The Resurgence of a Predator: Chronicling Randy Orton's Slow-Burning Heel Turn

After spending a majority of his WWE career as a heel, Randy Orton showed signs of a faceturn in the first few months of 2010 when tension was teased among the members of Legacy. The turn was firmly established one night removed from WrestleMania 26, when Orton teamed up with longtime rival John Cena to take on the duo of Batista and Jack Swagger on Raw.

Although Orton was fine as a fine for the first year or so, members of the Internet Wrestling Community slowly started to turn on him when it became apparent that he was nothing more than the "John Cena of Friday nights" when he was traded to SmackDown in April 2011. It was at this point that numerous fans began to long for the days of Orton as a vindictive villain.

Most turns nowadays, whether they are from face to heel or vice versa, are done out of the blue by WWE or without any explanation at all. Once in a while, however, some turns are excellently executed by being planned ahead of time.

As far back as November of last year, the seeds were planted for the long-awaited heel turn of Orton, who rejoined the "dark side" at August's SummerSlam pay-per-view. Here, I will track back what exactly led to The Viper's sudden switch and why it couldn't have been done any better.

Coming Up Short to Team Ziggler at Survivor Series 2012

(Courtesy of WWE.com)

A disappointed Mick Foley looks on as Randy Orton sulks in the corner.

At 2012's Survivor Series event, Team Punk (CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and Team Rhodes Scholars) were set to do battle with Team Foley (Ryback, Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston and Team Hell No) in a traditional tag team elimination match; however, after Punk and Ryback were forced to back out of the bout, chaos ensued and both teams scrambled to fit in the vacant spots.

Joining Team Foley was the newly turned Miz, and joining Team Punk (now known as Team Ziggler) was Dolph Ziggler and Wade Barrett. Orton didn't approve of the changes made to his group, as he didn't see eye-to-eye with most of his teammates.

During a team meeting prior to the match, Orton even told Foley that he hated him (based off their history from 2004). Tension was teased among the members of Team Foley, coming to a boiling point on the November 16 edition of SmackDown where Orton laid out his tag team partner Miz with an RKO.

Ultimately, this dissension in the ranks cost Orton and his partners the victory at Survivor Series.

With Orton and Ziggler being the final remaining combatants in the contest, Orton executed an RKO onto the bleached-blonde Superstar for what could have secured him the win. Instead, Orton intended to add insult to injury by nailing Ziggler with a patented punt to the skull, a manuever that has since been banned and hadn't been used by Orton in more than a year.

As Orton closed in on the punt, Ziggler played possum and countered with a scintillating superkick that gave his team the victory. A distraught Orton sat in the corner of the ring, regretting his fateful decision, as a disappointed Mick Foley looked on.

The voices inside the head of The Viper backfired this time around. This infamous incident was the first sign of a pending Orton heel turn, as echoed by reports issued later that week.

Cleanly Losing to Wade Barrett on Raw's 20th Anniversary Show

Since 2010, Randy Orton and Wade Barrett have crossed paths countless times and have engaged in many ruthless rivalries. They had a series of matches with each other in the final few months of 2012 that led into the new year, culminating on the 20th anniversary edition of Monday Night Raw on January 14.

While Barrett was the reigning Intercontinental champion, neither he nor Orton were doing anything of note at the time. Barrett's wins over Orton were few and far between in the past, so many fans expected The Viper to pick up another meaningless victory over Barrett on this historic night.

In a shocking turn of events, though, Barrett nailed the bull hammer on Orton and pinned him for the three count. Yes, Barrett had unbelievably scored a clean victory over the former multi-time WWE champion, leaving viewers speechless.

The win did a great deal to boost the credibility of the Intercontinental Championship and he who held it, but it was unfortunately forgotten about shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, it was a refreshing change of pace to see Orton put over a rising talent for once, leading even more people to speculate that a heel turn was bound to come sooner rather than later.

