Orton the Face/Heel

[robertg316]

Is it just me or is Randy Orton's face turn just a little hard to swallow. I think since he has started to turn the crown his character has lacked the edge that it had when he was a heel. To give WWE credit they have yet to come out and fully portray Orton as an all out face and this leads to my main question.

Would it be better if WWE continued pushing Orton as a face and see where it goes or would it be better to actually turn him back to mega heel status now he is champ? It would certainly generate instant heat but its if they could keep that heat going.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Chardee Macdennis]

I think WWE had very little to do with Orton turining Tweener in the first place. They (for once) listnened to the crowd as Randy was becoming more popular by the week. There was no stopping it. The more mature audience was looking for something edgier and Orton is what they got. The WWE has played into, but haven't destroyed what Orton brings to the table all together, so the road being traveled is a wise choice.

 

[LSN80]

I've personally seen enough of Orton as a "heel" champ, and want to give him at least a nice run with the belt before I can pass judgment one way or another on him as a true face champion. That being said, I think things have worked thus far with his current character.

WWE hasn't truly pushed Orton as being a "full out face". He's lost none of the characteristics he used as a heel, other then having his lackeys around. He boasted a few weeks ago about "not being an honorable man" and the people he's punted. "Some were deserved, some were not.", he said without remorse, and proceded to punt a helpless Chris Jericho a week later. Not exactly the characteristics of a face, are they?

What changed for Orton, and WWE, was the CROWD RESPONSE. More people began cheering Orton rather then booing him, forcing their hand quite a bit. Do you ignore the obvious crowd response, or do you give the fans what they want? I think WWE has done the latter, without changing whats made Orton truly successful.

I think what WWE has done with Orton has been excellent booking. He's being booked as a "one man army" type of character, which is a departure from him in the past. In that essence, he is a face, as he's not relying onm others to do his dirty look. But hes being booked as cold, remorseless, and as caring about noone but himself, which are certainly traits a heel brings. WWE(and Orton) have done a nice job of combining the 2, which have made for a compelling tweener character.

I think its working, and evidenced on the crowd reactions, Im not the only one. So why mess with what's already working? Every wrestler, in my opinion, deserves a full run as a face and a heel in order to see what they can do with their characters. As far as Orton's heel character, what more could they have done without him growing incredibly stale? He's in a perfect place right now.

 

[King_of_Swing1520]

im enjoying orton being face. yes he's a better heel but everyone needs a character change every now and then. cena is a better face than heel but alot of us want him to change just for the hell of it. im not sure how much wwe planed his turn but did they expect anything else? at mania orton basically took on ted and cody 2 on 1. ofcourse the crowd is going to cheer orton. even though orton was the only established ME guy in the match he was the underdog. 2 on 1 and he overcame the odds.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Would it be better if WWE continued pushing Orton as a face and see where it goes or would it be better to actually turn him back to mega heel status now he is champ?

The best thing to do is both. One week you're sure he's a heel....the next week you're not really sure.....and the week after that you're positive he's a heel......but then, maybe not. Keeping the fans guessing is one of the best things the company can do, and no one does it better than WWE. It adds a mystique to a character that never really existed in the wrestling business before.

That's the essence of a 'tweener; not that he's either good or bad, but that you never really know from one week to the next.

Keep it going.

 

[ChrisNutter]

WWE had portrayed Orton as a face enough but also leaves in the mind of everyone that he could strike at any time (i.e. punt Chris Jericho in the head). WWE is letting the fan base determine what Orton is going to be and that at the moment is a face. WWE has tried to force people into the WWE Universe as a face (i.e. John Cena) who is a tweener or should be portrayed as one and he gets the half and half response. Now I know some people will say Cena is the face of the company and is a face. I understand but my logic is judging by fan reaction alone he is a tweener and it actually would help Cena with the audience I think if they portrayed him as such.

Back to Orton, nicely done so far to the WWE for listening to the audience and Orton has shown with coming out to deliver an RKO to Sheamus during their feud out of no where to the immense cheers of the crowd that he can play face and I think the tweener role for Orton works well.

 

[Ace333]

Orton as a tweener is great right now. He can face anyone and he will be applauded. I don't care if he boots anyone in head from John Cena to any member of Nexus and I'm sure most people agree with this. Right now He is the Stone Cold of the PG era.

 

[The Crock]

It was actualy a great move. The crowd cheered Orton so much, hell, his cheers competed with CENA! Orton works as a tweener. The only reason he comes off as bland or boring is because the whole entire ME scene is dry and uninteresting. Give him some time and tweener Orton will impress. He'll regain that intensity, he just needs a solid feud to bring it out of him. I'm by no means a "Randy Orton mark", I like the guy, but he's destined to be good. He's always been good. Just give it some time, it'll grow on you.

