WWE: Randy Orton’s attack on Edge adds a new element to his character
Last week’s headlining segment for WWE Monday Night Raw saw a teased Rated RKO reunion between Edge and Randy Orton turn into a sadistic con-chair-to from “The Viper” onto the Hall of Famer. It also resulted in us witnessing a much different Randy Orton than ever before.
Despite often being criticized for being boring, Randy Orton in actuality has shown a lot of variety within his character over the course of his eighteen years in WWE.
The last two decades have seen Orton function as a blue chipper third-generation rookie, a disrespectfully overconfident “Legend Killer” and most notably as the unstable, calculating “Viper”.
Orton has played the hero role better than he’s been given credit for, specifically in the period after his respective splits with The Legacy and The Authority. Even his recent feud with AJ Styles and The O.C. – specifically the fake injury segment – exemplified the quality of work he can do as a fan favorite.
Nonetheless, it’s widely agreed upon that Randy Orton is far and wide better as a bad guy. His rivalries with The Undertaker, Triple H, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and others heavily support that argument as he was actively callous throughout each of those storylines.
What s particularly noteworthy about this developing story with Edge is that it adds a more sympathetic and conflicted dimension to Orton’s character.. As Orton was beating Edge down, the former 13-time champion displayed uncharacteristic concern for his ex-tag partner.
The facial expressions, the extra care taken due to Edge’s history of neck injuries and the sadistic half-smile before the death blow con-chair-to were all subtle but necessary elements to make the segment all the more jarring to witness and separate this turn from Orton’s previous character shifts.
For the entirety of the near 10 minutes that Orton was featured on the latest edition of Raw, he was absolutely riddled with boos, the strength of which not often seen since Roman’s infamous “This is my yard now” statement after WrestleMania 33. Still visibly showing irresolution, “I can’t do this” was the only complete thought Orton could get out before leaving the ring.
This budding story between the two generational talents is virtually guaranteed – whatever that means in wrestling – to culminate at WrestleMania 36 and the thought of Edge vs. Orton in 2020 by itself would’ve drummed up plenty excitement.
Orton’s unusually hesitant nature along with the lack of clarity to his motives for attacking Edge has and will continue to drive plenty of intrigue on the Road to WrestleMania, especially with an update due from “The Rated-R Superstar” next week.
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With the aforementioned update from Edge in mind, he’ll most likely be back with a clear objective to get revenge against an internally conflicted Orton on the same stage that nine years ago, was thought to be the last time he would ever wrestle.
Whether or not Orton’s trademark heartlessness comes to light in time for a marquee match against Edge will be a development worth paying attention to as WrestleMania draws closer.