Will Randy Orton Ever Be HOT ?

[Mitch Henessey]

Before some people get the wrong idea, I'm not talking about Orton's looks, but his popularity instead. The Viper or the Legend Killer has been on the rise to greatness, and cementing his name in wrestling history for the past 5 or 6 years. Sometimes I wonder If he will ever be hot? When I say hot I mean, will he ever be the guy who everyone has to turn on Raw just to see? Will he ever be the guy people who causes the mass majority to buy ppvs?

Now I don't want everyone to think I'm bashing Orton. I went to a Raw house show earlier this year, and I was screaming my head off for him to beat John Cena. He's WWE's top heel right now, and doing a damn good job at it. But I wonder, will he ever reach the popularity level of some of WWE's past legends? I'm talking about The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan. There was a time when these guys were the main reason people came to WWE events, and watch WWE wrestling on TV.

I know Orton is still a heel, but that will someday change. And when it does do you think he will reach the level of past WWE legends? Will his merchandise sales blow through the roof like Hogan, Austin, and his present day competitor John Cena? I think Orton will do it. Someday we will see him as a face again, and when that time comes, I think he will be the guy everyone wants to see.​

 

[klunderbunker]

I'd think it's possible if one thing changes: his speed. Orton is just one of the slowest moving wrestlers in the world today. As far as I can remember, the only superstar wrestler that doesn't move quickly is Taker. Ausitn was throwing his arms in the air, flipping people off and shaking his head all over the place. Hogan posed and made all kinds of movements. Flair had the strut. Rock was a walking cartoon character. Orton....is.....very....slow. His song repeats on his way to the ring and it just sucks the life out of the place. Say he's fighting Cena. Cena comes out first and the crowd is instantly fired up. Three and a half minutes later Orton is at ringside and the energy that Cena has brought in is just gone. Until that changes, which would likely come witha face turn, he would be fine.

 

[Blade]

Like KB said, not with the Viper gimmick. Or rather, not with the in-ring style his current gimmick calls for. Orton is an extremely talented guy. He is the top heel on Raw, but he just hasn't found his perfect gimmick. His promos were cheesy and insincere as the legend killer and his matches were awesome. Now as the viper his promos are awesome but his in ring work is boring.
He needs to find a balance between his current promo skills and his old in-ring skills. He needs a gimmick that can incoporate both.
If he finds that gimmick, he could be hot as hell.

 

[Baller]

by Klunderbunker
I'd think it's possible if one thing changes: his speed. Orton is just one of the slowest moving wrestlers in the world today. As far as I can remember, the only superstar wrestler that doesn't move quickly is Taker. Ausitn was throwing his arms in the air, flipping people off and shaking his head all over the place. Hogan posed and made all kinds of movements. Flair had the strut. Rock was a walking cartoon character. Orton....is.....very....slow. His song repeats on his way to the ring and it just sucks the life out of the place. Say he's fighting Cena. Cena comes out first and the crowd is instantly fired up. Three and a half minutes later Orton is at ringside and the energy that Cena has brought in is just gone. Until that changes, which would likely come witha face turn, he would be fine.

That is his gimmick though. The Viper seeking his prey, hence the slow movements. However, I did like when he used to have the fireworks and do this:

I personally like Orton as the cocky, and brash type over the Viper, but he does both rather well.

 

[Mark0820]

There's acting like a viper but he wrestles like he's a snail. He's too methodical. When your song repeats on the way into the ring that's slow. Leaving sure, it can repeat especially if your in the ME. But when you're walking 50 feet to the ring and it repeats you're moving way too slow. I've literally gotten up, taken a piss, got a drink and a snack, came back and ORTON WAS STILL WALKING TO THE RING.