 

[Dave]

I don’t think Orton really falls under the “face” category. Really, he is more of a tweener that the WWE are trying to turn into the next Austin-esque Character. Whether that is feasible or not still remains to be seen but if the WWE do not have the balls to see it out, then they do not deserve to find out if he can be successful in this role or not.

The problem with Orton is that he is treading a very fine line under the orders of the WWE, as they go in search of the next Stone Cold Steve Austin. The problem being that Austin’s character was allowed to fly free under the banner of the Attitude Era and the same liberties are not being given to Randy Orton. I cannot remember the last time Randy Orton did something breathtaking that got us all talking at the water cooler the next day. One could argue that even his WWE Championship win was lacklustre in many respects. Austin was the polar opposite of that mantra. Austin always gave us talking point every Raw and he was a success because of it.

The WWE really are trying to achieve the best of both worlds. Orton is supposed to appeal to us. The fans who are fed up with the PG-era will automatically latch onto Orton because he has come close to pushing the line further than it has been over the last couple of years. However, they have yet to realise that the gimmick that Orton has just doesn’t fit in with being a face. Are the WWE to blame for this turn of events though? I don’t think so.

Orton was getting so much love from the WWE live crowds that they could hardly keep him heel because it made no sense. If anyone is to blame for Orton failing as a face character. It is us.

 

[SuperSteve16]

I like Orton as a face, but theirs the problem of who he's going to verse for the championship. Other than Nexus (which looks like Cena will verse them somewhere ddown the track), Sheamus (Not a good feud!) and Cena(Please not again), their is nobody for Orton to verse for the WWE Championship. On the other hand if he's heel, he can verse pretty much anyone on RAW

 

[Jasper Dale]

Why am I, as a WWE fan, suppost to cheer for Randy Orton?

I understand the "tweener" thing...I do...And I have been watching wrestling for way too long but as the top guy in the company currently, and the title holder, you better get a reaction from everyone...Not just the feeling that you are unsure of how you are to feel towards the guy.

Me for one, cannot stand Orton anymore...And I have been an Orton guy since day one...I sat 10th row at the SummerSlam in Toronto when he first beat Chris Benoit...I enjoyed his Legend Killer gimmick and loved Legacy but watching him now makes me almost uncomfortable.

He just stares! Thats it! He stares!
This is who I am suppost to cheer for?
And that whole Viper thing is foolish....I get it, you want him to be Stone Cold...

Please end this!

 

[DanielJames]

I think his character is perfect right now. You get all his evil notion, expressions and moveset, but you don't get the lame things about heels like running from fights ( i used to hate when they made him look like a coward). I've been waiting for awhile for this character change and i thought it would never come haha. but alas it has and it has worked well. and as many people have said its because so many people just started loving him that they had to do something without actually losing the good aspects of his character. so they make him tweener.

but i think my favorite part of this is that there is such a high demand for and rko that it happens pretty much every week.

 

[Charlton Chester Chimp]

I think that orton works very well as both a heel and a face. His legend killer/evolution character was naturally heelish as one of the main traits of the gimmick was that of arrogance, which people do not warm to. However, as he began to become the viper, the arrogance fell away and was replaced by a coldness and higher level of intensity. If you compare the character now with that of his evolution days, its seems completily different and its very interesting to watch ppvs such as no mercy 2007, where hes in the period of transition.

The viper gimmick is also suited to being a heel as its seemed to be an ultra evil persona. However, i think that people began to become aware of how good he actually is (his ring psychology, facial expressions, originality of character) coupled with what appears to be a very stiff, smooth and fast pased wrestling style. This led people to really appreciate what he does, leading to positive crowd responses and eventually a face turn.

I think he works excellently as a babyface, and stands out from other wrestlers. He displays very edgy character, which seems to go against the trend of squeeky clean good guys and seems fresh new and unique.It will be interesting to see how he further develops over the coming years as he seems to be consistenly fine tuning the character. On a final note, I think that part of his success as either a face or heel is due to how believable he performs and how real it looks.

 

[sharmaq]

As has been said, Randy was turned by the fans, (primarily due to his skills) but I think also unintentionally by creative itself. I think the initial plan was for the Legacy break-up to culminate in Rhodes and/or Dibiase turning face on Orton, but WWE blew that - firstly by putting Orton in a feud with Sheamus who everyone hated and also by not pulling the trigger on the Legacy split when Dibiase seemed on the verge of snapping on Orton and the crowds were actually quite hot for him (remember that?!)

I think his character is fine right now. He's more on the side of being a babyface than a heel, given that he only teams up with babyfaces these days and that he's a lot less likely to take shortcuts to win a match than before. However, he is very much the lone wolf, just as likely to punt John Cena in the head as Wade Barrett and he never directly appeals to the fans to get behind him in any of his promos. His character is obviously a bit watered down in these PG days, but this babyface run is working out a lot better than the first time, because unlike then WWE haven't tried to make him likable - let's face it his character's not exactly a stand up guy - and he is still pretty much the same guy as before, just with a couple of tweaks.

