3 Ups & 4 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Mar 6)
2. US Title Tedium
He has his fans, but by and large, Randy Orton is a pretty uninspiring wrestler. 'The Viper' can be excellent, but you're never going to get 100% effort from him if he's working a basic TV match, and that's exactly what happened last night, with him and Jinder Mahal sleepwalking their way through a 10-minute plodder.
Do you like restholds and clubbering blows? Then this is the match for you. It would've been well at home in the '80s, but while we don't expect wrestlers to go all-out every single week, such bouts just don't fly in 2018. There was no urgency, no heat, and no excitement, and the ending was typically tedious.
Bobby Roode was on commentary, because of course he was. Orton slammed his vascular foe into the United States Champion, which prompted him to interfere, distracting the official. Mahal profited by crashing into them, hitting the Khallas, and picking up the win, which may see him added to the US Title bout at Fastlane.
Let's hope this angle comes to an end at the pay-per-view. It's going nowhere, and neither are the protagonists.