An Orton Kinda Day

By Scott Keith on June 6, 2013

Randy Orton’s career has taken a rare course in the last couple of years and I’m wondering your take on it.
By WrestleMania 25, Orton had developed into the hottest and possibly best heel act in the business. This rise included overcoming injuries, disciplinary problems and an already failed run at the top. Then, by WrestleMania 26, he is one of the hottest babyfaces, while making no changes to his character. However, other than his feuds with Miz and Christian in 2011, he has been out of the championship picture. He is apparently being used only for the name and attraction of “The Viper Randy Orton” and to work with mostly up-and-coming mid-card level guys. He hasn’t main-evented a PPV in a long, long, time yet he is a multi-time WWE and World Heavyweight Champion who is by no means long in the tooth.
Is he in limbo because of the fear of him getting into trouble again? Is he in a role that he prefers and has requested? It’s so rare to see someone rise to main-eventing WrestleMania and win dozens of titles, lose no drawing power or crowd heat, yet still just become another guy on the show for an extended period of time. What say you?

Well, I…hang on, I’ve got a beep. Scott,

Emailing you twice in a ten minute span forgive me, but I was curious if you could elaborate on a few details

concerning another recent mailbag entry discussing your negative feelings on Randy Orton. I never cared

for the guy pre evolution days, and nothing about him really struck me as anything special when I stopped

watching around the time Triple H was destroying everyone on TV in 2003-2004. From what I hear of his

backstage antics and dishonorable discharge coupled with a few wellness violations, I’d say the guy SEEMS

like a bit of a scumbag, which is funny watching what really seems to be continued punishment languishing

in the midcard without any real direction, character or activity. Maybe he’s just going along with it to the

best of his abilities at which point does he get some kind of push again? The stupid heel turn rumored for

goddamn forever? Or does he exit quietly? Dude HAS to be on Triple H’s sHHHitlist.

I think that, in answer to both queries, the two strikes are hurting him a LOT. Because now they can never get 100% behind him as the top guy without worrying that he’ll screw up and get himself fired. As for my personal feelings, I mostly enjoy him as a worker these days, but he doesn’t connect with me on a character level, much like Sheamus. He’s a guy who has good matches and gets good reactions but I don’t particularly care about him one way or another and he tends to win a lot for no real reason.

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