Why Randy Orton Can’t Get Booed: WrestleMania 42 Card Problems WWE Doesn’t Want to Admit

Five weeks out from the biggest show of the year, and the WrestleMania 42 card still has a fundamental problem that WWE either can’t see or refuses to acknowledge: Randy Orton is supposed to be a heel, and nobody is buying it. SmackDown this week from Raleigh, North Carolina, delivered new tag team champions, a parking lot war between Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu, and Kit Wilson attacking Jelly Roll in what might have been the most entertaining segment of the night. But the closing image was Orton breaking Matt Cardona’s arm with a steel chair while the crowd cheered as if he had just cured a disease.

That’s the reality of the WrestleMania 42 card build right now. WWE is trying to sell Cody Rhodes as the sympathetic champion defending against a vicious predator, but the predator is one of the most beloved performers on the roster, and his victims are people nobody has been given a reason to care about. Meanwhile, AEW held their Revolution pay-per-view last weekend and proved once again that they can put together a fantastic show — they just can’t figure out when to stop.

Randy Orton’s Heel Turn Isn’t Working — And WWE Can’t Fix It

Here’s the fundamental problem with the WrestleMania 42 card main event on the SmackDown side: WWE has spent twenty years conditioning fans to love Randy Orton for exactly the things they’re now asking fans to hate him for. The RKO out of nowhere. The cold-blooded attacks. The voices in his head are telling him to do terrible things. This is what Randy Orton does. This is what he’s loved for. So when he punts Matt Cardona’s career into the shadow realm and the crowd pops, that’s not a failure of execution — it’s a failure of understanding who Randy Orton is to this audience.

Orton came out on SmackDown and talked about the voices, about needing the killer instinct to beat Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Jelly Roll tried to play the moral compass backstage, telling Orton to stop being a bad guy. But the fans don’t care. They just like Randy. And the more WWE pushes the heel angle, the more the crowd rejects it and keeps cheering — which means the real risk here is fans starting to boo Cody in larger numbers.

Come on, @RandyOrton!!

That's NOT how you apologize 😡@TheMattCardona pic.twitter.com/hO1u8GrkDo

— WWE (@WWE) March 21, 2026

Think about what Randy actually did on this show. He called Cardona a “mark stooge and an indie nerd,” and the crowd laughed. He RKO’d Cardona, and the crowd popped. He threw him on the announce table, stomped a chair on his arm — still cheering. At no point did any of this generate heat. WWE hasn’t given fans a reason to care about Cardona, who has lost virtually every match since returning. You can’t generate sympathy for a guy nobody is invested in.

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For this to work, Orton would need to do something genuinely despicable — attack someone the audience is emotionally connected to in a way that crosses a line. And at this stage of his career, with a living legend aura around him, that’s almost impossible. The audience has already accepted that Randy Orton hurts people. That’s his thing. Getting them to suddenly find it unacceptable would require going to a dark place that modern WWE probably isn’t willing to go.

The Case for Appreciating Cody Rhodes Right Now

Here’s a take that needs to be said louder: Cody Rhodes is the best top guy WWE has had since Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. That’s not hyperbole. Think about the list of guys they’ve given the rocket to over the past twenty-five years — Triple H, Randy Orton, John Cena, Roman Reigns. How many of those runs were genuinely fun as a fan? How many of those main events made you excited before the bell rang?

Cody’s WrestleMania resume alone tells you everything. In a four-year span, he’s worked Roman Reigns twice, The Rock, John Cena in Cena’s last WrestleMania ever, and now Randy Orton in what could be one of Randy’s final WWE Championship matches at WrestleMania. That’s an all-time run. Give that to Drew McIntyre or Jacob Fatu and tell me you’d be as excited. Exactly.

Some fans are starting to turn on Cody the same way they turned on him in AEW — the belt keeps coming back to him, there’s no real threat to his position, and eventually, people want something new. But “something new” isn’t always better. The main events are matches worth watching now because Cody makes sure they’re damn good. That’s a luxury WWE hasn’t had in years, and fans should appreciate it before it’s gone.

