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Posts Tagged ‘Randy Orton’

This Monday, the WWE will air the final episode of this season’s edition of TOUGH ENOUGH, and right now, it’s a bit too close to call. And it shouldn’t be.

The two finalists are big man Andy Leavine and the charismatic Luke Robinson. In all honesty, I felt Andy should have been the one to go this week, but Jeremiah did hit a wall in terms of his readiness to work a wrestling match as opposed to an MMA match. So Andy stays in and survives to the final two.

Apparently, Andy and Luke will face off in a five-minute exhibition match at WWE’s developmental territory, FCW. It’s nice that they’re not going to try and fit this match into something done in front of a RAW crowd. For a show like this to have credibility, they need to have these kids pay their dues, as well as determine how to find my ring size. Okay, maybe not that last bit.

Still, the point is, whichever one wins the WWE contract still has plenty of learning to do. The trainers and Steve Austin seem to favor Andy because of his big frame, but that’s the kind of thinking that produced such flops as (sorry to say it, but it’s the truth) Kevin Nash, Sid Vicious and probably even The Big Show. Andy substitutes alligator tears for actual passion, and has wept his way through three potential eliminations, only to be saved by other trainees who were even worse.

But for my money, that stuff needs to end with the finale; while he is, as Stone Cold pointed out last week, “twitchy,” the truth is that Luke Robinson has all the makings of developing into the next Randy Orton. He has a sleek but powerful build, a photogenic cockiness, and a natural heel persona that closely resembles Orton at his best.

If Andy somehow is chosen over Luke, then it would signal that WWE is returning to the days when they valued size over showmanship. If one examines the total package, however, Luke has to be considered among the elite; and he’s only been in the bottom three once or twice prior to their being only three finalists. Andy’s been there a lot.

So yes, here he is, my choice for 2011 Tough Enough winner… Luke Robinson:

In one of the shorter and more unjust title reigns in recent memory, Smackdown’s Christian, who became World Heavyweight Champion at Extreme Rules 2011, lost the title on last Friday’s Smackdown to Randy Orton – all without WWE turning Orton heel again. It’s a bit baffling, and a transparent case of WWE doing short-term planning and then re-setting the table after the WWE Draft.

Extreme Rules’ card was set by the time the WWE Draft occurred. Orton, who was destined to move to Smackdown after the draft to replace the recently-retired Edge, was already booked to face CM Punk in a storyline ending match, while Christian had been booked to face RAW-bound Alberto Del Rio for the vacated World Heavyweight Championship title.

To avoid having Del Rio carry Smackdown’s title to RAW, they booked Christian to win, but it was clear by shipping Orton to RAW via the draft who WWE wanted as Smackdown’s standard-bearer. When Teddy Long came out and asked the crowd who they wanted to see face Christian for his first title defense – with two heels (Mark Henry and The Great Khali) and one face (Orton) to choose from, the crowd naturally chose Orton.

From that point, the intent was clear and predictable, so much so it set smart phones like the Android-based new Incredible S ablaze; Smackdown immediately books Orton to take the title from Christian without so much as a PPV match to make it interesting. Thus, Orton became champion while remaining a face.

It’s a blown opportunity. I have to believe an short program between Christian and Orton leading into the next PPV would have sold, and made Christian’s reign at least passingly legit. Besides, Orton works better as a heel anyway; that’s when he’s at his most effective.

With the annual WWE Draft set for next Monday’s RAW, speculation is circulating that none other than John Cena will be moving to the SmackDown roster in the wake of Edge’s retirement. As Cena is one of WWE’s top franchises, that would be a huge move, but also one that might hurt RAW a bit too much.

First of all, WWE will want Cena on Raw with the big WrestleMania 28 hype begins following Survivor Series next November. And while they could always move Cena back to Raw by then, it could cost WWE some heat by shuffling Cena off to SmackDown in the intervening period.

The question also remains, who would be ready to fill Cena’s spot as the top star on RAW should me move to Smackdown. While current champ The Miz is doing quite well, he works best as a heel and while Cena draws plenty of negative heat despite his positioning as a face, Cena’s the most credible threat to Miz’s reign.

Certainly, Randy Orton’s a credible threat, but he works best as a heel and won’t be able to break out of that working against Miz. The same goes for CM Punk, who’s too involved as a heel now to pull off a quick face-turn. Triple H is too old, and John Morrison’s on the verge, but isn’t over enough yet; plus he’s been overused against Miz already.

Personally, I think WWE would be better off shipping Orton to SmackDown via the Draft. He’s positioned well to play a ‘tweener/heel as Edge did for so many years on SmackDown, and he’s the only other person who’s over enough on the Raw roster to move over to Smackdown and bring some excitement with him. (Other than Cena.)

With Randy Orton facing off against both members of Legacy, I was looking forward to this match more than most of the undercard, simply because Orton is in his prime and both Rhodes and DiBiase seem primed to be the next Orton, even if DiBiase is noticeably more polished at this point than Rhodes.

The actual match was more fun that a room full of custom plastic cups! Although it lasted around nine minutes in all, Orton’s in-ring storytelling helped sell the energy and enthusiasm of the younger duo.

Rhodes too a wicked Punt from Orton that may signal a hiatus from TV, and Orton got the win and appears to be headed toward becoming Raw’s top heel, even though this match drew some babyface heat to him. DiBiase lost, but appears ready for the next phase of his career. A lot could be determined about where that will take him in a couple weeks, when Raw holds its annual Draft Lottery event, mixing up the roster.

