around, which isn't too bad since he is still extremely over and Mark Henry may be getting a main event push soon because there is simply nobody else.

A mixed bag, really.