The Curious Case of Christian
Aug 2, 2015 21:18:03 GMT -5
Glorydaysofwrestling and theMOESIAH like this
Post by Dante, The Voc on Aug 2, 2015 21:18:03 GMT -5
apologies if this should be in classics. four years is on the brink I think.
So I'm watching Summerslam 2011 on the WWE Network and the Christian/Orton match is on. There was something about the video package that stuck with me--Christian did not look good at ALL despite being a 2x World Heavyweight Champion at the time. So to recap:
-- Edge announces his retirement due to injury eight days after Wrestlemania. He vacates the World Heavyweight Championship, which is won by Christian at Extreme Rules. Feel-good moment, the crowd loved it, great match, everything you want in a face's first (non ECW) World Title win, right? Well,
-- TWO DAYS LATER, on SmackDown (five days if tape delay doesn't exist), Christian allows Randy Orton to challenge for the title and Orton wins. Widely regarded around here as a bad booking decision, but in retrospect let's look at both sides of it. Sure Christian's first reign lasted less than a week, but maybe this means a development in Christian's character. Well,
--Randy Orton defeats Christian at Over the Limit to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. A good match, probably a smart booking decision because you don't want to keep hot-shotting the belt back and forth. Christian asks for one more match at Capitol Punishment, which, as a face, could mean he wins the belt and moves on to different things, right? Well,
--Randy Orton defeats Christian AGAIN at Capitol Punishment. Christian's foot was under the bottom rope while the pin was counted and disputed the match. Okay, one more match. He's got a reason for a rematch, the two have been doing well together, he's finally starting to show a little development in his character. This surely must be the time where Christian gets the belt back and moves on to bigger and better things, no? Well,
--Christian wins the World Title back at Money in the Bank...by disqualification. Hiding behind lawyers, Christian executed a clause in the match stating if Orton got disqualified, he'd lose the belt. This is where the decline is most noticeable. Yeah, he's champion again, but it's cheap. It feels tainted. Yes, he's a heel, yes heels could be cowardly and be champions. But it never felt right. It never felt genuine. Christian was being a whiny complainer and many fans, myself included, simply did not buy it as him and were not invested in this kind of character long-term. Not to mention he gets RKO'ed (twice) after the match, a start to a title reign that no one wants.
--Everything before the World Title match at Summerslam made Christian look bad. He jumped around and paraded the title like a nine-year-old, whined (and didn't even dine), and again, it wasn't genuine. Triple H said that he did not respect him anymore. He said the fans don't respect him anymore. Punk called him out on the microphone (the "and bitching" promo). Edge made an appearance at Summerslam to walk into the ring and call Christian a bitch. Orton wins the belt back.
So despite winning the World Heavyweight Championship twice and invigorating his character with a new persona, Christian came out of the summer of 2011 looking worse than he did going in. It was almost as if he wasn't meant to be in the main event. He looked pathetic, weak (in the sense that he couldn't win a match legitimately if his life depended on it), and EVERYONE from Triple H to Teddy Long outshone him on the microphone. It was a slap in the face for the people who were jumping up and down on May 1, 2011 when Christian unhooked the belt and originally won the title; the people who were saying "Yeah! I can't wait to see Christian as World Champion" quickly went "I can't wait until Christian is off my television screen!" which is terrible considering how consistently good of a performer Christian was and is. They coulda had him be the face that drops the belt to Mark Henry, fighting the likes of Sheamus and Barrett through the summer. They could have done a million different things with him after his first win, but a lot of the creativity was forced to stifle due to his loss two days later. His heel turn, sure was a throwback to whiny heel Christian of the early 2000s, but it was the early 2010s, a full decade later--the fans had a different opinion on Christian and we should've had a different bad guy persona. Even if you look at what Christian has done SINCE that No Holds Barred Match, he's been handled poorly.
--Losses to Sheamus at both Hell in a Cell and Vengeance. Gets hurt
--Is heel as part of Big Johnny's injured heel stable at Elimination Chamber, only to return as a face at Over the Limit and win the IC belt from Cody Rhodes. Does nothing with the belt and loses it to Miz on Raw 1000. Hurts himself again
--Comes back, has a few throwaway matches against the Shield. Loses Money in the Bank to Orton. By the graces of God becomes #1 Contender to Del Rio's belt but loses in a match no one expected him to win. Takes time off again
--Qualifies for Elimination Chamber. Second dude eliminated. Suddenly turns heel again on Sheamus. Wins a match to challenge Big E for the IC Title but never received it due to concussion. Hasn't wrestled since.
Now I'm not saying his post-2011 career is 100% thanks to his wonky 2011, nor am I saying he wouldn't have had a multitude of nagging injuries if he just held the belt for more than a week. But once Edge retired, everyone was clamoring for Christian to take his spot in the main event scene and stay there for good. He had worked too hard as a midcarder and proved himself beyond a shadow of a doubt since coming back from a monster TNA run for him to just be thrown away. The closest we got to main event Christian was the Summerslam 2013 match with Del Rio but again, NO ONE expected him to be in the match, let alone win. I know we here have a laundry list of guys who have been mishandled or underutilized (let's be honest, no one's been "buried" like ever. Buried is going from the main event to off TV because of backstage politicking)--with some on the list legitimate, others could be disputed--but one that resonates most notably for me is the case of Christian and his run as the World Heavyweight Champion.
