[quote name='007']This might be spoilers for Smackdown, but I'd be surprised if anyone was shocked. So,
it, I'm talking about it anyway.
Did Randy Orton shit in someone's bag again? People have been making a big deal out of Miz's plummet down the card between WM27 and now, but Orton's been on a WM decline since WM25.
I brought this up a few months ago, but now that Orton/Kane is official for WM28, it seems appropriate to talk about again. Look, for all intents and purposes, Orton is the number two face in the company. Whether he's on Smackdown or not, I guarantee that the same audience that views Cena as 'their guy' pops second loudest for Orton. He headlined WM25 for the title (in a shitshow of a match, but that's a different rant), and then has faced two low carders (WM26), a guy who is huge now but wasn't a player then (WM27), and now Kane (WM28). It's also notable that he's effectively been Cena's clean-up man for WM27 and WM28. Cena was feuding with Punk and Kane right before Mania and then handed those feuds to Orton.
Now, I get it. WWE, more than likely, views these as great feuds. They assume that the rub from a Cena feud for Punk and Kane has made them players. In the real world, though, we realize that Cena did nothing but kill all momentum for either guy. Therefore, Orton has been handed limp, lifeless feuds on the grandest stage of them all. Instead of trying to create memorable feuds, they just insert someone else. Punk tried last year, he really did, but it still landed with a resounding thud.
I'm not even a huge Orton fan, but it just seems to me that he's being used in absolutely bizarre ways at WM. Maybe that's it, though... they feel he's enough of a draw on his own to fill a slot on the card. Still, three years without a title match for a guy that spends much of the non-WM season around one seems strange. Plus, it also flies in the face of logic. In what world, exactly, is the logical WM match not Kane/Ryder? Ryder gets the shit kicked out of him for months, and he isn't even given a chance to redeem himself? It's just poor booking. I don't even want to see Ryder/Kane, but it's still poor booking.
There's not much of a point to this, but I just wanted to bring it up again. WWE has a hierarchy, but Orton is generally treated like a mid-carder come WM time. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. Does WWE really see that much upside in Kane? Did the shitty Nexus ending really warrant Orton's involvement? It's as if Orton exists simply to fill holes that they can't be bothered to close by writing storylines with an ending.
... of course, the sad part about all of this is that I guarantee you that WWE views Kane/Orton as a bigger draw than the WHC match. Same old tunnel-vision shit.[/QUOTE]
I know the popular assumption was Wade was going to win MITB and now that he's injured, the match is off, etc. I think that's BS. They've been building to this battle of the GMs for a while now in subtle ways, well before Wade got injured. I think the plan for Mania was originally going to be Orton/Wade (yes, despite the fact that Orton had defeated Wade a few times before) in a big blow off match with some kind of gimmick/stipulation. Even if Orton won, going 15, 20 min with Orton at WM would raise Wade's status and whatnot. And I think Wade/Orton is more fulfilling than shoehorning Orton into the WHC scene. Especially since the WHC match, even if Orton was in it, is going to play fourth fiddle at best when stacked up against the rest of the card. Its arguable that Wade/Orton would have had more importance than Sheamus/Bryan.
But with Wade out, they had
all for Orton to do. Orton is some kind of draw and people do want to see him do his full schtick in the ring. Throwing him in the pile of misused toys in the Battle of the GMs would be even worse. Kane is a guy who they use to fill gaps. Wade's injury left a gap. Kane filled it, even though a payoff match with Ryder would have been more logical.
Orton doesn't have a great WM history. Its really a mixed bag. He started out strong at WM20 with Evolution vs. Rock n Sock and doing the Legend Killer thing at WM21 against Undertaker. These might be his two most noteable WM matches, which is actually a little shocking.
At WM22 he was jammed inserted into what could have been a great 1 on 1 match between Rey and Angle. From WWE's perspective they were building Orton as a star, so his forced insertion into this whole thing was hardly Orton being treated as a midcarder.
At WM23 he was just another cat in MITB, where he lost.
WM24 he actually defeats Cena/HHH in what was a pretty shit storyline to get to that point because Cena used his Royal Rumble win to get a title shot.... at No Way Out. That match should have been Cena and Orton's big WM feud blow off moment, and instead HHH inserted himself into the fun and as a result it might be one of the most forgotten WM world title matches of all time. A Cena/Orton final blowoff match at WM should have been a BFD but it wasn't to be.
WM25 Orton finally hit the main event, but the build to that (like much of Orton's time as a heel feuding with Cena and HHH) was pretty shit. Yeah, it was cool he punted Vince and Shane and kissed Stephanie while HHH watched, but the way those events played out on live TV was excruciatingly painful to watch. (Who could forget Triple H busting into Orton's "home" and Orton's "wife"?) And the Orton/HHH match was pretty lackluster. You can't call this the midcard treatment though.
I liked the WM26 match because it was a fitting close of sorts to the whole Legacy thing. After being a terrible heel for so long, Orton really started to boom as a face (which I know people hate now), but it worked for me.
And of course WM27 you're absolutely right 007, that feud with Orton was just Cena's sloppy seconds, though Punk did his best to act like it was actually in continuity with the concussion kick Orton gave him two years prior. Punk and the New Nexus went from targeting Cena one week then with no rhyme or reason, dropped that and targeted Orton. Orton was also on Raw, for better for worse, and while the brand extension obviously isn't a bright line rule, its not like it would have made any sense to insert Orton into the WHC buildup they were doing for ADR on Smackdown. So with both world title matches locked, it was up to Orton and Punk feud. I don't think that's a bad thing even if it was random.
At least a match against Wade Barrett at WM28 would have been a logical way to end a long running feud and IMO would have been better than shoehorning Orton into a WHC match. But like I said at the start, with Wade out, they needed a sub, and that's Kane's specialty. This actually reminds me a bit of Kane/Angle at WM18 or the Kane/Jericho hot coffee feud. Two guys near the top of the card with nothing to do? Book 'em against each other! Of course it does seem like Cena's sloppy seconds again as well.
So while Orton's WM experience is a mixed bag, I think WWE has tried to use him as a "main event" draw, but it just never clicked, even when he was in the main event. His best two outings at Mania were his first two. Maybe one day WWE will figure out the right match or feud to really give Orton a big WM moment.
