6 Ups & 2 Downs From WWE SmackDown (21 Mar - Results & Review)

5. KO Tries To Use Randy Orton’s Past Against Him

Randy Orton was serenaded by an Italian crowd that was rather chuffed to see him right at the top of the show. Bologna also had a thoroughly nice time singing along to 'Voices' at the top of their lungs. Then, Randy went to address them before being interrupted by Kevin Owens. If you thought all hell was about to break loose between these heated rivals, then think again.

There was no violence between Owens and Orton, which is fine and dandy on this occasion. The most important thing is that they managed to tease an inevitable Randy punt by having Kev tell his old tag-team partner to leave that stuff in the past. KO even referenced Orton’s old gimmick by saying he has his own anger issues and shouldn’t have hit that piledriver on Randy last year - it was his version of Randy circa 2009.

This was good stuff. It didn’t insult long-term fans, showed a sneakier side of KO's game, kinda sold that he fears the worst at WrestleMania, and lined up one hell of a pop for the punt when it finally happens. The segment was much, much better than last week’s gloss over job in Barcelona. WWE motored past that far too quickly for it to mean anything.

As usual, Owens showed that attention to detail counts. He brought up Randy's own issues with anger management, used them to excuse his vile behaviour, then back-peddled once he realised he wasn't winning the psychological battle. That punt is coming a mile off, and it's going to be killer.

Sometimes, you're just got to give the people what they want.