WWE Raw: Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre has lost momentum

Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre had the biggest rivalry on WWE Raw, but it now feels like a secondary storyline at Hell in a Cell.

It’s a shame when two great wrestlers are giving it their all in promos and doing whatever they can to make a storyline feel like a massive deal, but it’s just gone on too long. That’s the situation WWE Raw superstars Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton have found themselves in, as wrestling fans just aren’t locked in on what they’re doing in the build to their Hell in a Cell match this Sunday.

The rivalry started off with a bang, and fans were buying into it after McIntyre’s roll-up victory over Orton at SummerSlam. They were ready to see McIntyre and Orton trade more blows – which they did – before the Viper won the WWE Title at Clash of Champions.

Instead, Orton lost, as the legends he insulted in the past, such as Christian and the Big Show, came back to pay him back with interest, costing him the WWE Title match.

Orton, though, hasn’t stopped there, as he’s intent on taking the title off McIntyre or losing a piece of himself inside Hell in a Cell. This match is familiar territory for Orton but not McIntyre, which Orton was sure to remind the audience on the go-home show of WWE Raw this week before the Pay Per View.

Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton had a poor show-closing segment on this week’s WWE Raw

The segment closed Raw, but it really shouldn’t have even happened at all. For weeks, Orton and McIntyre have often been the opening and closing of the show, to varying success. And “varying success” isn’t good enough when you’re trying to push a feud as THE feud on Monday nights. WWE is putting pressure on them to hit home runs each week, and it’s just not feasible to expect them to do that for months.

So naturally, fans are starting to care less about this rivalry. They’ve heard just about every possible promo between the two of them, as it’s getting to a point where McIntyre and Orton are almost repeating themselves on the microphone.

In this week’s closing segment, Orton was so scared of McIntyre getting into the cell with wire cutters, and then the show ended. Maybe it was a logistical/timing issue, but if the point was to avoid having them come to blows right before Hell in a Cell, why have the wire cutter suspense in the first place? Plus, we’ve seen McIntyre and Orton brawl so frequently that one last brawl wouldn’t have felt out of place.

Throughout this feud, I’ve wondered if WWE have hit the “too much of a good thing” button. Orton and McIntyre have been two of the biggest highlights on Raw this year and were doing an awesome job to start the feud. But instead of letting them do their thing and moving on or giving them space to breathe, WWE have gone to the well too many times. Having them interrupt a No. 1 Contender’s Women’s Battle Royal last week did not do them any favors either.

Hopefully, Orton and McIntyre will have a barnburner at Hell in a Cell, we move on, and we look back on this feud more fondly in a year. Because at this point, I think most people are ready for something new for both these talented wrestlers.