 

[PedigreeTHE619Chokeslam]

Yea he does walk really really slow. But I think this gimmick he has now is really going to effect his future in the WWE. There is no way he can turn face anytime, and I mean ANYTIME soon. And whenever he does try to make a face turn, it will be really hard and take a very long time, I think. His gimmick that he has now is really going to hurt his future face turn.
Tell me what you think of my post. I enjoy the feed back.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Orton's speed, I forgot to factor that into my thoughts. I will admit sometimes I hear his theme song hit, see Orton at the entrance ramp, and start getting hyped up. Then it feels like it takes him forever to get to the ring. I get what he's trying to do with the menacining stare, and his slow walk. He's trying to send chills through the crowd, and build the tension. But sometimes he takes so long, it just kind of makes you feel deflated after a while. As far as Randy's pose goes, I also missed when he used to do it. I remeber reading in an interview he did a while back, where he said the reason he stopped doing it was because he was getting too much of a face reaction. That's why we see him do that creepy look, when he goes to the ropes instead.

 

[JJYanks121]

Orton's focus shouldn't be on being the guy that everyone tunes in to see. His job is to be the key that everyone tunes in to see GET BEAT. If you are a truly successful heel, whatever face is fighting you will get cheered that much more because they are being cheered on to beat the dastardly heel. We complain often that Cena gets mixed reactions, but part of that is Orton not doing his job to get you to hate him so much that even if you aren't a Cena lover, you want him to destroy Orton. Orton doesn't do that. You dislike him because of his monotone delivery, his mistreatment of people around him, and his slow, preying style in ring, but he doesn't incite you to truly hate him. I would like to see him truly snap at some point. We all talk about the Legacy turn and I think it would be most effective if Legacy screwed something up and Orton lashed into them, literally beat the hell out of them and put them out for a couple of weeks. Then those two would get a little return pop and Orton might generate heat for being a jerk. If you are a heel, you have to go above and beyond and that's what he has to do. His job isn't to sell t-shirts, his job is to help others sell theirs in a sense.

 

[123abc]

Remember how long it took for him to get to the ring after the Jerishow beatdown on Cena? Took him literally 5 minutes to walk down to the ring.......just so he gets beat up -_-;

 

[Freddy4190]

I'm gonna concur with everyone else. The man is too slow, he's overdoing the slow methodicalness that comes with the Viper gimmick. I like it when he was cocky, but still insane and Viper-esque. He definitely needs to go back to working his ass off in the ring. Half his shit is just headlocks and various other rest holds. Absolutely boring.

 

[hawaiianbulldog]

Its true his gimmick needs to change for his matches to be better but i could see that happening and if so then he could be that guy who the crowd wants to see. The RKO is a great move and so is the punt but he is the cowardly heel who moves slower then the great khali. Now Orton would be my favorite wrestler if his gimmick changed. He already has great in ring skills and with some speed added yes Orton could be that guy.

 

[Super Crazy]

He needs to find a perfect mesh between the Legend Killer and the Viper. I liked him when he was young and cocky over now. This gimmick is great and he plays it well but it overdoes it. There is no need to move that slow. Although I understand why he does what he does in the ring. All the headlocks and rest holds as Freddy called them are used to weaken his opponent a.k.a. his prey. By doing these holds his opponent is supposed to be weakened to the point where he can " go for the kill " so to speak. I am interested to see the Ironman match though. It should bring out more of his moveset hopefully. Either that or this match will see a ton of weapons which is not what I am hoping for.

 

[Tyler44]

I'd think it's possible if one thing changes: his speed. Orton is just one of the slowest moving wrestlers in the world today.

I think he does it on purpose. He has said that he realizes all the fans cheer him and deep down he likes it, but knows he isn't doing his job. I think the slow movements are a way to make those who like him hate him. If he is extremely boring in the ring, we won't be entertained and won't cheer for him. Would you be entertained and cheer for a wicked slow, boring, mono-tone guy?
No, most people wouldn't, so i think that is his idea with his character, to make it as boring as possible, but still be able to do things that actually are effective, such as punting people in the head and being wwe champion.

 

[xBANEx]

Just to get this out of the way, incase anyone misunderstands anything I say and thinks I'm bashing Orton, I'm not. He's been my favorite WWE wrestler since Rated RKO.

To be completely honest, no, not at all. I don't think Orton will EVER be as big or sell as much merchandise as any of the people the OP mentioned.

