10 WWE Feuds We Didn’t Know We Needed (Until We Got Them)
When it comes to WWE feuds, low expectations sometimes lead to high entertainment. Sometimes...
WWE's creativity (or lack thereof) leaves a lot to be desired. The promotion has a disturbing addiction to booking rematch after rematch, pairing superstars up and having them do battle for months on end to dwindling crowd responses and diminishing attention. Every now and then you get a pairing that works for both men or women, but Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy isn't the norm; it is an anomaly.
The largest wrestling promotion on the planet also has a disastrous tendency to pair up names that elicit little more than frustrated groans from its own audience. It often seems like punishing the fans is the main objective of WWE, an aim the company achieves through booking things like Elias vs. Baron Corbin, Roman Reigns vs. Baron Corbin, Seth Rollins vs. Baron Corbin and more. Wait, there's a link there, I'm sure of it...
Every now and then, the world turns on its head and potentially mundane feuds become marvellous. This can be for all sorts of reasons, but the reasoning isn't important when the reaction is so positive. Unforeseen chemistry, simple booking, good matches or Jinder Mahal taking dangerous bumps in gimmick matches, or even a combination of all of these things can come together to turn a humdrum rivalry into a thing of pro wrestling wonder.
10. Christian Vs. Randy Orton
When Christian finally made it to the top of the ladder (in the most literal sense) in WWE, the entire wrestling world rejoiced. Captain Charisma had long been a wildly popular superstar, and few argued that he was completely deserving a run with the World Heavyweight Championship. Who cares if it came about as a sympathy case following the retirement of Edge? Christian was on top of the world, Alberto Del Rio was not, and everything was right with the world.
The joy lasted two days, or five if you were the type who managed to avoid SmackDown spoilers. Christian lost the title to Randy Orton, and the world produced a noise that wasn't a sigh, wasn't a groan, but contained all the sadness and resignation that such sounds convey.
The prospect of brief feud between Randy Orton and Christian wasn't exactly compelling, seeing as WWE's tendency then was for championship feuds to stretch over a couple of months with the same guy winning each match. Great, six weeks of Randy Orton beating Christian before Captain Charisma attacks him on TV, inexplicably setting up pointless rematch after rematch. Hooray.
It didn't work out like that. Yes, Orton frequently beat Christian in title matches, but it was Christian's descent into madness that made the feud compelling, leading to one of the few examples of hot-shotting a title working out well. The feud over-delivered. It gave us excellent stipulation matches and superbly sneaky heel tactics, as a revitalised Christian brought the best out of the underachieving Orton.
The best of all worlds.