The Problem with being Randy Orton.....a testimonial

[Mustang Sally]

Most folks on this forum are too young to remember the early WWF days of Rowdy Roddy Piper. I was too young to remember the very beginning, but picked it up in the late 80's. Piper was amazing; unlike a Seth Rollins, who needs other people to help him fight his battles, Piper was the ultimate loner; a guy who moved by himself through WWF as a consummate heel, taking down alliances of people by catching them alone and overwhelming them with viciousness. Once he began teaming with other people (like Cowboy Bob Orton), Roddy entered a different era in his career....never again to be as vicious and single-minded as he had been. But I'll never forget his beginnings. He was the Lone Ranger.

Does this sound like Randy Orton? In Randy's best days, he was allied with no one. Yes, he was a member of Evolution, but that was at the beginning, before he established his own rep and way of doing business. Once he did, he became the Legend Killer, attacking people and settling scores by his lonesome, not needing or wanting anyone else to handle his business.

Sure, he occasionally was forced to tag with other people for booking purposes, but no alliance with Randy lasted long, did it? He was like Roddy Piper; ever-lurking, dangerous....and anti-social as hell.

To my mind, this is why Orton looked miscast as a member of the Authority. Even as Mrs. & Mrs. Levesque were paying tribute to him as the "Face of the WWE," he looked awkward in the role, didn't you think? He always appeared uncomfortable and set apart from others in the group, as if he was ready to bust loose at any moment. In my opinion, he was also pretty boring as a member of that group; talented as hell in the ring but so out of place as a subordinate member of a group that I could barely stand to watch him.

The few times he was cast as John Cena's partner? It looked as fragile and temporary an alliance as could ever exist, right? Whether Orton was playing a heel or face, how could he ever last long with Cena?.........and sure enough, he didn't. They didn't wind up fighting each other; they just stopped teaming, largely because of Orton's singular personality.

This brings us to last night's Raw. Once Seth Rollins revealed his trickery and marched his Authority buddies to the ring where Randy stood waiting, I figured he needed people to fight on his side.

But who? Who from the roster of good guys would feel compelled to help the man who serves only himself, and until last week was a member in good standing of the evil, repressive Authority? That was the thing; Randy had always stood alone.....and now I figured he was in for a beating.

Even when Sting came out to join forces with Randy, he wasn't looking to help Orton, was he? No, he was there to confront Triple H. For that reason, I think it was good writing to not have Randy Orton and Sting embrace or acknowledge each other during or after the fracas; they had different agendas even while appearing in the same ring. The segment was exciting and well-done.

Randy remains the ultimate loner.....the heir to Roddy Piper in his finest days. Orton's best destiny is to go it alone, and now that he's free of the Authority, he's free to do it.

And what he does best is very good.

 

[Dave]

Wholeheartedly agree.

Randy Orton gas always been the guy that you want to see taking people down and making them pay for their transgressions. He's doing it with Seth Rollins now and he's done it plenty of times in the past. You are 100% correct to say the operates best when he is operating on his own and dishing out his own brand of justice whenever it is required. That's why I was so disappointed to see him come back to the WWE and get back into bed with The Authority once again. That part of Randy is long gone. The days of him being part of a group like Evolution or Legacy are a thing of the past and quite rightly so.

The WWE and Randy himself have crafted him a nice little character and a niche. However, it seems like the WWE are the ones who are reluctant to put him into it sometimes; often favouring safer options like putting into The Authority. For me, they should be letting Randy be Randy and putting him in a role that is similar to what Sting is playing right now. A vigilante who appears when it required and stands for his own moral code and justice.

 

[CyberPunk]

I have to agree. Randy Orton is aloner, always has been. As good as DB's Mania run was, Orton was very marginalized during that time. I like Orton and what he brings to the table. Also, I don't think anyone is wholesome in terms of performance as Randy is. In fact, if anything, people don't give enough credit to him at times, whether it's his mic work or ring work.

The problem is Randy has already done everything that he can do in a WWE ring. 12 time world champion, multiple high profile matches, main event mainstay for so long, there's not much left for him to do. Regardless, he just doesn't fit into a group where he has to follow someone. He may build an alliance for the moment, but it's never long term.

