WWE SmackDown Grades: The New Day Ends The Bludgeoning

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4. Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy

The return of Randy Orton at Extreme Rules back in July has not only given fans the return of one of the most decorated superstars in history, but it also gave fans the return of the sadistic heel Orton.  His sights have been set on Jeff Hardy since his return and he has done some vintage heel antics to Hardy over the past several weeks.

Hardy was unable to capture the United States Championship back from Shinsuke Nakamura at SummerSlam, but he got the opportunity to silence The Viper last night when he went one-on-one with Orton.  It never felt like this match would actually end up like a real match and for the most part, that rung true.

In terms of just the match itself, there really wasn’t a whole lot to it besides Orton trying to destroy Hardy again.  But after Orton tried to stretch out Hardy’s earlobe again, The Charismatic Enigma snapped.  He low blowed Orton and got disqualified, but that wouldn’t be the end of it by any means.  Hardy fought Orton through the crowd and capped it off with a vintage Hardy maneuver.

He laid out Orton on a table and would hit him with a huge swanton bomb to put the finishing touches on a beating he had waited weeks to give.  This feud will certainly carry over into Hell In A Cell next month, but it has been stellar so far.  It would even be a nice touch to see the two wrestle inside Hell in a Cell in the first place.

The actual match itself wasn’t much, but the post-match beatdown by The Charismatic Enigma was awesome and it put The Viper back in his place.

Final Grade: B