R-Truth and Damian Priest Win the Tag Titles — And It Actually Makes Sense

R-Truth and Damian Priest defeated Tama Tonga and JC Mateo to become the new WWE Tag Team Champions, and this might be the smartest booking decision on SmackDown in weeks. Both guys were directionless. Priest was getting no reaction as a singles act — we saw it firsthand at a SmackDown taping a couple of months back, where his entrance was met with silence. Truth had the head-shave angle that went nowhere and then reverted to comedy. Truth without any payoff. Putting them together with their old Judgment Day connection gives both men a sense of purpose heading into WrestleMania.

The Wyatt Sicks interfered to cost the MFTs the titles, which continues that feud and sets up what should be a physical stipulation match at WrestleMania — something like a tornado tag or a street fight where those big guys can just beat the hell out of each other. The tag title change also creates a much-needed break from the MFTs and Wyatts trading the belts back and forth, which had become repetitive.

The post-match segment with Solo Sikoa was interesting too. Solo blamed Tama and JC for losing, saying their WrestleMania spot was blown. Tama fired back that Solo needs to return the lantern to Wyatt Sicks because he’s been acting differently since taking it. The money line: “You’re starting to talk like Roman.” That’s a loaded statement, and Solo didn’t appreciate it — though we never saw the conclusion because Drew and Jacob’s brawl interrupted the segment.

Kit Wilson Attacked Jelly Roll — And It Was the Highlight of SmackDown

In what should have been a throwaway celebrity segment, Kit Wilson went out to the ring, confronted Jelly Roll, and then jumped him with a spinning elbow drop off the top rope. Nobody came to save Jelly Roll. The Miz wasn’t even there. It was just Kit Wilson being an absolute menace, and it was fantastic.

This has been building through entertaining backstage segments with The Miz and Danhausen — Danhausen offering to remove curses for twenty dollars, then taking the money and running, was genuinely funny — but Wilson’s solo work proved what some of us have been saying since NXT: this man can talk. He’s one of the most naturally entertaining performers WWE has, and the fact that people are finally starting to see it is gratifying. The Edge and Christian comparisons aren’t far off. When Elton Prince comes back from injury, Pretty Deadly as a unit could be something special on the main roster.

Jelly Roll versus Kit Wilson is now set for next week’s SmackDown, with The Miz likely lurking as the “final boss” of this whole situation. If this leads to Jelly Roll versus The Miz at WrestleMania with Wilson as Miz’s enforcer, that’s a smart way to get a mainstream celebrity match on the card without wasting a real wrestler’s spot.

The WrestleMania 42 Card Is Taking Shape — With Some Massive Holes

With five weeks of television left before WrestleMania, here’s where the WrestleMania 42 card stands. Cody Rhodes versus Randy Orton for the WWE Championship is locked. Roman Reigns versus CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship will headline night two. Oba Femi versus Brock Lesnar was confirmed on Raw this week after Femi power bombed Brock — that’s a massive moment for Femi, though whether Brock would actually agree to lose to him is a legitimate question.

The women’s tag team division is clearly heading toward a multi-team match at WrestleMania. Nia Jax and Lash Legend retained via DQ against the Bella Twins when Charlotte Flair got involved, and now Charlotte and Alexa Bliss will face the Bellas next week in a number one contender’s match. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria could be added from Raw to make it a four-way tag. Jade Cargill versus Rhea Ripley is set for the Women’s Championship — their promo this week was strong, with Jade making it clear she doesn’t need wrestling and B-Fab and Michin aligning with Jade to attack Rhea.

