Instant Feedback: Randy Orton Is a REAL BOY

A miracle happened on Smackdown tonight. Randy Orton showed something more than cardboard delivery in monotone. He actually had depth to his voice. And he relayed emotion more than just "ready to pounce with a RKO." It sounds like Cowboy Bob Orton finally wished upon a star and made his son into a real boy! Although now he needs his own Jiminy Cricket, although from the looks of it, he himself has to play conscience, or more accurately, peacemaker between Big Show and Sheamus. For a story that started out to be mostly about The Shield, they've shifted some of that focus on the resistance to it. That's always a good thing.

Another good thing was that we actually saw a glimpse into what Fandango can do in the ring. In a post match assault, we saw him bust out a pretty sweet kick from the floor to the ring, and then he broke out his finisher, a goddamn beautiful guillotine leg drop. I'm not entirely sure how much time he and Chris Jericho are going to get at WrestleMania, but I'm getting good vibes.

The rest of Smackdown was pretty ho-hum. I don't want to say that the entire build to Mania this year has been slow and lackluster, because there have been moments on RAW, but it almost feels like they're using Smackdown at less than an eighth-capacity to build to it while using the rest of the show for recaps, trailers, and context-free wrestling. The last one, I'm not opposed to, but we're two weeks out from Mania. It's time to get it started.