So I'm watching Summerslam 2011 on the WWE Network and the Christian/Orton match is on. There was something about the video package that stuck with me--Christian did not look good at ALL despite being a 2x World Heavyweight Champion at the time. So to recap:
-- Edge announces his retirement due to injury eight days after Wrestlemania. He vacates the World Heavyweight Championship, which is won by Christian at Extreme Rules. Feel-good moment, the crowd loved it, great match, everything you want in a face's first (non ECW) World Title win, right? Well,
-- TWO DAYS LATER, on SmackDown (five days if tape delay doesn't exist), Christian allows Randy Orton to challenge for the title and Orton wins. Widely regarded around here as a bad booking decision, but in retrospect let's look at both sides of it. Sure Christian's first reign lasted less than a week, but maybe this means a development in Christian's character. Well,
--Randy Orton defeats Christian at Over the Limit to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. A good match, probably a smart booking decision because you don't want to keep hot-shotting the belt back and forth. Christian asks for one more match at Capitol Punishment, which, as a face, could mean he wins the belt and moves on to different things, right? Well,
--Randy Orton defeats Christian AGAIN at Capitol Punishment. Christian's foot was under the bottom rope while the pin was counted and disputed the match. Okay, one more match. He's got a reason for a rematch, the two have been doing well together, he's finally starting to show a little development in his character. This surely must be the time where Christian gets the belt back and moves on to bigger and better things, no? Well,
--Christian wins the World Title back at Money in the Bank...by disqualification. Hiding behind lawyers, Christian executed a clause in the match stating if Orton got disqualified, he'd lose the belt. This is where the decline is most noticeable. Yeah, he's champion again, but it's cheap. It feels tainted. Yes, he's a heel, yes heels could be cowardly and be champions. But it never felt right. It never felt genuine. Christian was being a whiny complainer and many fans, myself included, simply did not buy it as him and were not invested in this kind of character long-term. Not to mention he gets RKO'ed (twice) after the match, a start to a title reign that no one wants.
--Everything before the World Title match at Summerslam made Christian look bad. He jumped around and paraded the title like a nine-year-old, whined (and didn't even dine), and again, it wasn't genuine. Triple H said that he did not respect him anymore. He said the fans don't respect him anymore. Punk called him out on the microphone (the "and bitching" promo). Edge made an appearance at Summerslam to walk into the ring and call Christian a bitch. Orton wins the belt back.
So despite winning the World Heavyweight Championship twice and invigorating his character with a new persona, Christian came out of the summer of 2011 looking worse than he did going in. It was almost as if he wasn't meant to be in the main event. He looked pathetic, weak (in the sense that he couldn't win a match legitimately if his life depended on it), and EVERYONE from Triple H to Teddy Long outshone him on the microphone. It was a slap in the face for the people who were jumping up and down on May 1, 2011 when Christian unhooked the belt and originally won the title; the people who were saying "Yeah! I can't wait to see Christian as World Champion" quickly went "I can't wait until Christian is off my television screen!" which is terrible considering how consistently good of a performer Christian was and is. They coulda had him be the face that drops the belt to Mark Henry, fighting the likes of Sheamus and Barrett through the summer. They could have done a million different things with him after his first win, but a lot of the creativity was forced to stifle due to his loss two days later. His heel turn, sure was a throwback to whiny heel Christian of the early 2000s, but it was the early 2010s, a full decade later--the fans had a different opinion on Christian and we should've had a different bad guy persona. Even if you look at what Christian has done SINCE that No Holds Barred Match, he's been handled poorly.
--Losses to Sheamus at both Hell in a Cell and Vengeance. Gets hurt
--Is heel as part of Big Johnny's injured heel stable at Elimination Chamber, only to return as a face at Over the Limit and win the IC belt from Cody Rhodes. Does nothing with the belt and loses it to Miz on Raw 1000. Hurts himself again
--Comes back, has a few throwaway matches against the Shield. Loses Money in the Bank to Orton. By the graces of God becomes #1 Contender to Del Rio's belt but loses in a match no one expected him to win. Takes time off again
--Qualifies for Elimination Chamber. Second dude eliminated. Suddenly turns heel again on Sheamus. Wins a match to challenge Big E for the IC Title but never received it due to concussion. Hasn't wrestled since.
Now I'm not saying his post-2011 career is 100% thanks to his wonky 2011, nor am I saying he wouldn't have had a multitude of nagging injuries if he just held the belt for more than a week. But once Edge retired, everyone was clamoring for Christian to take his spot in the main event scene and stay there for good. He had worked too hard as a midcarder and proved himself beyond a shadow of a doubt since coming back from a monster TNA run for him to just be thrown away. The closest we got to main event Christian was the Summerslam 2013 match with Del Rio but again, NO ONE expected him to be in the match, let alone win. I know we here have a laundry list of guys who have been mishandled or underutilized (let's be honest, no one's been "buried" like ever. Buried is going from the main event to off TV because of backstage politicking)--with some on the list legitimate, others could be disputed--but one that resonates most notably for me is the case of Christian and his run as the World Heavyweight Champion.
