Top 10 Wrestlers of the 2000s #6: Randy Orton He may be only 33 years of age but Randall Keith Orton has achieved enough throughout his career to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame tomorrow if he cared to. Randy made his WWE debut in 2002 on the SmackDown roster, he showed promise in-ring wise but he didn’t garner much attention as he never cut a promo thus showing no personality for the fans to invest in until he suffered a shoulder injury and began randomly showing up on WWE TV giving an “RNN Report” telling everyone who were concerned (ie: no one) about his rehabbing shoulder and eventual return, Orton began wrestling as a heel soon after. Orton’s career started to take shape when Ric Flair and Triple H enlisted he and Dave Batista to become of their fledging stable known as “Evolution” a remake if you will of Flair’s 1980’s stable the 4 Horsemen, Orton would probably be considered the Tully Blanchard of the group as no matter what he said or did he was booed immensely, he would dub himself “The Legend Killer” and would take out established wrestlers from the golden years wit his “RKO” finisher, he would win the Intercontinental Title by December 2003. Orton’s career reached its apex @ SummerSlam ‘04 when he defeated Chris Benoit to become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in wrestling history winning the title @ the age of 24 (some would speculate that WWE put the title on Orton just to spite the man who previously held that distinction Brock Lesnar who left the WWE in 2004 to tryout for the NFL and eventually the UFC). After his historic title win Orton was immediately ousted from Evolution as Triple H saw him as the enemy holding “his” world title, Orton would turn face thereafter but his title reign was short lived as he dropped the belt to Triple H only a month later. Orton’s baby face run was mediocre @ best as he tried on many occasions to extract revenge on Evolution, namely Triple H but failed to recapture the World Title, he soon turned heel in challenging The Undertaker @ WrestleMania 21 in an attempt to make history once again by ending Taker’s undefeated WM streak, despite getting help from his father “Cowboy” Bob Orton and being 1 of the few opponents to actually have a legitimate chance @ doing so Orton fell victim to The Deadman. After being traded to SmackDown in the summer of 2005 and challenging Kurt Angle for the World Title @ WM 22 Orton headed back to Raw in the summer of 2006 and started a tag team wit Edge dubbed “Rated RKO” the tag team achieved Tag Title status but its’ main focus was dismantling D-Generation X who had been a thorn in both mans’ side previously, the feud came to a quick halt when Triple H injured his quadriceps muscle @ during an RKO title defense @ New Year’s Revolution, the heel tag team disbanded once they lost the titles to John Cena and Shawn Michaels. Orton would find himself in the WWE Title hunt in the fall of 2007 igniting a feud wit John Cena for the title, unfortunately Cena would suffer an injury leading to him forfeiting the title, @ the No Mercy PPV, he would then be given the title in the middle of the ring by Vince Mcmahon himself, he would then lose the title in the opening contest against Triple H and THEN regain the title that very night in a “Last Man Standing” match. Orton would successfully defend his WWE Title against both Triple H and John Cena in a triple threat match @ WM XXIV that many would believe Orton had no chance of winning, it is also one of the few times a heel walked in AND out of WM as WWE Champion, he would lose the title a month later to Triple H @ Backlash. Orton would break his clavicle @ the One Night Stand PPV amidst challenging Triple H for the WWE Title, the match was immediately stopped due to Orton being counted out which was not the planned outcome @ all. Orton would return in September of 2008 gaining a nickname “The Viper” and using the theme music he currently uses “Voices” he would then form a faction of his known called “Legacy” a trio of 2nd and 3rd generation wrestlers destined to become legends in the business, the trio consisted of Orton himself, Cody Rhodes (son of Dusty Rhodes) and Ted Dibiase Jr. (son of Ted Dibiase), the group also consisted of Samoan family member Manu but he was quickly released from WWE. Orton’s career took a turn once again when on live television when he kicked WWE Chairman Vince Mcmahon IN THE HEAD as Mcmahon was about to fire him on an episode of Raw, Orton would then end his week by winning the 2009 Royal Rumble, not only did Orton have a main event slot @ WM 25 but he was the most talked about wrestler on the planet due to assaulting Vince several days previously. Randy Orton would dig deeper into his Viper persona systematically taking out Mcmahon family members, he dismantled Shane McMahon @ No Way Out in February and then set his sights on Stephanie Mcmahon who made an attempt to defend the honor of her father and brother, Orton would give her his trademark DDT this of course would force WWE Champion and husband of Stephanie Triple H to become involved as he would now be scheduled to defend his title against Orton @ WM. Unfortunately “The Viper” would not emerge victorious @ WM25 and would have to wait a month later to win the WWE Title once again, he would then move on to a much more personal feud against John Cena as they traded the title back and forth in a Submission Match, Hell in a Cell, and a Iron Man match. Orton’s Legacy stable came to an end in early 2010 after Rhodes and Dibiase kept miscommunicating in helping Orton regain the WWE Title, Rhodes caused Orton to be disqualified @ the 2010 Royal Rumble against Sheamus and Dibiase eliminated Orton the next month in the Elimination Chamber when he used a lead pipe that was inserted into the match by Cody, they would implode @ WMXXVI when Orton defeated them both in a triple threat, for the 1st time since 2005 Randy Orton was a baby face. Orton would go on to win the WWE Title for the 6th time @ Night of Champions in September 2010 and in a shocking moment losing said title against The Miz as he cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on the November 22nd episode of Raw. Orton would once again become apart of the SmackDown roster in the spring of 2011 and was successful early challenging and defeating Christian for the World Heavyweight Title, the 1st time he held the title since 2004, he would go on to feud wit Christian for the title throughout the summer of 2011 in arguably some of the best in-ring efforts Orton ever put on in his career, he would finally drop the title to Mark Henry @ Night of Champions in September 2011. In 2013 Orton would add the Money in the Bank briefcase to his mountain of accolades as he won the ladder match in July, he would cash in on new WWE Champion Daniel Bryan a month later @ Summer Slam ‘13 after Bryan only minutes prior defeated John Cena clean as a sheet in the ring, Orton would cash in and win the title aligning himself wit Triple H in the process turning back into a heel, Triple H and Stephanie would coin him “The Face of the WWE” stating he’s what a world champion should look and act like, Orton would then further his title domination unifying the WWE and World Titles @ the TLC PPV defeating World Champion John Cena, this is the 1st attempt @ WWE unifying the titles since 2001. Love him or hate him Randy Orton is a talented wrestler, JBL says it weekly “If you would build a wrestler from the ground up he would look like Randy Orton”, he has he look, the body, the presence, and isn’t much of a slouch in the ring, many would argue who has the better impact neck break finisher between DDP’S “Diamond Cutter” and Randy’s “RKO” as DDP brought the move to the masses but Orton perfected it and was the better all around wrestler between the 2, when in the ring Orton clearly is an example of the apple not falling far from the tree as he has a smooth ring consistency as his father Bob, Roddy Piper himself stated about Bob Orton’s ring work “He was so good he made everything look easy” and the same could be said about Orton as he evolved from a blue chipper who was rough around the edges to a silky smooth veteran that goes with the flow, what’s scary is Orton isn’t even close to retirement age, expect more from “The Apex Predator” in the future.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 17:28:40 +0000
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