Randy Orton Snaffu

[tucsonspeed6]

I'm making this thread because I want to do one of those "Heyman"esque armchair booking things later on about how the KoTR could have helped Randy O get over before his title shot and maybe he would have been ready when he did get it. I don't have time to do one now, but I want to remember for later, so if you all want to give your ideas a whirl in this thread, go right ahead. Remember, however, that the time constraints with Monday Night Football were what forced McMahon's hand in the booking of the Championship match in which Orton won, so try to be more creative than simply saying "Wait until Wrestlemania". cause that's probably the obvious answer. Have at ya...

[tucsonspeed6]

Ok, so I'm back after the grueling day of taking tests, getting yelled at by my boss, and wishing I was back home sleeping.

Anyway, as many of you may have noticed, I mentioned Randy Orton's breif title reign, which I believe is far enough in the past that I don't have to make a spoiler label. Many people believe that Randy's talent is plenty enough to make him main event. Many also believe that his charisma is there as well. But what Randy doesn't have (as seen by many people around here) is overness. The number one Babyface on Raw should have the loudest pops, the most momentum, and above all else, he should put every damn ass in every one of those seats week in and week out. If not the sole reason for it, at least part of the reason. Every mark that hears that Raw is coming to town should go at least in some part because he or she thinks that Randy is gonna give Evolution what's been coming to them for a long time now. It's the core dogma in wrestling.

Now I'll give Randy his dues. He did get some pretty loud pops. His fan club is pretty big. He did have a ton of momentum. The only person who had beaten him at a PPV between Wrestlemania and Summerslam was Edge, who had to cheat to win. And there were plenty of people who wanted to come just to see what that pompous ass would do next. He was over. He was easily over with the crowd, but apparently he wasn't over enough to maintain a title defense.

There's a huge difference between defending the title and chasing the title. Chasing it is the rookie's way out. Any joe schmo from John Cena to A-train can get over if the writers create a conception that he can win the belt if only the powers that be weren't working against him. It's the Austin Mentality. But that's different from the defense kind of overness. It has to be built up over time and has to be big. The fans have to chant your catch phrase be it one you came up with like "...Cause Stone Cold Said So!" to ones they made up them selves like "You suck!" Now I'm not going to challenge that Randy's title reign didn't last because he didn't have a catch phrase. I'm saying that Orton never got to that status because of a simpler issue: His momentum.

Now's the part of the story where I propose that had the WWE forseen the immanent onslaught of Monday Night Football, they probably would have done something different. They would have changed the formats of the PPV schedules to include a KoTR tournament. Of course, back in June, we all recall that Benoit was defending his title against Kane, and HHH was having his HiaC match against Michaels. Orton faced Shelton Benjamin, while Jericho was facing Tomko. I mention the Jericho/Tomko match because I personally don't think it mattered much. To replay that with as little screwing around with other storylines, I'd like to rearrange the final four Raw opponents to RKO, Benjamin, Jericho, and Batista. Mix them as you please, with either Jericho or Benjamin beating Batista in the first round while the other gets beaten by Orton. In the second round, Orton wins cleanly despite a long fought fight against his opponent. (This is to put over both himself and his opponent.) On the Smackdown side of things, we're all anticipating a Cena win, but he's cheated out of it by Big SHow who hardly wastes any effort at all (The cheat would be an obvious backstage attack to help Cena get over). (BTW I believe show was still around at this point, so stick with me here.) THe Smackdown GM (who I think was either Heyman or Angle) puts in a word to McMahon to have the Final round immediately after Orton's second round match. Orton is exhausted and his Evo buddies are furious. They offer to soften up Big Show, but Orton says there's no time. Orton gives Show a run for his money and wins the KoTR obviously hinting at a possible face turn soon.

Now Orton has a huge win under his belt, plus wins against two other major players, getting himself over even more. We can even hint at this point that Orton may in fact be a better wrestler than HHH. Now we're all set up for his big title win just shy of Football season, and Orton's bought himself enough fan support that the WWE actually succeeds at their efforts to push Orton and maintain their ratings. Whatcha all think?