Monday Morning QB: Orton Turns Face Finale

After winning the World Title from Chris Benoit at Unforgiven it is clear that Triple H is jealous of Randy Orton, but it also happy that Evolution has the World Title back within the ranks. Instead of Triple H turning against Orton right away I would rather have him find his footing as a champion. His first defense would be in against Ric Flair who won the opportunity in a triple threat match on Raw prior to Taboo Tuesday. Flair wanted Orton to prove his worth and earn respect as World Champion. On the road to Survivor Series, Evolution tries to present a united front and Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Maven try to drive a wedge between Evolution ahead of the PPV. Evolution wins at Survivor Series and Randy is the sole survivor for the team continuing to build his momentum and credibility. 

The next night on Raw it seems like Triple H has had all he can take from Orton and his recent success. On the final episode of Raw before the new year Triple H talks Randy into giving him a title shot with leadership of Evolution at stake. Batista runs in during the match to screw Orton out of the title allowing Triple H to end the year as champion and still in the lead of Evolution. This would bring us to Batista against Orton at the Royal Rumble where if Orton wins he is able to enter the Rumble match. Orton defeats Batista thanks to a returning Ric Flair who had been taken out by Batista & Triple H earlier in the month for disloyalty. Orton wins the Royal Rumble and from there his Wrestlemania feud with Triple H begins. 

In the build to the show of shows Orton almost got fired after accidentally hitting Eric Bischoff during a confrontation with Triple H. Vince McMahon saved Orton's job saying that Triple H should be embarrassed and ashamed to call himself World Champion, because a real champion doesn't back down from a tough challenge. Orton calls Triple H a coward and says "Hunter you've been afraid of being left behind by the new generation since I met you two years ago and after Wrestlemania I will make sure I leave you in the dust." Having enough of Orton & Flair three weeks out from Mania Batista & Triple H jump their former stablemates leaving them bloody pulps in a gruesome scene. The week before Wrestlemania Orton & Flair return to explain their partnership and in classic Flair fashion the passion oozes out of "Naitch" and Orton raising the stakes and intensity for both matches at Wrestlemania 21. 

At Wrestlemania, Randy will defeat Triple H to regain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and Ric Flair will get revenge on Batista winning their grudge match. Following Wrestlemania the same switch would happen as John Cena would capture the WWE Title from JBL and move from Smackdown to Raw and Orton will move from Raw to Smackdown. The only other difference is that Batista will follow him leading to an eventual feud between Orton and Batista on Smackdown. Overall I would think that this would've been a lot better in turning Orton into a credible and likable good guy unlike the way they did it at this time in real life. Either way though that's what makes being a "Monday Morning QB" so much fun.