12 Ups & 3 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Feb 5)

8. Ali's Heart Is Not Enough

Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali turned out exactly the way you'd expect Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali to turn out on weekly television: simple and straightforward, with slow, grinding heat segments broken up by bursts of heart and athleticism.

The layout worked for both men. Orton was his usual domineering self, wearing Ali down in methodical fashion, before taking him to the outside and dumping him across the announce table. He dominated until the commercial break, after which Ali came into his own. He sprung out of Randy's grasp, dropkicked him across the table, then dove over the top. Back inside, Mustafa's leaping Facebuster scored a two. He countered the RKO into a Tornado DDT for a close near-fall, but found himself thwarted when attempting the 054, as 'The Viper' pulled him down from the top, transitioning into a smooth RKO.

This worked. The crowd were entirely into it by the end, and Ali shouldn't be going over one of the most decorated World Champions in WWE history this early into his main roster career. His character suits a slower march up the card, and he's already accumulating a Murderer's Row of enemies in Orton and Samoa Joe.

Speaking of which...