Should Randy Orton be a Tweener; would it help him?

[L@RISANO]

Many have been talking about John Cena's possible match at WM. Then, Daniel Bryan and his character enhancement/burial in the Wyatt family programme. Batista and Brock Lesnar and their directions(most probably both will be in the Main Event scene either together or one after the other) and CM Punk(who will most likely face HHH). Then there is also Sheamus and what he will do.

With so many Main Event calibre superstars I don't think many fans will bat an eyelid if Randy Orton was to suddenly become an afterthought at Wrestlemania.
He has been accused of being boring in his promos and too much of a wuss in addition to hiding behind the Authority which has hurt his push to top Heel status in the WWE. However, in the past month or so, I have been interested in his promos and his general demeanour as well. He seems,especially Post-TLC, to have become his own man and partially escape the shadow of the Authority. The clean victory against John Cena also helped alot as well.

However, Orton still risks being an afterthought even though his recent performances have been encouraging. He is in need of a fresh feud with a slightly different direction. There was a time when he was one of the most over faces in the company, and whilst they have spent half the past year billing him as the Main Heel. I think his status should be as a Lone Tweener type character, with NO Allegiance to the Authority but with NO sympathy for the Faces either.
Vince has apparently said there is NO Faces or Heels in the company according to many reports. However, I believe Face characters will always be part of the company. The hero types, who get the huge pops from the crowd and such. The heels' role would change more to Tweener types, because frankly, there aren't many heel characters today who generate boos from the crowd. Rather we hear "What" chants in reply to everything said by the heels or even Heels getting similar or even more cheers than faces at times.

Saying that; A tweener role for Randy Orton can begin right after Royal Rumble where Lesnar confronts Orton and formally challenges him to a Championship match. Rather than have 2 Heels, Orton can be a pseudo-face character in it. Have him confront both Faces and Heels during the programme with Lesnar to emphasise his slight change in character.

At the end of the day, the likes of Lesnar and Batista are only there for the short term. Batista is closing in on 50 years old and is only staying for a year or two at most. Lesnar is just a part-timer who makes rare appearances. Randy Orton has been in the WWE for the a decade and is still Only 33 years old. He still has enough star power to remain for another decade possibly, but he needs to garner more attention if that decade will be spent near the Main Event especially if the WWE manages to get the likes of Reigns, Big E, Ambrose and Bray Wyatt over, not forgetting a few others who might come along during that time.

Thanks for the patience.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Randy Orton's doing just fine as a heel. He's getting a lot of heat and he's utterly unlikeable as a human being in his current character. Prior to his fully fledged heel turn at SummerSlam, Orton was already a tweener, for the most part. He certainly couldn't be called a traditional babyface, especially with him frequently saying that he wasn't "a nice guy" or that he "doesn't get along well with others." While he did show babyface tendencies now and again like most tweeners, Orton is someone that's clearly straddled the line between heel & face the past couple of years.

As long as Randy Orton is still WWE World Heavyweight Champion, he's not going to be any degree of an afterthought for WrestleMania XXX. Comparatively speaking, over the past few weeks, Orton & Cena haven't been as front & center as they usually are, but that's not a bad thing. Orton & Cena are already so heavily & well established that they don't have to be at the front & center of everything all the time. In the coming weeks, especially as we get closer to the Royal Rumble, Orton will get more focus given that Batista is rumored to win the Royal Rumble, he faces Cena in a rematch at the Rumble and Brock Lesnar has declared his intentions to challenge the winner of that match.

The only real "problem" when it comes to Orton is that, like Cena, he's been heavily & constantly booked as a top guy for years. As a result, there's not really any means of keeping him from feeling a little bit stale, no matter the situation. Orton could be turned into as traditional of a babyface as possible or as despicable as a baby rapist who kicks puppies and someone would still find some means of calling him stale. But, that's a big part of the price of being a success. Once you're a success for so long and have been on top of the mountain for so long, there's no place else for you to go. You can still make a ton of money for yourself and for the company at the top of the mountain, but some people are going to get tired of seeing you there.