More or less, I think it boils down to heel vs face. I don't feel Orton will ever acheive either while he is a heel. I mean, sure, if you want to get technical Austin was a "heel" if you choose to look at it that way, but it was slightly different, more of like an anti-hero. A lot of people watching WWE these days seem to be kids (I am aware older people do watch, but still, it's aimed more towards kids around the age of 13 and under) and kids like faces, not heels.

I do agree that he should find a nice balance between "the viper" and the "legend killer" but either way, I don't find anything wrong with where he is now, but it WOULD make it a little more exciting on the (occasional) boring days with him.

I feel that (most) wrestlers are "born" to be either a heel or a face. They can play both well, but always do better as one or the other. Orton is much better as a heel, in my opinion, much like triple H.

 

[SUBMIT2GR8NESS]

I believe Randy Orton is one of those kind of wrestlers who is good at what he does but isn't recoginzed for it. Title wise he is a great wwe superstar but he isn't popular which kind of shocks me. I think it's mainly the wwe's fault they put so much into guys like cena that there is no way for orton to get recognized. Quiet honostly he is a great heel and a very interesting in a story line. What I don't understand is that he has great matches at wrestlemania with guys like triple h and undertaker. Yet he falls short against a masked munckin(sorry for all you rey mysterio fans) and an olymic q ball. It is really sad. he deserves so much more than this and yet it only seems like he can only be the bad guy. However there was a time when people cheered him when people hated the other guy more then him. That is the only way he could become "hot" in the business.

 

[attitude_hero]

He once was in 2004, I remember that he and Hbk were the only reason I watched raw but they screwed it by putting him as too weak for triple h. The viper gimmick is good for story telling but not for wrestling. He is too slow, he moves way too slow, not even the rko is quick anymore, he stalks you for like 5 minutes and then he applies the move. For Randy Orton to be HOT, Cena NEEDS to turn heel. But we all know wwe cares way too much about the merchandise.

 

[punk85]

I'll always feel that they could have done it with him fighting the McMahons, cause it made no sense to me that Vince was cheered on RAW because of Orton, but would then go to Smackdown, be a dick to Teddy and have people boo him.

I guess that's the magic of Vince McMahon, he pisses on David Blaine.
But aside from that gross imagery, I know each person wants to be recignized individually and not as a carbon copy of one from the past, but if they would have done Orton vs. Vince the other way then he easily could have gotten "Stone Cold Momentum"

And I'm sure after reading this (If you did) you're thinking "way to re-write everyone elses opinion that has already been expressed on a different forum Ya Dork!"
but my thoughts none the less

 

[Macca]

This is a hard one for me to comprehend.

In terms of the gimmick, let's look at it this way: Remember at the beginning of the year when Orton punted Vince? When that happened, be honest, didn't we all think that RAW, and WWE in general, finally turned that corner. We all figured that Orton was geared to become the new era-seter, and that Raw would finally become entertaining again.

But there was two fatal mistakes: Firstly, creative really killed off any momentum Orton had going for him, like Shane going Super Saiyen on him and Legacy (This would be equivilent to Stone Cold getting nailed by Gerald Brisco or Pat Patterson in 1998.) and then the most anti-climatic main event in Main Event history: Orton jobbing to HHH for the hundredth time (Once again, equivalent to HBK beating Austin at Wrestlemania 14.) It's great to complain about TNA's booking but how can lapses of judgement like this make WWE any better. Hey, if A.J gets put over at BFG, at least they made the right decision...

After Wrestlemania, Orton just hasn't looked as good as he did during that 3-month period. Couple that with losing the title every 3 months for no logical reason, and indeed a slow and boring move-set which I first really noticed back at the Royal Rumble 2008 vs. Hardy. (The amount of rest-holds and the amount of time taken up in those holds were horrendous.)

It is possible that the office could finally give Orton the ball after many years of misjudgement, but then again what stops the office from changing their minds again and have him job to Cena/HHH/Batista. Really, it's the office's fault for not trusting Randy enough.