Last night was a great scene and as you said Sally, it was great not to have Orton and Sting become all buddy buddy with each other. Afterall, it doesn't fit either character.

 

[L@RISANO]

Indeed, Orton does seem more at home as guy going at it alone.

I've been thinking, with Taker soon to be for good and Sting also...could Randy Orton perhaps take over Taker's role now as the 'Batman' type character of the WWE? After all, he has done everything there is to do and honestly, last night he didnt look out of place alongside Stinger whatsoever.

 

[Just Do It]

Randy Orton was at his best as a young cocky heart throb in Evolution is you asked me. I always felt be payed the role of a cocky young heel to perfection, possibly because from most reports it wasn't so much of a stretch for him at that time in his life...

 

[Navi]

You know everyone says Dean Ambrose reminds them of Stone Cold and Brian Pillman, but he reminds me of Randy Orton even more so. Someone who marches to the beat of his own drummer, and rules and policies be dammed.

Orton has always worked best on his own. He just doesn't look like the type who would be happy taking orders from anyone, even HHH. He plays both sides of the fence extremely well, and that's how he should stay.

The problem creative has with him is the fact that they leave him for too long in one mode, and it ends up looking like he's in a rut. Sometimes you don't need the big heel or face turn to make the character interesting, Big Show is a great example of that.

Leave Orton as he is right now same as Ambrose. Two lone wolves out there tearing through the roster handing out their own brand of justice. I really do hate the expression tweener, but these two fit that role perfectly.

 

[kadroan]

Most folks on this forum are too young to remember the early WWF days of Rowdy Roddy Piper. I was too young to remember the very beginning, but picked it up in the late 80's. Piper was amazing; unlike a Seth Rollins, who needs other people to help him fight his battles, Piper was the ultimate loner; a guy who moved by himself through WWF as a consummate heel, taking down alliances of people by catching them alone and overwhelming them with viciousness. Once he began teaming with other people (like Cowboy Bob Orton), Roddy entered a different era in his career....never again to be as vicious and single-minded as he had been. But I'll never forget his beginnings. He was the Lone Ranger.

Does this sound like Randy Orton? In Randy's best days, he was allied with no one. Yes, he was a member of Evolution, but that was at the beginning, before he established his own rep and way of doing business. Once he did, he became the Legend Killer, attacking people and settling scores by his lonesome, not needing or wanting anyone else to handle his business.

Sure, he occasionally was forced to tag with other people for booking purposes, but no alliance with Randy lasted long, did it? He was like Roddy Piper; ever-lurking, dangerous....and anti-social as hell.

To my mind, this is why Orton looked miscast as a member of the Authority. Even as Mrs. & Mrs. Levesque were paying tribute to him as the "Face of the WWE," he looked awkward in the role, didn't you think? He always appeared uncomfortable and set apart from others in the group, as if he was ready to bust loose at any moment. In my opinion, he was also pretty boring as a member of that group; talented as hell in the ring but so out of place as a subordinate member of a group that I could barely stand to watch him.

The few times he was cast as John Cena's partner? It looked as fragile and temporary an alliance as could ever exist, right? Whether Orton was playing a heel or face, how could he ever last long with Cena?.........and sure enough, he didn't. They didn't wind up fighting each other; they just stopped teaming, largely because of Orton's singular personality.

This brings us to last night's Raw. Once Seth Rollins revealed his trickery and marched his Authority buddies to the ring where Randy stood waiting, I figured he needed people to fight on his side.

But who? Who from the roster of good guys would feel compelled to help the man who serves only himself, and until last week was a member in good standing of the evil, repressive Authority? That was the thing; Randy had always stood alone.....and now I figured he was in for a beating.

Even when Sting came out to join forces with Randy, he wasn't looking to help Orton, was he? No, he was there to confront Triple H. For that reason, I think it was good writing to not have Randy Orton and Sting embrace or acknowledge each other during or after the fracas; they had different agendas even while appearing in the same ring. The segment was exciting and well-done.

Randy remains the ultimate loner.....the heir to Roddy Piper in his finest days. Orton's best destiny is to go it alone, and now that he's free of the Authority, he's free to do it.

And what he does best is very good.

