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Randy Orton... If you didn't know it, you'd think that Randy Orton was as old as John Cena based on the way that Cena and Orton were brought to the main WWE roster during 2002 from the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental system. However, John Cena is 37 years old and possibly to the shock of many, Randy Orton is 3 years younger at 34 years old. That's right, Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam 2004 at the tender age of 24. But it feels like Randy Orton has been wrestling FOREVER... Since 2004, Orton has 12 World Titles in the WWE and has consistently been pushed as a top wrestler alongside John Cena. Unlike John Cena, however, Orton has struggled when he was on shows without John Cena as a draw. Worse yet, Orton never had that big WWE moment. I still insist that his loss to Triple H was extremely toxic to his career at Wrestlemania 25. The fact is that many cannot point to a big win that Randy Orton has on a big name aside from his many matches against John Cena. The fact that Triple H owned him throughout the 2000's was a big problem to his career and he didn't have the Wrestlemania moment, like Batista, that he could point to that was career defining. John Cena, in contrast, has huge wins over JBL, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels that helped boost his career. Now, Randy Orton's career is in limbo even at the age of 34. He has been a stooge for the Authority for the past year after years of playing a very robotic babyface. As much as the WWE attempts to book Randy Orton strong, it's hard to deny that other wrestlers are beginning to outshine him. Take, for instance, another Authority member in Seth Rollins... He's fresh, has a great personality, and hasn't been 12 time World Champion to burn out fans. Reportedly, the WWE desires to turn Randy Orton as babyface again. Yikes... Here we go again as we could repeat the same robotic babyface seen throughout the early 2010's. Unless the WWE observes what the Internet is doing with Randy Orton's RKO finisher... Please watch the following video: As prepared by YouTube user SteveOzzi, he has been editing various accident videos in which people fall to the ground hard with Randy Orton delivering his finisher, the RKO. Better yet, SteveOzzi has created animation of Randy Orton sneaking up on the fallen and he has inserted WWE commentary, namely Michael Cole with some Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler mixed in. SteveOzzi especially uses the announcers saying "RKO OUT OF NO WHERE!!". The videos are freakin' hilarious and have put tears in my eyes from laughing at their creativity. The views for SteveOzzi's individual RKO videos and especially the "hot" compilation videos have been through the roof with several compilation videos now in the MILLIONS. Holy cow... And we're just over a week into this! If there was ever a road map for fixing the Randy Orton character, take a cue from the Internet. The "RKO OUT OF NO WHERE" needs to occur in the WWE immediately and Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler/JBL need to go bonkers when it happens. Embrace the gift that the Internet has given you, WWE... The fact is that Randy Orton has the BEST finisher in pro wrestling right now. It's an effective finisher that drills you into the canvas face-first unlike say John Cena's Attitude Adjustment which resembles a bodyslam too much. Orton's ability to nail it out of multiple variations effectively helps increase the effectiveness of the finisher. This Ace Crusher like finisher helped get Diamond Dallas Page over and even with all of the character flaws, the RKO probably keeps Orton stronger at the top than maybe he should be. The set-up is extremely easy... John Cena vs. Randy Orton is a match booked for the Hell in a Cell Pay Per View. Something controversial has to happen to Orton to cause him the lose, say a referee bump. Orton is so furious about the finish that he snaps and begins attacking anybody and everybody backstage with RKOs out of no where. For example, Zack Ryder could be looking at his Smartphone and then BAM, RKO out of no where! Have this go on for weeks, if not months, until the ultimate moment arrives when Triple H/Stephanie start to question Orton's recent behavior. Then, when the moment is right, RKO out of no where on the Authority members. Thus, Orton is turned babyface... Push that RKO finisher HARD as if it's the absolute strongest finisher in the company. Run up a winning streak with Randy Orton where he racks up many clean wins due to that unstoppable and possibly unblockable finisher. Where the WWE Creative Team has gone wrong, besides the 12 freakin' World Title reigns in which many of them were brief reigns, is on Orton's character. They've always