You just helped make Hobbes' point for him. If the fans cheered Orton not because they like him then that means that of two guys they don't like, they hate Sheamus more than they hate Orton. Forced to pick, they'll pull for Orton because they can't stand Sheamus.
Sheamus may not be a "super-heel" at this point, but he certainly gets a reaction.
Or it's the case of the fans cheering for Randy Orton because they are much more familiar with Orton and think he belongs in his position, unlike Sheamus. I really do think that the crowd in ole Knoxville was cheering for Orton merely because he's the one they knew. (This coupled with Orton getting cheered scatteredly for the last year because of his badass heel persona.)
It's the scenario of where if you went to a high school gym indie show and the guy you knew was a heel and a guy you've never heard of was a face, you'd probably cheer for the heel. This is heel vs heel, so it's inevitable that someone is going to get cheered, but I think it's a bit shortsighted to give Sheamus so much credit for Orton getting cheers. Orton's gotten cheers going against Triple H and John Cena.
hobbes829 said:
Everyone likes to point at the HHH connection but who better to judge talent than a guy as talented as HHH. The unfortunate thing about hhh's position is that he most likely gets more than he would otherwise from being married to the boss's daughter who's head of the writing team but he also gets less respect than he deserves. He's good at what he does. He can talk, he can wrestle and he has great matches. He's also paid his dues. His opinion is one that i would value regardless of who he sleeps with.
I don't like Triple H, so, of course, that is part of the reason why I'm cynical and annoyed with the Sheamus/McIntyre stuff. But moreover, I'm annoyed because it wasn't really the scenario where someone shows talent on TV and then friends in high places recognize this and put them over the top. As far as I know, the decision was made to give these guys the big push based on stuff done in FCW and ECW (or away from the big time). I guess I would have liked it more if say the friendship/push had began when they were already established in the midcard.
Sheamus is fine, but he shouldn't be WWE Champion, especially when others more deserving, more over and more established are on the roster. Drew McIntyre annoys me more because I think he is more limited on the mic and that he is just a little above average in the ring. Someone like Dolph Ziggler is better in the ring IMO and better on the mic too, even if his mic skills also need work. Plus I just can't get past how it's so obvious that Triple H must see a lot of himself in McIntyre purely based on physical appearance. McIntyre looks very close to Triple H in the mid '90s. And if that is like, a main reason for this, then that's awful. You can't know what people are thinking, but I really do think the physical appearance thing is there.
I attended RAW in Knoxville, and I must say that Smackdown & ECW in Knoxville back in April was more fun. You certainly get more bang for your buck going to Smackdown & ECW, considering you see Smackdown, ECW and two Superstars matches. RAW just had one dark match (Chavo Guerrero vs FCW's Skip Sheffield who is an awful and gratingly annoying redneck), a Superstars match (Jillian vs Kelly which was awful) and Raw.
The only things that I found good about the show were the opening segment with Vince/Taker/HBK, Don Johnson and Jon Heder as hosts and the Cena/Kofi vs Legacy tag match. It was really lame to see another of Swagger's burial losses and an Entertainment Tonight throwaway main event. It's a good thing they have big guest hosts going into Mania because they can't afford these lame main events leading to the biggest event of the year.
I would expect HBK to be a favorite to win the Rumble now and I really like the storyline of him having to force the issue to get the rematch with Taker. I'd be completely fine with Michaels winning, though I'll be cheering for Punk who probably won't win.
Don Johnson was very smooth in delivery and seemed to have fun. Heder was awkward and at times unfamiliar with wrestling so that hurt him, but overall, he was fine.
That tag match was really good, and I'm sure there were parts that weren't on TV, but I was surprised at how many times they teased the hot tag. That was great.
It feels a lot like late 2001/early 2002 with Sheamus. Chris Jericho got back-to-back victories over huge stars like Austin and Rock to build him as champion before taking on Triple H at WrestleMania. Will Sheamus get back-to-back wins over huge stars John Cena and Randy Orton to build him as champion before taking on Triple H at WrestleMania?
