10 Greatest Rivalries in The History of WWE SmackDown

#5 Randy Orton vs. Christian

Christian proved he was

a main

event player

In 2011, following his best friend Edge's retirement, Christian defeated Alberto Del Rio in an emotional and excellent TLC match at the Extreme Rules event. Despite Christian being the most deserving Champion in WWE in quite some time, the reign was cut short at less than a week when Randy Orton defeated Christian for the Championship on the post-PPV SmackDown.

The two had a 'friendly feud' over the next few weeks where both were babyfaces, which would lead to a critically acclaimed Championship match at Over The Limit. A couple weeks later after Orton successfully defended his Championship with Sheamus, special referee Christian turned heel on Orton after the match, hitting him with the Championship.

Christian received another rematch at Capital Punishment, once again stealing the show. Orton won, although Christian's foot was under the bottom rope, leading the Christian to campaign for another rematch at Money in The Bank. In the weeks leading to the event, Christian gave some of his best promo work in his career, and was able to use Randy's temper to ass a stipulation of if Randy was disqualified, he would lose the title. Christian spat in Orton's face, causing him to lose control of his temper, kick Christian in the groin and get disqualified, resulting in Orton losing the match and title.

Christian spent the next month showing more of his great heel charm, this time as Champion, before ultimately losing the title back to Orton in a No Holds Barred match at SummerSlam. The feud ended 2 weeks later when Orton retained his title once again over Christian in a Cage match.