John Cena vs. Randy Orton rivalry

[The Naitch]

I remember back on the forums in 2004, the talk was all about the future encounter between John Cena and Randy Orton, similar on the lines of today's generations' version of Rock vs. Austin

And they finally met in 2009 for a series of feuds. Do you think they delivered, or failed to create an epic rivalry?

[Schlomey]

I preferred Cena vs Orton over Orton vs HHH that's for sure. HHH vs Orton was hot for a little while but parts drug on way to long and it sadly cumulated in an underwhelming Wrestlemania Main Event.

Back on Track:

Cena vs Orton DID, in fact, deliver the goods. Randy Orton then compared to now was full of character and purpose. He had a clear vision, and that vision was destroying John Cena. They had a decently written feud BUT the best part was their Iron Man match at Bragging Rights 2010. I remember not being that excited for that match because I thought neither guy could successfully pull off an hour without boring me. I will say Orton vs Cena in 2010 was top 5 best matches of that year and probably one of my favorite Non-Big 4 PPV main events ever.

Cena vs Orton will never be as timeless as Cena vs Punk or Cena vs Edge but Randy Orton did his job and they did have successful matches.




(P.S. Nice thread. Reminds me of something I would post LOL)

[Savio]

It happened to quick when they first did it, Cena just won a 5 pack match and then beat Lashley, Orton was then made the #1 contender and they had there first match. I would have drawn out the feud a bit before they had there match. Although they had shitty writers at the time.

[Joesgonnakillyou]

That iron man match they had was fucking boring. I hated that feud.

[Schlomey]

Posting the Iron Man match in it's entirety for anyone curious. Enjoy (not you Joe).

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iCjmQBpP_aY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was pretty uninterested in John Cena vs. Randy Orton, and I actually had no clue that they had an Iron Man Match.

[DrCrawford]

I started watching again in 2009 and that fued was just starting up and it was painful to watch, I almost stopped watching because of how crappy not just the fued was but everything that was going on. Summerslam that year kept me interested though

[James Steele]

Didn't they actually stop the clock and take John Cena to the back for a bit clean after he got busted open?

[Schlomey]

They did it out in the open as far as I remember. they did stop the clock but I don't remember him gong to the back..I reemember hearing the boo's while the trainers tried to stop the bleeding...didn't work for long.

[Innovator]

They ran that feud into the ground HARD

[Emperor Smeat]

Ended up as a big failure mainly because of how forced it became and the big problem of Orton rarely was booked as an actual equal to Cena.

At least with Rock-Austin, both guys looked equal to each other and swapped victories in feuds but the same didn't happen with Orton-Cena since Cena won all the feuds and big moments I think.

[James Steele]

They ran that feud into the ground HARD

It was brutal.

They wrestled each other on each PPV from July to October. They had a Triple Threat Match, Normal Match, I Quit Match, Hell in a Cell Match, and Iron Man match in consecutive order. The HIAC and Ironman matches were within like 2 weeks of each other because that is when WWE had 13 PPVs.

[Rammsteinmad]

I think they're first ever match took place on one of the Eddie Guerrero tribute shows. Pretty sure I remember those two facing and people being like "holy shit Cena vs. Orton!!!".

[Rammsteinmad]

Overall, their feud was alright. In terms of being the big, epic, future rivalry that people wanted in 2004, it was a bit of a flop.

[James Steele]

They didn't have a great chemistry together. It seemed like they just did a shitload of gimmick matches because the two of them didn't have any real interesting story.

[MoFo]

Can only remember bits of it.

One of them went to the pyro machine and tried to blow the other guy up at one point, right?

Keep getting confused with that match where someone got duct taped to the ringpost and lost.

[MoFo]

Orton is mega fucking boring as a heel, no idea why ppl want him to turn @ Mania.

[Fignuts]

Boring

[James Steele]

Keep getting confused with that match where someone got duct taped to the ringpost and lost.

:mad::rant::foc:

[The Naitch]

I think they're first ever match took place on one of the Eddie Guerrero tribute shows. Pretty sure I remember those two facing and people being like "holy shit Cena vs. Orton!!!".

Yeah I remember that. I even recorded it because I thought it was an epic moment. Cena wearing the "Im Your Papi" shirt kinda made it less epic though

[The Show Off]

There feud from July of 2007 until Cena got that injury that had him leave until Royal Rumble 2008 was shaping up to be really good until Cena go injured of course.

I think the major issue was that they should have held that feud off until Wrestlemania. Its one of those epic encounters that needs to be at the biggest stage. By putting it on a smaller show it takes away how special it was supposed to be.

[#1-norm-fan]

It did seem like THE future WrestleMania match. It turned into an incredibly forgettable feud.

[James Steele]

I don't think they had that special chemistry that Rock/Austin, Punk/Cena, HBK/HHH, etc. had.

[The Show Off]

I don't think they had that special chemistry that Rock/Austin, Punk/Cena, HBK/HHH, etc. had.

Thats also true, but that sort of chemistry is really rare.

[XCaliber]

It's funny they had a ton of that chemistry when they had tagged up to face the entire roster that one night on Raw and they buried everyone.

[Perry Saturn]

I watched their match at backlash '08-'09 or whatever and it was just terrible

[stultiloquy]

Considering I don't care for either of them I didn't pay much attention to what they were doing at the time.
I do however, remember a match they had where Orton blatantly slapped the ref out of nowhere to get disqualified - I thought that was pretty funny.

[Sixx]

Didn't Orton beat up Cena's dad?

That was funny.

[Ruien]

Would have been better if it was not done in the Super Cena Era.

Their tag match against the entire Smackdown! roster was amazing though.