 

[SavageVSteamboat]

I think what would help him most is if he were the cold-blooded heel he used to be and was allowed to punt people in the skull. But it's the PG era, and we shall see no such thing. But I do think he's been ok since making the heel turn. A hell of a lot more interesting than he was as a face, that's for sure.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

According to Vince, by definition now EVERYONE is a tweener so no it wouldn't.

It wouldn't help him either if they keep the "face/heel divide" you're better using the face potential of a heel like Barrett who has never gone there and teasing that rather than flip flopping guys annually. Orton has never been truly effective in either role although his last face run was perhaps the best he'd done.

I agree Orton is stale, but ultimately that was always going to happen as he hasn't got the chops in the character department to do much else. He's a good if not quite great worker and can command a crowd, but he can't DO anything else other than the monotone and smash his fists on the mat... It was interesting last night when Jake came back how, even though he was grinning like still on crack (good on him, even the best are allowed to mark out once) he still showed more character in 2 minutes than Orton has through this whole main event run.

Orton is a natural heel because so much of his past is out there, he's inherently unlikeable for his failed Marine tenure, his poor behaviour backstage and ultimately his "being handed" everything since his debut beating Bob Holly... He was handpicked as the guy Evolution was to get over, same for Legacy and has despite his cock ups escaped relatively unscathed. The casual fan finds it hard to like Randy Orton in the same way they do a John Cena who clearly is the hardest working man in the business or find him cool in the same way they do the Shield or likeable like Daniel Bryan. He's like the spoiled quarterback at your school, he was a dick, you didn't like him but cheered him cos he was on your team...and if you didn't he'd bully you.

 

[nWo2]

Randy Orton is doing possibly his worst character run as champion or heel. That run he had on Smackdown as a face holding the WHC was boring as hell and this run is even worse.

What makes his current storyline so bland is that he's done it over and over again and even with The Authority behind him ala Corporate Orton. There's nothing NEW he's doing and compared to his Legacy or Rated RKO run this shit is VERY vanilla.

Randy needs to change his attire and gimmick to something thats VERY different. I recommend between his cold stare and gait he could pull off an Undertaker type bizzare character who stalks his competition much like Bray Wyatt or Jake The Snake.

 

[kumarjtk]

Randy orton is top heel of the company. His face turn is failure. He didnt won many championship of his face turn. He is not even a tweener.
Randy orton is a hand pick wrestler for vince mcmahon. They used him mostly as a heel. He is been champion for storyline purpose only. Most of championship comes as a heel and storyline purpose.

 

[CultOfPersonality]

I suppose to an extent he's a bit of a tweener on the mic right now - because he's saying he's better than EVERYONE. Not just all the faces, all the heels as well.

I agree that he'd be better off coming away from The Authority and going lone wolf or starting up a new group where he is the leader again. He's 100x better as a heel when he's able to just tear someone apart (like he did against Miz for one show, and then just didn't go anywhere with it).

 

[darbare]

I agree that hes quite stale in many ways nowadays. But like someone else said once youve been a success for so long at the top theres not a lot motivating you to change it up. You stick with what brought you to do the dance. For Orton its his heritage, his look, his song, and his wrestling. Unfortunately, the Viper of old circa 2009 seems to have only been a gimmick. Main eventers over the past 15 years or so seem to have more reality to them and more seriousness. Just look at Cena, Rock, Austin, Triple H, Edge etc. These guys stayed in the main event for years and didnt come off as gimmicky, they were more less exaggerated versions of themselves. For Orton now, they are harping on his past as a cold and ruthless individual when he wants to be, but they are going back further when he was the legend killer and hes still posing and acknowledging the fact that hes this tall and handsome guy who can get any woman he wants. So for many, maybe this is why hes boring and stale because all of those things for the most part arent exaggerations its reality, they just want to see more character out of him. But then again not everyone can continue to reinvent themselves (ie Taker, Kane, Jericho)

 

[L@RISANO]

Randy Orton's doing just fine as a heel. He's getting a lot of heat and he's utterly unlikeable as a human being in his current character. Prior to his fully fledged heel turn at SummerSlam, Orton was already a tweener, for the most part. He certainly couldn't be called a traditional babyface, especially with him frequently saying that he wasn't "a nice guy" or that he "doesn't get along well with others." While he did show babyface tendencies now and again like most tweeners, Orton is someone that's clearly straddled the line between heel & face the past couple of years.

