WWE: Should Randy Orton Return to the Cocky and Brash Gimmick?

Randy Orton is the face of SmackDown and one of WWE's most popular wrestlers. He has had a stellar career already and he is still young enough to have plenty of years ahead of him.

For most of Randy's career he played the part of a heel. Sometimes he was vindictive and malicious, and other times he was cocky and overzealous.

Since becoming a baby face, we have seen a different side of Randy. He has been enjoying himself a bit more it would seem as of late.

Despite not being the world champion, Randy is still one of the main focal points of SmackDown, and his feud with Wade Barrett is gaining some attention.

Despite his popularity as a baby face, I cannot help but wonder if Randy would not be better suited to switch back to the heel role.

While I understand WWE's reasoning for keeping him as a good guy for now, there is no question that SmackDown and Raw are in need of some powerful heels.

Randy was arguably the most effective heel of the past ten years. He took being vicious to a whole new level and always pulled it off convincingly.

Orton is enjoying plenty of success as a face, but he was in much bigger feuds and programs as a heel. His feud with John Cena spanned the course a a couple years and was the main attraction of Raw.

His status as a face may also be what is keeping him off of Raw, which is clearly the more successful show in terms of viewers.

Orton as a baby face takes away from Cena's role as top face of Raw, but if he were to turn heel again he could go back to Raw, and become the bad guy who everyone loves to hate.

The only problem with that scenario is that it is still possible that fans will cheer Orton more as a heel than they will Cena as a face. It has happened before.

Orton was getting face reactions for a long time before WWE finally pulled the trigger and made him a full fledged fan favorite.

The same kind of thing could plague him again if he were to go back to being the bad guy. It is also possible Randy does not want to be a heel again anytime soon.

Given what we saw during his fight with Otunga during last week's SmackDown, it looks like he enjoys loosening up and entertaining the fans a little bit.

He broke character after the hollow box he threw hit Otunga square in the head and after throwing Otunga threw a tree Randy screamed "MERRY CHRISTMAS" to the crowd as they cheered.

One possible solution to this would be to combine the two characters into one. Randy has been less brash and cocky in recent months than he was in years past, but bringing back that old persona does not mean he has to give up being the good guy, after all it worked great for Stone Cold and The Rock for years.

Orton is a highly entertaining personality who has a very long career ahead of him if he continues to please fans the way he has been.

What do you think, do you like the fun loving but still intense Orton, or do you prefer the focused and cold stare of the Viper from days past?

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