But there are significant gaps. Gunther has no direction. LA Knight has no direction. Seth Rollins has been back on TV but hasn’t taken a bump — he may not be fully medically cleared yet. If Bron Breakker can get healthy, Seth versus Bron makes sense, but the timeline is tight. Finn Bálor and Dominik Mysterio seem destined for each other. Penta needs an Intercontinental Championship match. And the question of whether AJ Lee versus Becky Lynch will get a proper WrestleMania match or just be wrapped up on TV remains unanswered.

SmackDown’s Interference Addiction Is Getting Ridiculous

Here’s a stat that tells you everything about Friday’s SmackDown: five matches aired on a three-hour show, and four of them had screwy finishes. The only clean result was Carmelo Hayes defeating Ilja Dragunov to retain the United States Championship — a match those two have had so many times it barely registers anymore. Motor City Machine Guns beat Fraxiom after Candice LeRae punched Nathan Frazer. Aleister Black beat Sami Zayn after Trick Williams interfered. The women’s tag match ended in a DQ. And the Priest/Truth title win came via Wyatt Sicks interference.

If you paid money to sit in that arena in Raleigh, you saw one legitimate finish and a main event segment where Randy Orton beat up a guy the crowd couldn’t care less about, while Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu fell off a ledge onto what was obviously a crash pad behind a conveniently placed fence. Not great for your live audience investment.

Roman vs Punk — The Promos Started Hot and Are Cooling Off

On Raw, Roman Reigns and CM Punk cut another promo in the main event segment. Roman called Punk old, which is a weird insult when you’re only seven years younger than the guy. Punk is forty-seven. Roman is forty. In what universe does forty qualify you to call someone old? Punk punched him for it, which was fine, but the material itself has declined significantly since that electric first promo where Roman referenced the Colt Cabana podcast and blamed Punk for making his career harder.

That first promo was special because it drew from genuine history and real resentment. Everything since has been standard fare — “I’ll put you in the ground,” “acknowledge me,” “you’re old.” Punk had a cute line about not calling Roman “Joe” because he already knows a Samoan named Joe — a Samoa Joe shout-out — but even that didn’t quite land logically. The feud needs to get back to the personal, specific grievances that made it compelling in the first place. Right now, it’s just two legends trading vaguely aggressive statements, and the heat is dissipating.

AEW Revolution Proved That Less Is More — And Tony Khan Still Won’t Listen

AEW Revolution at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles was excellent for roughly three hours, then became an endurance test. The show started strong — FTR beat the Young Bucks to retain the tag titles in a very good match, Edge and Christian (Adam Copeland and Christian Cage) made their return to confront FTR, Toni Storm beat Marina Shafir, and Ronda Rousey showed up for a surprise confrontation. Jon Moxley submitted Konosuke Takeshita to retain the Continental Championship. Will Ospreay returned to call out Moxley. Swerve Strickland beat Brody King. Kris Statlander retained the Women’s Championship in a two-out-of-three falls match. All of this was great.

Then the show kept going. And going. Andrade versus Bandido was a fine twenty-one-minute match that didn’t need to be on the pay-per-view. Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, and Roderick Strong beat David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Clark Connors in a tornado trios match that could have aired on Dynamite. By the time the main event started, it was past 11:15 PM, and there was still a 46-minute Texas Death Match to go.

Hangman Adam Page versus MJF for the AEW World Championship had every weapon imaginable — glass, barbed wire, a syringe through Hangman’s cheek, wooden skewers in MJF’s head, and an exploding stage spot. It was too much. Way too much. Classic AEW excess where the philosophy seems to be “if one weapon is good, twelve weapons is twelve times better.” MJF won by choking Hangman with a chain until he couldn’t answer the ten count, and the stipulation means Hangman can never challenge for the AEW World Championship again.

That stipulation is baffling. Hangman is one of AEW’s top homegrown stars. Why would you permanently handcuff yourself booking-wise by taking away his ability to challenge for the top title? There are workarounds — heel turn, Continental Classic winner gets an automatic shot — but every workaround feels like you’re undoing something you never should have done in the first place. This is Tony Khan booking himself into a corner for drama’s sake without thinking about long-term consequences.

