Healing via Heeling: How Randy Orton Revived His Career

The Promo

When we did hear why Orton did what he did on the July 24th episode of SmackDown it became one hundred percent clear that Orton was fully back as a devious heel. Although a lot of the contents of his promo were rather overused, such as, “I did it because of you people,” there were sections where he called the audience, “the true legend killers,” and he talked about not proving himself in, “bingo halls,” which always gets a good crowd reaction. Some of what he said gave off the feeling of “general heel promo” but the way he delivered it was magical and truly one of his best promos of his career.

One would have to imagine that his comments on “too sweet” will lead him to feud with a face AJ Styles somewhere down the line. For now it seems that Orton is focused on ending Jeff Hardy’s career. The Orton/Hardy feud could very well be a marquee SummerSlam match. After that Orton can concentrate his efforts on other fan favorites through the end of 2018 and into WrestleMania season next year.

Return to Heel

Heel Orton is the best Orton, period. Randy Orton has seen many high profile matches in his lengthy WWE career, but the only series I remember where he played a successful babyface role was against Christina in 2011.

Orton’s heel personas have elevated him to become a staple in the WWE. Someone that reeks of importance. After boring us for many years with general ring laziness and losses to Jinder Mahal, I’m happy that he’s finally back to what he does best. Time will tell what creative has for him, but for now he may just be the most interesting thing on WWE television.

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