 

[Tastycles]

I sincerely doubt it. The only heels who have ever been the big draws are the ones that still run their mouths off and are still the centres of attention. You absolutely couldn't say that about Orton who's whole persona revolves around him being slow and calculated. Whether you like or hate Orton, you'd be hard pressed to argue that headlocks galore and slow stamps are ever going to get people to hand over money in their droves. Orton is much like the classic 1980s heel, and it works well, so long as there's a charismatic, well liked, face for him to face off with.

I do worry that a face that isn't over would have a lot more trouble with Orton than they would with, say, Edge or Jericho. But no, Orton will never be "hot".

 

[maar130]

Well thing for me like everyone says, but his finisher contradicts his pace, I mean, during years he has build the RKO as something fast that can come out from out of nowhere, yet his pace is slow as meant for his gimmick, and Orton take sit to the extreme ( I mean, he gets slower).

If he defeats Cena with out help, it could even possibly lead to a face turn, which I don't think will help him since he s a little monotonous as face.

I thing he will need something else to be hot, that spark that he misses, don't really know what it is but there is something missing.

 

[maar130]

This is a hard one for me to comprehend.

In terms of the gimmick, let's look at it this way: Remember at the beginning of the year when Orton punted Vince? When that happened, be honest, didn't we all think that RAW, and WWE in general, finally turned that corner. We all figured that Orton was geared to become the new era-seter, and that Raw would finally become entertaining again.

But there was two fatal mistakes: Firstly, creative really killed off any momentum Orton had going for him, like Shane going Super Saiyen on him and Legacy (This would be equivilent to Stone Cold getting nailed by Gerald Brisco or Pat Patterson in 1998.) and then the most anti-climatic main event in Main Event history: Orton jobbing to HHH for the hundredth time (Once again, equivalent to HBK beating Austin at Wrestlemania 14.) It's great to complain about TNA's booking but how can lapses of judgement like this make WWE any better. Hey, if A.J gets put over at BFG, at least they made the right decision...

After Wrestlemania, Orton just hasn't looked as good as he did during that 3-month period. Couple that with losing the title every 3 months for no logical reason, and indeed a slow and boring move-set which I first really noticed back at the Royal Rumble 2008 vs. Hardy. (The amount of rest-holds and the amount of time taken up in those holds were horrendous.)

It is possible that the office could finally give Orton the ball after many years of misjudgement, but then again what stops the office from changing their minds again and have him job to Cena/HHH/Batista. Really, it's the office's fault for not trusting Randy enough.

Have to admit I agree with all you said, you made very good points there. But still also for this to work his pace has to pick up a notch and he has to renew his arsenal a little bit.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Probably not with the whole Viper character he's playing now. Orton's pace, his mannerisms, the "twitchy" things that he sometimes does do help make his character work for me overall, but it's too slow and methodical to make Orton THE top guy on Raw.

The Viper character, to me, makes Orton seem to be much older than he actually is. He's not even 30 yet but he doesn't excude that type of youthful energy that a lot of WWE wrestlers seem to have, even those that are much older than Orton is. Take Kofi Kingston for instance. He's hardly said a word but the guy gets over. He has great energy and a much less methodical pace and offense in the ring than Orton has. I'm not saying that Kofi will ever be the IT guy on Raw or anything like that, but he just seems to radiate youth and energy.

Overall, however, I have no complaints real complaints about Orton's Viper character. Whatever Orton does in his career from now on, I think he should remain a heel. In order to go babyface and do it, he'd really have to alter much of the in-ring persona he's spent nearly 6 years establishing.

 

[zigglerrules]

i like when people cheer for orton whilst in the ring with cena. its like they are taking a shit on vince and all the 12 year olds that fucking love cena. most of the time i cheer for orton no matter who hes in the ring with. i think alot of people want to like him but wont unless he turns face. i however like him just because hes a heel and no one else likes him. i stray from the norm. the more everyone else hates orton, or any heel for that matter, the more i love em. and i cant stress how much i fucking hate cena.