WWE Six-Pack: The Miz Steals the Show

Worst Nitpick: Randy Orton, Smackdown

Everything about the Randy Orton-Bray Wyatt interaction this week was great.

For one, how do more superstars not go searching for Wyatt’s “secret” broadcast location whenever he interrupts with those Titantron promos? You know he’s in the building, probably in some janitor’s closet or empty accountant’s office. Go find him.

Further, a big criticism of current-era WWE programming is the lack of narrative thread throughout an episode. Particularly during Seth Rollins’ title reign, the company fell into a rote formula. Start the show with a long promo surrounding the main event. Replay that same promo ad nauseum and eventually return to it at the close of the show.

What WWE should be doing more of is what they did with Orton hunting Wyatt down all episode. Each vignette didn’t rehash what happened earlier in the night; it moved the story forward. It kept you waiting throughout to show to see where it would go next. It started the show but didn’t feature as the main event, either. It was fresh and worked tremendously.

So, where’s the negative? It truly is a nitpick this week, because everything else about this story was so great. But, why couldn’t Orton have left his sheep mask on long enough for Wyatt to see it?

Popping up behind Wyatt while wearing Erick Rowan’s old visage was a perfect touch. But, in the end, it provided nothing more than fan service, as Orton took the mask off before Wyatt turned around. If Orton had kept it on for Wyatt to see it, that would’ve only added to the psychological games as Wyatt would’ve suffered double the shock: not only that Orton had found him, but that Orton was mimicking one of Wyatt’s own weapons of destruction in taking him out.

It’s a very, very tiny piece of psychology that would’ve taken an already excellent story over the top.