#3 – Randy Orton
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Randy Orton is probably the most consistent performer of the PG Era. He’s rarely injured, keeps himself – for the most part – out of the dog house, and almost always delivers in the ring. In fact, if I had to count on one guy to go out and have a three or four-star match with just about anyone on the roster, I’d place my money on Randy Orton each and every time. Name one bad PPV match he’s had in 2014… You can’t, because there aren’t any.
When Orton is “on”, he can be one of the best acts in wrestling. He has a ruthless streak that, when not being bitched out by his role in the Authority, can really take him to an entirely new level that many can match. People often refer to him as the most naturally gifted performer in WWE history, and if you actually look at his body of work, from his debut ’till today, it’s really hard to argue with that. “The Viper” is frequently more interesting on the mic, and in the ring, than John Cena – he’s just rarely featured as “the guy”, so people forget he can be every bit as good, if not better.
The one thing I really like about Orton is how often he works with younger talents. He’s one of the guys that got Bryan over as an enormous babyface at WrestleMania. He’s had some really good matches with Dolph Ziggler. Cody Rhodes gained a ton of experience working with him. Orton and Wade Barrett had a really good stretch together, prior to some unfortunate injuries. Christian isn’t younger, but he wasn’t a real World Champion wrestler until his summer-long feud with Randy.
John Cena has been the guy that faces main event talent in big-money matches on PPV. But it would seem that whenever WWE needs to get a guy there – a guy right on the brink of greatness – they could always count on Randy Orton to be that catalyst.