The show ran until approximately 12:30 or 12:45 AM. If they had cut two or three matches and ended by 11:00, this would have been an eight-and-a-half out of ten. Instead, it’s a seven. AEW consistently delivers the ingredients of a great product and then drowns them in excess. Tighten up. Do less. Sometimes less is more.

In Defense of Ronda Rousey — A Pioneer Who Deserves Better

Ronda Rousey’s appearance at Revolution was exciting, even if it might have been just a one-off local promotion for her upcoming fight in LA. The reaction online was predictably hostile, and it’s genuinely disappointing how quickly people have forgotten what this woman did for combat sports.

Without Ronda Rousey, there’s no women’s MMA in the UFC. Dana White famously said he would never have women fight in the octagon, and Ronda changed his mind by being impossible to ignore. Without Ronda main-eventing WrestleMania, that glass ceiling in professional wrestling would have stayed intact for years longer. Women’s sports across the board benefited from Ronda proving that female athletes can be the main event, not just the undercard.

She has controversial opinions. She had a rough ending to her UFC career. Welcome to the world of combat sports, where virtually every legend has said something that makes you wince. Judging Ronda Rousey’s entire legacy by her opinions is like judging any other pioneer by their worst day. What she accomplished matters more, and the people chanting “fuck Ronda” at wrestling shows need to take a step back and remember who made it possible for women to even be in the main event position.

Dennis Rodman’s WWE Hall of Fame Induction Makes Sense — If You Remember WCW

Dennis Rodman was announced for the WWE Hall of Fame this week, and the immediate reaction is “wait, he was never in WWE.” That’s correct. Rodman’s wrestling career was entirely in WCW, where he tagged with Hulk Hogan against Karl Malone and DDP at shows like Bash at the Beach and Road Wild during the height of the Monday Night Wars. He’d leave the Chicago Bulls playoff series to go party with Hogan. It was insane, it was peak Attitude Era chaos, and it happened to be on the wrong company’s television.

Since WWE owns WCW’s history, Rodman going into their Hall of Fame makes perfect sense. He was a legitimate crossover star at a time when wrestling needed mainstream attention, and his involvement with the NWO helped WCW compete with WWE at the highest level.

Reality Check: WWE’s Road to WrestleMania Has a Creative Consistency Problem

The Reality: Five weeks from WrestleMania and the two biggest matches on the card — Cody vs Orton and Roman vs Punk — both have the same problem: the builds started incredibly strong and have been declining ever since. Roman’s first promo about the Colt Cabana podcast was appointment television. Now he’s calling Punk “old.” Orton’s heel turn was a genuine shock.

Now he’s beating up Matt Cardona while the crowd cheers. Meanwhile, Gunther, LA Knight, and Seth Rollins have no clear WrestleMania direction. The pieces are there for a great show, but WWE needs these final five weeks of television to actually escalate — not flatline. And if they’re going to give us five matches on a three-hour SmackDown, at least one of them should end cleanly besides the US title match that nobody asked for the seventh time.

Tribute: Rodger Brulotte — A Montreal Legend

We want to dedicate this episode to the memory of Rodger Brulotte, the legendary Montreal Expos broadcaster who passed away this week. For anyone who grew up in or around Montreal, Rodger’s voice was the soundtrack to baseball. His partnership with Denis Casavant on RDS defined what Expos baseball sounded like, and his passion for the game was infectious — when Rodger called a Vladimir Guerrero home run, you could feel the joy radiating through your television.

Rodger was also a big pro wrestling fan, reportedly a friend of Jacques Rougeau, and the kind of gentleman who made every interaction feel meaningful. He helped develop French baseball terminology when it didn’t exist yet and had a hand in creating Youppi!, the beloved Expos mascot. A true Montreal institution, a broadcasting legend, and a man who deserved Hall of Fame recognition while he was alive to accept it. Rest in peace, Rodger.

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