Remember how over tweener Orton was?

[mcstoklasa]

First things first, I met be getting some of the dates wrong here.

Early 09, Orton is a heel. And a highly entertaining one, who punted people. He even punted Vince, dammit. He annoyingly loses to HHH at WM25.

Anyway, my memory isn't totally clear but was it over the course of the rest of 09 where heel Orton started getting monster pops and then 'officially' turned face at WM26 in 2010? I believe he beat the legacy and then did the Orton pose for the first time in a long time.

It seemed he was turned face gradually by the crowd cheering him, even when he was a heel.

I miss that Orton.

I remember a lot of people were proclaiming him as like a new Stone Cold. He was a face, but with violent, unpredictable tweener tendencies. He claimed he'd RKO his own grandmother, and he also RKO'd Meatloaf.

Then, was it 2010, or 2011, he was more of a straight up face and he went to Smackdown and did that jumping thing after RKOing Mark Henry and he also beat Christian which the IWC didn't like. He had a ton of good matches though.

Anyway, did anyone like that tweener/face incarnation of Orton?

[Pushed to the Moon]

Was this when he RKOd Stephanie? Cos yeah he was pretty cool back then. I'm still a fan now.

[Deleted]

That's how Orton should always be, always stay a tweener and he's good.

[Chestnutrice]

I blame HHH, everytime Orton is on the cusp of something great HHH gets involved and f***s it all up. He was pretty good in the early months of the Authority angle, where he was talking about stealing Brie Bella away, just because he can. Then they turned him full chicken shit heel.

[JCBaggee]

I find it's less tweener and more his place on the card. Orton in the title picture? Boring. Orton hovering in the upper midcard having matches with different midcard talent every week provides a really interesting dynamic, though.

That being said, definitely prefer tweener/face Orton over boring, seething, rest hold Orton.

[The Robisher]

There's nothing sweeter than seeing the villain with charisma fight other villains. It's a tried and true literary and TV trope.

Comic Books - The Suicide Squad

TV - Breaking Bad

Movies - Terminator 2

Pro Wrestling - Steve Austin, Ric Flair, Taz, The Undertaker, etc.

[Deleted]

I liked him until he took the WHC from Christian, Captain Charisma deserved a longer run.

[4real]

He was massively over in 2010, probably the most over time he had as a face but the Wade Barrett feud kind of killed his momentum especially as he just became the 3rd wheel in the Cena Barrett feud.

[JTG Fan]

I always felt as though heading into WrestleMania 25 they should have pulled off a double turn. After Orton punted Vince and beat Shane as well he was still getting pretty good pops, so it didn't seem as though beating up the McMahons was seen as a particularly heinous act in the eyes of WWE fans. So what you do then is have Orton kind of go off in another direction while the McMahons continue to target Orton almost to the point of ridiculousness, and maybe even have them buy off Rhodes and DiBiase to turn on him (cause let's face it, Legacy ended up meaning dick in the long run). Have Triple H just turn into a total coward who ducks Orton and demands that a psychopath like him not be allowed in the same building as the WWE Champion. And then at WrestleMania Orton overcomes them all to beat Triple H for the WWE Title and cement himself as the guy in WWE.

[Germansuplex]

I really enjoyed Orton in 2009-2011. They finally got a grasp on how his character should work. Then they went and f***ed it all up.

Also, he had that great moment at Survivor Series when he told Mick Foley that he hated him. His deadpan delivery can be hilarious (see also: the promo for this year's rumble).

[Mid-Carder]

People like to pretend Orton is rubbish, has never earned his place and has never been over.

2010-12 Orton might be my favourite Orton. Just a badass who was never really a good or bad guy either way. I loved when Cena's career was on the line at Survivor Series 2010 and Orton didn't care if Cena lost his job or not. He's particularly badass in his feud with Christian around this time.

[mcstoklasa]

Aug 30, 2014 6:44:03 GMT -5 Germansuplex said:

I really enjoyed Orton in 2009-2011. They finally got a grasp on how his character should work. Then they went and f***ed it all up.

Also, he had that great moment at Survivor Series when he told Mick Foley that he hated him. His deadpan delivery can be hilarious (see also: the promo for this year's rumble).

I need to see this

[Deleted]

Aug 30, 2014 9:00:04 GMT -5 mcstoklasa said:

Aug 30, 2014 6:44:03 GMT -5 Germansuplex said:

I really enjoyed Orton in 2009-2011. They finally got a grasp on how his character should work. Then they went and f***ed it all up.

Also, he had that great moment at Survivor Series when he told Mick Foley that he hated him. His deadpan delivery can be hilarious (see also: the promo for this year's rumble).

I need to see this

Survivor Series 2012, where most of Team Orton is bickering at one another.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

He was pretty much a full fledged face by this point but one of my fondest memories of 2010 is when Orton hit like 4 back to back RKOs while the crowd went absolutely ballistic. Dude was white hot for most of that year.

[Instant Classic]

2011 Smackdown Orton is my favorite Orton.

[Crimson]

I'll admit, I would've liked to see a Orton/Lesnar match during this period.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Aug 29, 2014 14:40:42 GMT -5 JCBaggee said:

I find it's less tweener and more his place on the card. Orton in the title picture? Boring. Orton hovering in the upper midcard having matches with different midcard talent every week provides a really interesting dynamic, though.

That being said, definitely prefer tweener/face Orton over boring, seething, rest hold Orton.

I think Orton is more tolerable at the top of the card actually doing things.

To me it's when he's in the upper midcard, but constantly being fluffed up to "remind" everyone that he's a "main eventer" that he becomes irritating.

That's what I hated about the latter half of his face run.

[TGM]

My favourite incarnation of Orton.

And everyone was proclaiming he needed a heel turn to be "saved".