Randy Orton

Where does this guy stand in the company. It seems a life time ago the viper was wwe champ playing the evil sadistic character, taking on the Mcmahon family. For me, he oozes star quality, is excellent in the ring and alsways get's a reaction from the fans whether heel or face.

Why has WWE alll of a sudden halted his progress all of a sudden. For me, as a heel apart from Punk there is no one better. I think the sooner he's back heel and in the title picture the better personally. I'm a big fan of Orton and I thought the chamber match was the perfect time for him to turn heel ready to face Del Rio at Mania and ultimately take the belts off him.

Thoughts?

Because he can't go a few weeks without taking steroids.

Expect him in TNA next year

Antlord has it in a nutshell. He's failed wellness twice, has a reputation for being a twonk, is injury prone and has the personality of wet cardboard.

his past drug abuse when he has recived pushes before didnt help i believe he has 1 last chance and then hes sacked. as he makes alot of sales for shirts they want to keep him in the company so they keep him happy in little feuds and dont put the title on him incase he messes up again

so he's basically in limbo - too much of a liability wellness wise to make champ but popular enough to sell merch and therefore is still a commodity to the WWE. So his career has completely plateaued?

Pretty much, he can't prove himself because as soon as he does he will do something to fail wellness but he isn't that poor that he wont sell a few million T-shirts a year.

Basically the guy could retire and still sell tshirts as people like Bret Hart and HHH do

I think a couple of years ago Orton wouldn't have been at risk of a future endeavour due to wellness failure as I've heard he was on the select group that Scott Steiner mention as untouchables. Since the rise of Punk though I think he's fallen a long way from being untouchable, marketable certainly still but no longer irreplaceable especially with the number of new gen coming through.

that's a good point with new talent his position within the company has become less secure and he has now become dispensable. Should the individual members of the Shield find themselves in the upper-midcard/main event after this massive push they've been given as well as the elite status Punk has earned for himself and the continued confidence WWE have shown in ADR as their major latino star for the latino demographic; not to mention the trend in giving veterans like Jericho & the Rock part time contracts for the major PPVs, Orton will have a job on his hands maintaining his place on the roster.

That's it, go back 3-4 years and you had him in the top tier of Cena, HBK, Edge, Taker, HHH & possibly Rey & Batista.

How the landscape has quickly altered.

The guy just simply needs a heel turn and involved in one of the main title pictures. Give him a win at mania against a big face e.g. Sheamus. Then just take it from there.

Orton's been his own biggest enemy with his attitude, I guess with his previous 'Untouchable' status and his 10 year contract he thought he could get away with anything. There was a time not that long ago where I'm sure if he got a third strike it would have been swept under the rug but if he hits that magic number now he'll be out the door and looking for employment with TNA quicker than an out of nowhere RKO.

I think Orton will always have a place in the upper reaches of the card and probably even with a title reign or several thrown in (provided he behaves himself of course) but he'll never again reach the heights where he was ostensibly the number one guy in the company.

I’m not so sure that because Orton has had two wellness violations has any bearing on him not receiving a world title push. Jeff Hardy had 2 violations before receiving a monster push, he even went over HHH after 2 strikes then had the awesome fued with Punk in the summer of 09. If the WWE had faith in Hardy to push him to title status after 2 violations then I don’t believe for a second they wouldn’t do the same with Orton who is just as popular and just as marketable. Personally I think theres more than meets the eye and the lack of push has nothing to do with the violations but more to do with his general attitude and behaviour backstage.

I think it also has a lot to do with the rise of Punk which has mirrored Orton's fall from grace. As Punk has become more popular, and gained more clout backstage, Orton has fallen further down the card and lost a lot of clout. It'd have been interesting to see whether it'd be Orton who was seen as the only other person bar Cena to face Rock rather than Punk if it happened a couple of years ago.

The face turn has also killed him, it's made him more boring, it's made his character totally uninteresting, in the ring and in his promos he is unnatural because he's supposed to be heel. Ironically I think it is the reactions keeping him face, I'm not sure WWE would be able to turn him and keep him heel because he doesn't have the charisma of Punk to pull it off as pretty much nothing would change apart from who he faced.

I think its the combination of all of the above. The wellness holds him back and is less likely easily forgotten when there is real talent ahead of him. Hes not a true face, not a face of the company type face and is clearly suited to being a heel. I think they'll pop the heel turn eventually, they have definitely run out of any ideas for him like he is

I've heard Dixie is signing someone who's contracts up in June,who slithers and slides at his opponents. Might be Orton??

HitmanOwl wrote:I've heard Dixie is signing someone who's contracts up in June,who slithers and slides at his opponents. Might be Orton??

Or a greased up Zach Gowan?

I think its a shame, I am a big fan of Randy and its such a waste of his talent. This 'limbo' is awful, its not achieving anything. Yes, he doesn't really help himself at times but he needs something to kickstart his career, which I was hoping would come at the Elimination Chamber.....even he looks bored at the moment and we all know his feelings on being a face.

He needs to turn heel quickly, he was incredible during that feud with Trips and his family.....he is just a natural bad guy. Crowds are completely fickle so I don't think his current popularity would cause a problem, look at how Alberto's reaction has changed overnight.

I'm a big fan of Orton but I think he has achieved all he can in his career and then some. He is a 9 time WWE champion and has main evented Wrestlemania. They were not prepared to let him go over Triple H when he was at his hottest, so I doubt they would they do the same now.

His gimmick is very restricted as to what he can actually do in a promo. It's quite hard to believe that this current boring Orton is the same guy who was in Evolution and seemed to have charisma. I think he needs a gimmick change because the Apex Predator is stale.