tried to book him as being diabolical and yet it does nothing for him as an in-ring performer. No big wins, lack of "Match of the Year" candidates, and he's not strong enough as an individual draw to carry the company by himself. The RKO has just been his finisher even though Randy Orton, himself, has worked on how to make that move look effective. You cannot deny Orton's in-ring ability. The guy is super talented. The problem is his character and psychology. Fans don't connect to the guy because he can be very emotionless in the ring and is often booked to be inconsistent in strength. Yet, look at those YouTube RKO videos... After hitting the RKO, SteveOzzi has animated celebrations after hitting the move. Why can't Randy Orton go bonkers after hitting the RKO? He should be in complete awe of hitting that move to finish off a bigtime wrestler. Call me crazy, but I believe that Randy Orton is the ONLY wrestler who could possibly look credible against Brock Lesnar in the WWE. I'm serious when I say that and I've been Tweeting this for a while now. Why? Randy Orton has 3 moves that I believe can legitimately hurt anyone. Obviously, his finisher - the RKO. I can believe that move can knock out Brock Lesnar. Lesnar tries a German Suplex and BAM, RKO out of no where! But the second move is that DDT where Orton drags the wrestler through the 2nd and 3rd ropes. That DDT through the ropes looks like a concussion inducing move but that's the talent of Randy Orton. The wrestlers are safe and Orton has little history of injurying anyone. Finally, you have the Punt Kick which the WWE has used to build heat with various wrestler. Nothing like a kick to the skull to beat a former UFC Champion. Especially if this YouTube momentum can get going, I would be in favor of Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31. In my opinion, it would be a far better match than seeing Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. For Lesnar, you need credibility and Reigns doesn't have it. By Wrestlemania 31, Reigns could still be recovering from his injury and shaking off the ring rust. But Reigns struggled before the injury to look credible. Rather, the WWE could build Roman Reigns towards a huge SummerSlam 2014 victory instead and maybe give us a match against his former Shield members. Orton vs. Lesnar could be a big deal and I believe that Orton's stiff character could actually look strong against Brock Lesnar. Then, he hits a few RKOs out of no where on Brock Lesnar and it weakens Lesnar enough to force selling by Lesnar to create a great match. If booked well, it could be a serious contender for "Match of the Year" for 2015. Isn't it fascinating how much LUCK occurs in pro wrestling? Hulk Hogan landed a movie role in Rocky 3 which allowed him to become the top wrestling star for the next 15 years. Where would Steve Austin be if he didn't wrestle Jake "the Snake" Roberts at King of the Ring 1996? Jake Roberts's bible thumping for his character prompted Austin to cut his famous "Austin 3:16" promo that began the momentum. How about Mick Foley randomly pulling out Mr. Socko in a hospital room scene with Vince McMahon? How about John Cena dressing up for the Halloween 2002 special of Smackdown that led to the rapper gimmick? What about CM Punk being granted freedom to cut a scathing promo about the WWE before Night of Champions 2011? For Daniel Bryan, he had Michigan State fans chanting "YES!" loudly during halftime of a basketball game and that caused WWE to rebook his character. Better yet with Daniel Bryan, CM Punk quit and Bryan took his Wrestlemania 30 spot against Triple H. Certainly, the talent eventually rises to the top... Hogan, Austin, Foley, Cena, Punk, and Bryan probably would have made it anyway. But LUCK helps. In my opinion, I don't think Randy Orton has had any lucky moments which caused fans to become attached to him. Instead, all of his pushes have been artificial for the most part and it has led to a ridiculous 12 World Title reigns in 10 years. What does he have to show for it? WWE should take advantage of the Internet meme that might be growing and growing... Randy Orton is only 34 years old and should still have many peak years left. But the issue is character and connecting with fans. Now, through comedy from the internet, he has been given a golden opportunity to finally connect with fans... And maybe, just maybe, become that Main Event draw that the WWE has insisted he always has been. Seriously, who doesn't want to see Randy Orton deliver an RKO to a Giraffe?!? SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE! Comments and feedback are welcome. Follow and Tweet me @titowrestling or login in below to post comments. © Mr. Tito and LordsofPain.net/WrestlingHeadlines.com - 1998-2014
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