Will Orton continue his title reign following ‘Backlash’?

As of right now, the 28-year-old Knoxville native has held the WWE strap for right at seven months after first getting the title run at No Way Out. If you will recall, this is technically his third title reign as the third generation superstar first became the youngest ever champion at age 24 in 2004 in what was a doomed title reign as his credibility as a babyface was short-lived causing him to quickly drop the strap only a couple of months later. He would not recover the title until late 2007 when it was handed to him by Vince McMahon when Cena injured his pectoral muscle. This gave Orton his second title reign, the shortest in history as Triple H challenged him and beat him just minutes later. However, before No Way Out ended, Orton had another shot at the title, this after Triple H had been softened up by Umaga during the same show, allowing him to win a Last Man Standing match.

That was October and since then Orton has trumped expectations as everyone and their cousins expected him to lose to either Cena or Trips at Wrestlemania. Orton’s is the title reign that won’t end, or will it? Will Backlash put an end to the Orton saga or will it simple keep the ball rolling?

Does WWE believe Orton can stay a top level heel without the belt around his waist? I guess our questions will be answered this Sunday night in the four-way match between he, Triple H, Cena and the wrestling god, John Bradshaw Layfield.

Okay, given the fact there are so many possibilities seeing the champ doesn’t even have to get pinned to lose the title, it would tell me one of the challengers will win since the more people, the longer the odds for the champion. For that reason I’m taking Orton to retain seeing WWE is doing everything it can to swerve us lately.

However, if you’re looking for a darkhorse look no further than JBL, who traded in his announcer’s chair to return to the ring late last year. And, I severely doubt he left announcing, something he is very good at, to return to the ring to job to the young guys. I’d suspect the 41-year-old Texas native is eyeing at least one more title run as I recall before his retirement he had said he wanted to change from his former Smackdown to RAW to do some fresh feuds. Well, here he is on RAW and he’s already been pushed toward the top of the order, inserting himself in the title match out of nowhere.

Frankly, if you’re taking a vote, I would vote for JBL as WWE champ. Why? Well, first off he is the best heel in wrestling today, able to turn a crowd into a mob very quickly. Next, we’ve seen Cena and Triple H as RAW champs on numerous occasions while Orton has held the belt long enough that I’d say he is quite believable as a top heel without the strap. Plus, there is rumor of a draft lottery coming up and I suspect someone like Orton may make the jump to Friday night while JBL is not likely to go back to Smackdown since he just now jumped over to RAW.

The main reason I think JBL would work winning this Sunday is that it fits story line perfectly. When JBL finally lost his championship to Cena at Wrestlemania 21, he had held the belt for 280 days, making him one of the longest reigning WWE champs in title history. His beating of Orton would ensure his record would stand since Orton will be getting close to JBL’s longevity in the not too distant future. Personally, I like it better than Orton retaining or us getting yet another Trips or Cena title feud.

For those looking for live action, the FTW will be holding a tag title tournament Saturday night at the Cookeville National Guard Armory with an early bell time of 6 p.m. The FTW will be doing a show here in McMinnville on May 10 at the Mega Market in Westwood (old Powermatic building), marking the first return of wrestling to McMinnville since the Jake’s Auction days. Look for the build up for the May 10 event here in your hometown paper plus I’m going to be giving away a pair of tickets next week to someone dedicated fan who can answer a difficult trivia question.