As long as Randy Orton is still WWE World Heavyweight Champion, he's not going to be any degree of an afterthought for WrestleMania XXX. Comparatively speaking, over the past few weeks, Orton & Cena haven't been as front & center as they usually are, but that's not a bad thing. Orton & Cena are already so heavily & well established that they don't have to be at the front & center of everything all the time. In the coming weeks, especially as we get closer to the Royal Rumble, Orton will get more focus given that Batista is rumored to win the Royal Rumble, he faces Cena in a rematch at the Rumble and Brock Lesnar has declared his intentions to challenge the winner of that match.

The only real "problem" when it comes to Orton is that, like Cena, he's been heavily & constantly booked as a top guy for years. As a result, there's not really any means of keeping him from feeling a little bit stale, no matter the situation. Orton could be turned into as traditional of a babyface as possible or as despicable as a baby rapist who kicks puppies and someone would still find some means of calling him stale. But, that's a big part of the price of being a success. Once you're a success for so long and have been on top of the mountain for so long, there's no place else for you to go. You can still make a ton of money for yourself and for the company at the top of the mountain, but some people are going to get tired of seeing you there.

I do agree with most of what you say, Jack-Hammer.
As WWE World Heavyweight Champion, he won't be an afterthought, because he would be booked accordingly.
However, just imagine a scenario where he loses to John Cena at Royal Rumble, and gets a rematch on the next RAW. He loses again. As a result, Randy Orton drops out of the Main Event picture....would people(a Majority) be really interested in his programme thereafter? I don't think they would bat an eyelid or care much if he had a mid-card match at Wrestlemania as opposed to the equally stale Cena if he was to move to a normal story-line feud. Cena's match would still be a headliner by booking and by interest, but Orton's would not be.

My point is;
In the long term, what direction should they go with Randy Orton to keep him absolutely relevant. How does he keep on getting reactions from the crowd, have the WWE Universe interested in what Randy Orton is doing?
Right, the title picture is making him relevant, and since the TLC match he has relied less on the Authority, which has helped in getting interest into him and his actions moreso than before where he hid behind them.

Up to Wrestlemania, I don't see him losing the title. If he has it at that time(WM31), he will MOST Definitely lose it to the Royal Rumble winner,probably.
Then what?
John Cena can have a heel turn to freshen up, what can Randy Orton do to freshen up? Maybe give him a role like Kane's,perhaps? Kane the Destructive monster, Randy the Cunning viper...as I said, a Heel/Tweener...a pure opportunist floating around anywhere,that is how I see him.

The part-timers will leave. The only guy I am just as clueless about is Sheamus, and that is due to not knowing if he will return as a face or heel character. However, I think Sheamus will be in the Main Event scene Post-WM.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Randy was a 'tweener for quite some time.....and I thought he was at his best in that role. Of course, he likes playing a total heel and apparently lobbied for it continually while management had him as an in-betweener. Okay, that's what he prefers, but the problem is that while Randy possesses technical excellence in the ring, his personality is only so-so. I don't see him coming off as particularly threatening when he talks.

Honestly, I think they could have picked someone better to play "The Authority's Favorite." The person in that role has to bounce between paying tribute to his bosses.....and railing against them when he feels he's being used incorrectly. Randy is only lukewarm at this middle position; he doesn't have the acting ability to mitigate his position in dealings with Triple H and Stephanie. When he was forced to defend against Daniel Bryan on Raw, he came across as a bad-tempered 8-year-old in complaining about it.

None of this is to say Orton is doing a bad job, it's just that I feel his best destiny is as a 'tweener. I liked the way he performed in that role a year ago; we never knew what to expect from him. Given a personality that leaves us unsympathetic toward his plight, I like the unpredictability factor better than him showing us only pure evil.