Yeah Orton's a great tweener. He gets stale as a face quickly. I hope they don't put him in a box of being a face. They can look at 2012 to see how well that worked for Orton.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Personally I thought Orton was at his best as the leader of Legacy, at the group's peak Orton himself was red hot and perfectly at home with bossing around Cody/Ted.

Authority wise they were going for cowardly heel Orton, which worked great in Legacy but the main difference there was Orton was the alpha dog, top heel, the boss, top of the food chain, etc etc, while as part of the Authority Steph/HHH were all those things and Orton was Cody/Ted. I kinda remember(sorry it's been a while) one line that HHH said that pretty much confirmed how badly Orton was being used: "That WWE title is mine, he's(Orton) just holding it for me". I was like wow......way to make your champion look like total crap compared to you........Orton has gotten too big to be someone's lap dog a long time ago, and that's why he looked unnatural doing it for the Authority.

Orton can work with others but only when he's the one in charge. He's at his best when he's looking out for numero uno and that makes him a great loaner. Or if he can use other people as stepping stones he'll gladly do it and make himself look amazing despite them doing all the work. Sadly that Orton couldn't possibly exist working with HHH/Steph and hopefully now that he's back on his own we'll get to see him really kick ass again.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

The few times he was cast as John Cena's partner? It looked as fragile and temporary an alliance as could ever exist, right? Whether Orton was playing a heel or face, how could he ever last long with Cena?.........and sure enough, he didn't. They didn't wind up fighting each other; they just stopped teaming, largely because of Orton's singular personality.

Reminded me on one good moment long time ago when they fought entire RAW locker room. Cena hits AA while Orton when opponent is in the air hits RKO. That looked awesome.

But yes, if he needed to find a partner on his own, for example tag team match, he would have hard times doing so. Heck, dont think he would even try to find it and would just go out on handicap match. Because its just how his character is about...

Though he did look good with Rated RKO(with Edge) and Legacy(Cody and DiBiase) but in first case it was more to crush DX and just about single personas of Randy and Edge and in second just about Randy. So point still stays, he is ultimate loner.

 

[MERPER]

I've never been a big Orton guy until right now. This coming from a WWF/WWE fan since the early 90's...

but right now I am realizing his brilliance and creative side...

He's a loner.... he's unique... he's face sometimes.. he's heel a lot of times... he's easy to hate... he's easy to root for but not love....

he's great at being what he is... the right-rope walking, egotistical maniac who does what he wants when he wants...

it's fantastic... the definition of a true star

 

[Mustang Sally]

... he's easy to root for but not love....

Yes, which underlines why it's hard for a guy like him to get any help when faced with a near-impossible situation, such as the one he faced Monday night.

Orton makes his bed and lies in it.....but who's going to come to his assistance when the odds are against him? To me, it was good writing that created the situation in which Sting came to the ring. He wasn't there for Randy, he was there for his own purposes......and that fit the scene perfectly.

After all, if Randy wanted people to protect him, all he had to do was remain with the Authority. Presumably, they'd have his back, right? Seth Rollins certainly seemed anxious to give Randy every benefit of the doubt, even when Kane and Jamie Noble expressed their doubts.

The entire program with the Authority has kept Orton in character, which is great.

 

[John McCass]

I think everyone remains as a lone wolf in WWE, especially for Randy Orton type characters. Everyone doesn't get a run-in unless he has a tag team partner. Randy Orton worked as a part of Evolution in the initial stage of his career which was neither good nor bad. Then, he went on to the 'Legend Killer' gimmick which was kinda awesome. It elevated him to the superstardom when he beat legends and was the best of his career. In his 'Legend Killer' gimmick he worked as the lone wolf. He is a great guy with immense wrestling abilities but less than good mic skills. Whatever he brings, he makes it a must watch thing. Whenever he works as lone wolf he brings the best he has to offer whether it be face or heel.. With the character he is playing from the very begining of his career, he should play the lone wolf thing. But, with the case that Orton and Sting embracing each other after scurrying off The Authority, I don't find a reason. Sting showed up to mess with Hunter not to rescue Orton. There is not a single reason for both of them embrace and also, it doesn't fit anyone of them's character.