Now is certainly the time to start delivering on what could become one of the marquee feuds of the year; Randy Orton and John Cena are both at exactly the right stages in their careers to headline PPVs all the way between now and Wrestlemania.

While most feuds last less time than that these days, rarely do the top two stars in the company peak at just the right time to be ideal opponents; Austin was older than The Rock, for example, and Andre was older than Hogan by a lot. And even though he’s a long-time wrestler himself, Chris Jericho was much younger last year than Shawn Michaels, who likes to rent his hotels near Disneyland.

While there are a few years separating Orton and Cena, it’s certainly a fitting feud that has enough potential that one could find enough variations on the theme to last through the next WrestleMania. After that, the feud should be back-burnered for a while, but definitely these two superstars have the potential to headline more than even just one WrestleMania.

Exciting, but way overbooked. That’s how the match felt as John Cena met a rejuvenated Randy Orton and persevered through three false finishes – including apparent interference by a fan (who may have been a WWE plant) – to win and retain the WWE title.

This major PPV win should put Orton on the map as a legit title-holder since he’s often been pegged with the “transitional champ” label – unfairly so. Orton has evolved into one of the top heel champs in recent WWE history, probably the best since Triple H’s title runs of the late 90s and early 2000s. (Some folks will rely on their online backup to remember that far back, I’ll bet.)

Anyway, it was a great match if a bit overplayed.

Randy Orton may regularly be WWE champ right now, but he certainly doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of one-time mentor Ric Flair. Despite receiving one of the classiest retirement matches ever by WWE at the 2008 WrestleMania, Flair may soon return to regular ring action in order to comply with court-mandated alimony payments to his many ex-wives.

“I don’t want to put myself in a position where financially I need to perform when I’m 60 or 50 or even in my mid-40s,” Orton told the Charlotte Observer. “There will be a time when I’m a dad of two or three and I just want to be at home with my family.”

While staying away from diet pills and other performance-enhancers would be a good first step for Orton, choosing wisely when he takes a wife might also help Orton avoid Flair’s fate.

The WWE’s Backlash PPV offered up three title matches and three new champs this past weekend; set your conversion rate optimization to calculate the odds of that, bucko!

On the ECW front, Christian became the new title-holder, while the WWE title was put around Randy Orton’s waist and Edge defeated John Cena to take the World Heavyweight title back to SmackDown. It was a turbulent night, as a result, and indicates the WWE is a bit unhappy with the status quo they’d stuck with through last month’s WrestleMania.

Time for some new champs and new storylines in the wake of the Draft, apparently.

The appeal of the 30-man, one winner match is still a winner after all these years, and this year’s edition played out quite well. With Randy Orton facing a firing by the McMahon Family, he had his bags packed and seemed resigned to his career ending.

To have Orton be the eighth entrant and the last man standing at the end made storyline sense and set him up well to make his WrestleMania main event more meaningful to him than any match he’s ever wrestled. That will mark him as ultra-motivated going into a match against John Cena wherein the outcome might otherwise seem a no-brainer.

Cena-Orton has long been thought to be the headlining main event of the future; well wake up, Bubba, it’s 2009 and the future is now. Better take those Canon cameras to WrestleMania with you, because this clash between these two at the biggest of all PPVs could become the first of many over the next few years.

Following in the footsteps of Randy Orton, it seems like second- and third-generation talent is popping up on WWE like new coffee franchises in a mega-mall. And to be honest, I love the trend.

Last Monday’s RAW gave me my first live (as opposed to watching it on TIVO-delayed recording) performance by Sim Snuka, who has joined the ranks of Cody Rhodes, Manu and Ted DiBiase Jr. as the latest sons of former superstars to make their WWE debut.

Add ECW’s Ricky Ortiz to the list, by the way.

While these young talents will need to prove themselves just as their fathers (and grandfathers, in some cases) did, these prodigies have been quite bankable for WWE over the years; folks such as The Rock and Randy Orton are proof that sometimes, pro wrestling runs in the blood.

Shane McMahon is the exception, by the way, that proves the rule.

Randy Orton’s old entrance music was catchy, immediately recognizable and fun; much like the car crash sounds that trigger Mick Foley’s entrance, the shattering glass that triggers Stone Cold Steve Austin’s entrance, or the “You Think You Know Me” whisper that precedes Edge’s theme song, Orton had a terrific entrance theme.

But, of course, WWE is planning on releasing another soundtrack soon, so away they go with changing up some of the wrestler’s theme songs and Orton is the latest victim of a very bad new theme song that will have Raw’s top heel running for the nearest self defense products from all the catcalls it will earn him… and not in a good way.

My vote is to dump Orton’s new theme song immediately, and go back to the standard right away. Much like some of the awful theme song changes they’ve tried to foist on Triple H and Undertaker over the years, this one just is not an improvement. It’s generic and forgettable and needs to disappear. Some entrance themes, like HBK’s, simply never ought to change.

In the upcoming Fatal Four-Way match at Backlash, JBL has seemed the odd man out. While Cena, Orton and Triple H belong in the title picture, JBL has seemed like the interloper and the subject of an unmerited push.

That was remidied at the England broadcast of WWE Raw, when JBL cleaned house on both Triple H and current champ Randy Orton, in a well-orchestrated match that made him seem like a world-beater. Sure, John Cena’s absence from Raw made JBL’s victory a bit hollow, but the image of JBL holding Orton’s belt over his head as Raw closed will certainly help give JBL the final push he needs to make the Fatal Four-Way seem like a contest of equals.

After the beating Triple H and Orton took at the hands of JBL, they’ll definitely need some massage therapy to be ready to go again at tonight’s RAW King of the Ring broadcast.