WWE: When Will Randy Orton Get a ‘Dream’ Feud?

Randy Orton is a 13-time world champion, and the WWE’s commentary team will stop at nothing to remind you of his accomplishments. He captured a Royal Rumble victory and a WWE Championship win at the main event of WrestleMania 33, but it still feels like the company could be doing something more meaningful with “The Viper”.

At this stage of his career, Randy Orton’s standing as one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the WWE is so secure that the creative team couldn’t drag him down if they tried. Of course, they have done everything in their power to make sure the fans are constantly reminded of Orton’s standing as a championship threat.

He was rewarded with the WWE Championship in a long-running feud with Bray Wyatt after getting his head bashed in by Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam 2016, and he just recently picked up a win over WWE Champion Jinder Mahal in a throwaway match on television after losing three straight Pay Per View matches to “The Maharaja”.

None of these reminders have really done him any favors, because a common complaint is that Orton feels stale. Despite being one of the smoothest in-ring workers in history, Orton’s matches have fell flat. They haven’t been bad by any means, but his WrestleMania battle with Wyatt was rather dry, as were most of his matches with Mahal.

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Orton has always been criticized for being a somewhat uninteresting babyface, and those cries from the fans have only mounted this year. He’s made no secret that he feels more comfortable as a heel, but he’s always been adept at getting crowds to pop during his entrances, matches, and, yes, his RKOs.

But Orton feels boring, simply because he’s been forced into boring feuds, and it’s almost as if he’s a victim of his own talent. The WWE likes to use Orton as a way of bailing themselves out of tight booking angles. He racked up championships in the past when the likes of Sheamus and Cena weren’t drawing the necessary reactions, and he’s been used to push Wyatt and Mahal this year.

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There’s nothing wrong with Wyatt, but Orton spent most of his time in the feud working with “hokie” segments. Anyone marked out to the crucifix? The end of the feud was basically the WWE’s way of paying homage to Vince Russo. As for his program with Mahal, the less said about the matches and anti-American storyline, the better.

Because of the way his rivalries with Wyatt and Mahal have struggled to gain acclaim, it seems as if some fans have forgotten just how great many of Orton’s past programs have been. Remember his feud with Christian? If you want to know what it means to have great chemistry with another performer in the ring, go watch those matches.

The former “Evolution” member knows he’s accomplished everything that there is in the WWE when it comes to winning gold. So it appears he’s more interested in getting to work with the best talent the world has to offer, since the WWE has signed the likes of AJ Styles and Finn Balor in recent years. Orton and Styles had a sensational match on SmackDown Live this year that featured some of the most innovative counters and crisp wrestling we’ve seen. Imagine a full program between the two?

About a year ago, Orton said that he wanted to face Finn Balor and Sami Zayn upon his return from a shoulder injury. Neither of those rivalries have happened, but you can only wonder what a treat it would be to watch Orton against one of these two.

That’s what I mean when I talk about a “dream match”, and it’s been a while since we’ve seen Orton being given that chance. Because the WWE knows that the fans will at least tolerate him no matter what, they feel like they can get away with putting him against wrestlers that the fans currently aren’t taking seriously. I mean, compare Wyatt and Luke Harper’s statuses during their program with Orton to where they are now, and you might start to wonder if Orton is (gasp) a bit under-appreciated “around these parts”.

Meanwhile, John Cena has been able to feature in a lengthy program with AJ Styles that featured two matches receiving five-star consideration.

Currently, Orton has finished up his rivalry with Mahal, and he did the best he could to push a rising star and carry him through some decent enough matches. Mahal showed legitimate improvement throughout the program, so Orton did his job effectively. Now, he will have a match with Rusev at SummerSlam, and while it appears to be a one-off match to help “The Apex Predator” build momentum, it will be interesting to see what becomes of this “rivalry”.

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In any case, hopefully Orton’s near future includes some programs that the fans can actually sink their teeth into, and perhaps even be treated to a 4.5-star match (you know, like the one Orton and Styles pulled on television while barely breaking a sweat). Better yet, it’d be nice if that involved a heel turn, because Orton was on fire with keeping kayfabe on Twitter (and even in public) during his brief heel run with the Wyatts.