Saturday, August 24, 2013

Can Randy Orton Be The Top Heel Through WrestleMania?

It's now pretty clear that the Summer Slam main event set the wheels in motion for the feud that will culminate in a huge match at WrestleMania XXX. But, is the feud Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton, or Daniel Bryan vs Triple H and The McMahons? Can Randy Orton really be the company's top heel, even with assistance from The McMahons, for an entire half year?

I'm not so sure. Before I go any further, I'd just like to give full disclosure: I'm not a Randy Orton fan. To me, he's a guy who seems to be above average at everything, but amazing at nothing. He definitely looks like a wrestler, but to me, he has no personality, nothing unique about him, a relatively standard move set outside of the 'Vintage Orton DDT', and has been a generally boring character while at the top of the food chain so far in his career.

I associate heel Orton championship runs with long spells of WWE boredom. He won it with Evolution, which, while many have fond memories, featured a guy who was overexposed (Triple H), too old to be getting regular TV time (Flair), and someone more boring than himself (Batista). His title run with The Legacy was similarly boring - I can't remember much from it other than Manu being randomly banished from the stable. Come to think of it, I can't think of one real Orton promo. The other time he consistently main evented was in his feud with DX along with Edge, which was one of the most uninteresting feuds in DX's entire career. I think its funny that many fans wish for him to start punting people in the head again, because that was such a boring phase for me.

To me, Orton hasn't progressed at all as an entertainer from when he first arrived. He was given so much opportunity, between the last name, being thrown into Evolution with two Hall of Famers, and getting the rub from countless legends, especially Mick Foley, which legitimized him as a real championship level talent without really achieving the resume of great matches and work that most champions have.

So, with where we are right now, is Orton going to be the main heel focus of this feud? It sure does look like it, but is Bryan vs Orton really a strong enough main event forWrestleMania XXX? 30 is a big number, the main event will definitely be the WWE championship match, and I just don't see Orton vs Bryan as big enough a match, and I don't think the WWE can keep Orton interesting for 6 months, even with Triple H doing a lot of talking.

The problem here, is there are only two options I see that can make this match bigger. Cena and Triple H. I don't think it's crazy to think Triple H ends up turning on Orton - he's done it before. Cena somehow inserting him into the McMahon family drama as a heel, I still think is the best way to end this. Cena truly is the corporate champ, selling merch, and portraying the look at Triple H described the champ needs (much moreso than Orton). He'd also put on a much better match.

The long shot is Triple H somehow inserting himself into the action, turning on Orton, and facing Bryan himself. It sounds weird, but, come on, can we really put it past the guy to somehow get one more match into the company's biggest show ever against their newest, hottest star?

Any thoughts? Are we in for 6 months of Orton, or is there some swerves coming?

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