 

[IWC Fan]

Its good that Orton is currently the way he is. When they first attempted making him "face" fans rejected it. Say what you want abut Vince: He knows a thing when he sees it.... And the fans letting Orton be the "new age" clone of Austin screamed money to him, so instead of a rattlesnake, we get a viper. The only thing missing right now is a feud with the chairman.....

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Almost everyone has pointed out that Orton's face turn was organic and that he is more of a tweener than a full blown face.

The thing is, even though Orton is the champion, the storylines are not based around him. Look at what he is doing these days. Playing a supporting role to this Cena vs Barrett feud. Thats not what your top face is supposed to be doing. I'd like to see his next feud after this Cena vs Barrett feud is over.

I'd like to see him go up against a babyface just to see if he is able to sustain his pops. I think he will. The crowds have always liked tweeners and I can't see why Orton should be an exception.

 

[Tna-WWE]

IN my opinion Randy Orton was better a heel due to the fact that wwe management made him on of the best est heels in the company. I also enjoy Randy Orton's Face Character due to the fact that he could become the top Face Character If John Cena turns Heel. So Randy Orton would be better yet a heel for his Wwe Status like Championships and people respecting his character.

 

[M-Eklipse]

When Randy Orton was a heel and people said they found him bland and boring, I really couldn't see what they were talking about (for whatever reason). However, back at Wrestlemania when he first started showing signs of turning Face...it hit me like a brick. Week after week he just gets more and more boring and stale to me, even now I have to sigh every time I hear his music hit, because I know I'm about to bored out of my mind. IMO, if they dropped him back down to a title chaser, then he would be a bit more tolerable to me.

 

[Navi]

I'm a huge Orton fan, but there is just one thing that bothers me about him. If you look at Taker/Austin and others, they seem to be able to make it no matter what role they're given. Orton on the other hand, works well has a heel, not so sure about his work as a face.

Sometimes he looks uncomfortable in the role, like he's about to snap and punt someone's head off, but somehow can't pull the trigger. I don't think that anyone would argue that Orton is a natural born heel, but I'm finding him boring as a face. Since Hardy's departure and the WWE unwillingness to promote anyone else up to the main event, they don't have a choice but to have him playing the role he's doing now.

I can't wait for the Cena/Barrett feud to be over and done with and then we'll have Orton back to what he does best.

 

[wrestling god]

just wonder whats the big deal about being a face, almost daily i read in threads that x or y is better suited as a heel..... as far as orton is concerned he had done almost everything as a heel, people did not want him 2 keep winning cheaply, in short he needed a character change....... and being a tweener was the best option



just have a feeling that orton played the role of a heel 2 such perfection that people dont want 2 buy the fact that he is a face.......

 

[Trivia247]

Though Orton maybe Austin-lyte as some here suggests, there are blaring differences in the character. Orton is a definate tweener pushing towards just being a pure babyface, but you see him paling around with R-Truth allowing him to get the win and such and celebrating. Whenever you Had Austin team with anyone no matter how well they work together you always wait for that stunner, that What the F? Stunner that is the trademark of Austin's character that he doesn't trust anyone. Orton if they want him to be the next Austin has to be that unpredictable, they have done it before but it isn't sticking. Austin's character was like you could beat him but unless he changes his mind he is going to keep after you, Orton they have pretty much mapped out that he could take out anyone That supreme confidence and the morphed character persona of the hunter.

 

[cmedge]

I happen to like Randy Orton as a face. He has gained so much popularity since becoming a face. I think he suits heel best personally but Im enjoying the new face randy orton. Randy Orton has been a heel his whole career but a couple of months so this face run is pretty good. I'd enjoy seeing Randy Orton a face for these upcoming years.

 

[Dagger Dias]

WWE should keep going the way they have with Orton. He is getting a good crowd reaction and a lot of people like him. Now he's the top face after Cena, even though he still acts heelish. Why ruin the building up of another top face by turning him heel again? He's really not that different from his heel self. He still acts about the same. Orton acts like a heel but gets face reactions. He is what you would call a tweener right now. Turning heel again so soon would be bad because it would render the building up of his face reactions from the fans to be pointless. He's already been a mega heel. Orton should keep going the way he has been, they can let someone else like Sheamus or Barrett have a shot at the mega heel role.

 

[James_Jericho]

Orton is a brilliant baddie, i dont know about face. Like SuperSteve said, he would have no-one to verse for the title, apart from Sheamus and Wade Barrett, who, Sheamus, isnt really a good rivalry and Wade isnt really WWE Championship 'material' yet.

 

[Montague]

The Orton face turn seems to be finalized after last night's SS. After the title match he and Cena hug...HUG! After just a week ago threatening to punt his head in for not calling it down the middle. If thats not WWE's idea of a face, someone who the "fans like", who is the "one man army", who shows "respect" at the end, I dont know what is.