Has Randy Orton ever had a truly great match?

[The Ichi]

vs. Mick Foley, Backlash 2004.

...That's really all I can think of.

[The Verdict]

I kind of agree, i really like Orton but his style just doesn't mesh with the majority of the roster. I would say his iron man match against Cena, and their summerslam 07 match are great.

[Cela]

I agree with the Backlash Foley match.

[Krimzon]

Count me in for the Foley '04 Backlash match. That's pretty much it.

[baresolid]

vs Edge, Vengeance 2004.

Orton isn't a great wrestler. His three best matches were in 2004, against Foley, Edge and then against Chris Benoit at Summerslam. He just isn't on the same level as HHH, Edge, HBK or even Cena.

[theshowstoppa]

Vs Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series '07 I believe. Crappy finish, but a good one. Throwing my hat in the Foley/Backlash 04 circle

[N1SF]

Backlash vs. Foley

I also enjoyed his match against Benoit when he won the title.

[Kay Faban]

It's interesting...people on the 'net say he's below average in the ring,but other wrestlers often say he's the best.

[Gus Richlen Was Wrong]

the aforementioned Iron Man match, as well as his Cell match with Undertaker.

[4real]

Off the top of my head.

vs. Foley Backlash 2004
vs. HHH Last Man Standing No Mercy 2007
vs. John Cena, Summerslam 2007, Breaking Point 2009, Bragging Rights 2009
vs. John Cena and HHH, Wrestlemania 24
vs. The Undertaker, Wrestlemania 21
vs. Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio, Wrestlemania 22
MITB Wrestlemania 23
vs. Shelton Benjamin Bad Blood 2004
vs. John Cena, Shawn Michaels and Edge, Backlash 2007
vs. Rob Van Dam, One Night Stand 2007
vs. CM Punk, Wrestlemania 27

[DSR]

vs. Benoit, SummerSlam 04

I've never seen the Foley Backlash match, though.

[The Ichi]

Apr 10, 2011 14:10:53 GMT -5 Kay Faban said:

It's interesting...people on the 'net say he's below average in the ring,but other wrestlers often say he's the best.

Way to duck the question.

[Djm Doesn't Find You Funny]

Apr 10, 2011 14:10:53 GMT -5 Kay Faban said:

It's interesting...people on the 'net say he's below average in the ring,but other wrestlers often say he's the best.

All of the things that people in the business love about Randy Orton are all of the things I dislike about him so much.

And to answer the question, I can't think of any beyond his match with Foley that was already mentioned.

He doesn't turn it up. He never has to. That's what the business and "workers" love about him.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

I say Foley. Here is the thing with him. The fact he spend so many parts of his career facing HHH or Cena. That makes it hard to judge him. He and HHH never really worked well together. Never. But the WWE wanted to keep booking them together beside that point.

Cena he worked much better with but to many nobody thinks there matches where good because it was over done. But they had some good matches. The only thing I ever hated about the matches is the superman Cena comeback to no sell him. Biggest example was the last man standing match I believe it was.

He had a great match with Foley of all people for his best match to be against. I felt his HBK matches where good. I think he should work with Edge more. That feud could be great. I always thought he did well against Taker.

[strykerdarksilence]

Apr 10, 2011 14:12:55 GMT -5 4real said:

Off the top of my head.

vs. Foley Backlash 2004
vs. HHH Last Man Standing No Mercy 2007
vs. John Cena, Summerslam 2007, Breaking Point 2009, Bragging Rights 2009
vs. John Cena and HHH, Wrestlemania 24
vs. The Undertaker, Wrestlemania 21
vs. Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio, Wrestlemania 22
MITB Wrestlemania 23
vs. Shelton Benjamin Bad Blood 2004
vs. John Cena, Shawn Michaels and Edge, Backlash 2007
vs. Rob Van Dam, One Night Stand 2007
vs. CM Punk, Wrestlemania 27

Agreed, except for the Shelton one and RVD one.

You can add Angle at One Night Stand 2006.

[Bo Rida]

He did spend a long time deliberately trying to make his matches boring which doesn’t exactly help.

I’d still say that he’s had a few great matches though.

[baresolid]

Of all the matches Orton had against the Undertaker in that lengthy feud, I think only their Wrestlemania match is particularly worthy of note. The rest, even with all the gimmickry they could throw at them, were not especially good - **1/2 at best really, even the Hell in the Cell.

He has been in title matches at Wrestlemania, too. A terrible match with Triple H topping off Wrestlemania 25 wasn't helped by very bad booking, but you have to think these two exercised a lot of control over how this one was booked. A very forgettable triple threat at some previous WM with Cena and HHH and a very short match at WM22 which could have been much better had it been given more time, but that having more to do with the talents of Kurt Angle and to a lesser extent Rey Mysterio.

Orton never really pulls anything out of the bag to surprise you or interest you. He doesn't learn any new holds - did you see Punk use the Indian deathlock at Wrestlemnaia? Can you imagine Orton pulling something like that off? He doesn't even do that top rope crossbody any more. Lots of striking, lots of headlocks, lots of stomping. What happened to that neckbreaker he used to do from the powerbomb set-up?

He's also lost a lot of mass since his days as IC champ which affects his credibility somewhat. If you're no good on the mic and not much good in the ring, you have to at least have a body - Orton looks 'fine' but he literally has nothing going for him. Even his slow plod to the ring is BORING and drains the crowd of its energy. There's no urgency to anything he does and yeah, you can say 'well that's his gimmick' but I would contend that this gimmick simply isn't very good.

[Indiana Miz]

I think he has good matches all the time.

[The Ichi]

Apr 10, 2011 14:32:15 GMT -5 Indiana Miz said:

I think he has good matches all the time.

We're not talking about good matches, we're talking about truly great matches.

[Junkenstein]

The Foley match is by far his best and the only one of his I'd call "truly great". I'd class matches like the WM 21 with Taker, the ONS 06 with Angle and maybe a couple of the Cena ones in the "good" category, but they're nowhere close to the match with Foley.