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Bro, show me an example of a top level babyface that got over by running and being logical.
Comparing Orton to Austin is absurd. If you can, go back and watch some old tapes of Austin circa 1997, and then tell me Orton is being booked the same way. It was the rare occasion that Vince (or Bret before him) and co got to lay out Austin as RAW ended. More often than not, Austin would get beatdown early in the show, the HEELS would run, and then at the end of the show they would eat a bunch of Stunners and the HEELS would bail out while Austin stood in the ring victorious drinking beer. With Orton, every 2nd week the show ends with Evo standing over a destroyed Randy Orton.
If this was Mick Foley who was getting beat up all the time, I would say its smart booking because fans are sympathetic towards Foley. But very few people care about Randy to the point that you can have him laid out week in and week and keep him strong. And why would people care about a babyface who not much more than a month ago was talking about how worthless all the fans were?
Fans, especially ones who grew up watching the WWE are used to cheering for the superman babyface. Hogan, Rock, Taker, and Austing all got over by playing the superman babyface. The only top level guys in modern WWE history who got over without doing that are Foley which I already covered and then Bret and HBK. But with Bret and HBK they were so phenomenal in the ring, that they could get themselves over in the ring regardless of what happened outside the match. Orton is good, but he's nowhere near the level of in ring talent that a Bret Hart or HBK was.
Sure you can say there is logic to Randy using his head and running when the odds are against him, but thats just not going to get over. Ive used this example many times, but try to imagine a superhero type movie (ie Superman/Spiderman) and the title character spends most of the movie running away from a battle rather than beating the odds and over coming evil. Are people going to say "what a brilliant tactician, he's a genius, definately worthy of our respect". Or are they going to say "what a fu$%ing wuss"? Or what if the guy constantly got beat up? Would you go back for part 2,3 and 4 after seeing the title character get his ass handed to him, regardless of the odds? Again is he a "brilliant tactician" or a "fu#%ing wuss"?
Wrestling booking isn't rocket science, there are certain things that work, why they are trying to go against those things is beyond me. But the fact that they are going against these time tested tactics probably explains why you can hear a pin drop during a Randy Orton comeback.
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