Being Attacked by Big Show the Night After WrestleMania 28

Dating back to December 2012, Randy Orton was embroiled in a ruthless rivalry with The Shield, who had attacked him on a number of occasions (even injuring him at one point). Orton then led a revolution against the group, with Sheamus and Ryback at his side.

Since Ryback had to pull out of the six-man tag team match made for WrestleMania 29, Orton and Sheamus were forced to align with Big Show instead. Following their loss to The Shield on the big stage, Show took out his aggression and pent-up frustrations on Orton by knocking him out cold with a vicious right hand.

The next night on Raw, Orton and Sheamus vented about how they knew they couldn't trust Show. Orton showed signs of being cocky during his backstage altercations with Sheamus, as a feud between the two had been rumored for quite some time.

Orton and Sheamus had a match against one another on that electric episode of Raw, much to the chagrin of the fans in attendance. Midway through the match, The World's Largest Athlete interfered and laid waste to both competitors, seemingly targeting his ambush more on Orton than Sheamus.

After being thrown over the commentators' table, The Viper was left motionless in a heap of destruction at the ringside. The look on his face as the audience mocked and taunted his every move made it more than evident that it was time for Orton to return to his villainous roots.

Laying out Daniel Bryan on SmackDown

After defeating Big Show at Extreme Rules, Randy Orton shifted his focus back to The Shield, who had since captured gold in the form of the United States and WWE Tag Team Championships. Although Orton and Daniel Bryan have never seen eye-to-eye, they found a common dislike in The Shield and formed an alliance in attempt to put an end to their reign of terror.

They teamed up on the June 7 edition of SmackDown to take on the duo of Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in non-title action. Although they scored the victory via disqualification, Orton and Bryan were still victims of the numbers game with Dean Ambrose at ringside.

When trying to take out The Shield on his own, Bryan inadvertently hit Orton with a dropkick, causing The Viper to strike Bryan with an RKO out of nowhere shortly thereafter. For the first time in a long while, Orton received a massive amount of heat from the live crowd.

Isn't it interesting that WWE opted to keep the boos in the broadcast when they easily could have removed them since SmackDown is a taped show?

Aligning with Triple H and Winning the WWE Championship at SummerSlam

In July, Randy Orton emerged victorious from the pay-per-view All Star Money in the Bank Ladder match. Winning this opportunistic briefcase gave Orton a guaranteed shot at the WWE Championship at any time and place of his choosing.

From the moment he won the matchup, it became quite clear to many members of WWE Universe that he would cash in at SummerSlam against Daniel Bryan, fully completing his heel turn in the process. As predictable as the scenario was, it ended up being one of the most exciting angles to occur all year.

Moments after cleanly defeating John Cena to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, "Voices" by Rev Theory hit the Staples Center and Orton made his way down to the ring with his briefcase in tow. He teased cashing in right then and there but thought better of it and turned around toward the back, evoking a negative reaction from the audience.

While making his way back to the locker room, Orton paused and looked back toward the ring with a sinister smirk on his face. This was the signal for Triple H, who had served as the special guest referee for the previous WWE Championship match, to shockingly hit the pedigree on Bryan.

The defenseless American Dragon was left lying in the middle of the ring by Triple H, who rang the bell and allowed Orton to pick up his seventh WWE Championship in the process. The show closed with Triple H holding the hand of the new "face" of the company high in the air, as millions of fans worldwide rejoiced that two of WWE's most iconic heroes joined the dark side together.

Brutalizing the Miz in His Hometown on Raw

As epic as it was to see Randy Orton finally turn heel at the conclusion of SummerSlam, the follow-up was poorly handled. Sure, Orton was considered to be a "bad guy" for attacking Daniel Bryan in the subsequent weeks, but nothing he did came close to what he was capable of in 2008-2009, a time when Orton was known for being a demonic psychopath.

Orton catered to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon more often than not and didn't target the fans in any of his promos, making it hard for crowds to boo him. That all changed after Night of Champions, where Orton dropped his newly won WWE Championship back to Bryan.

The loss of the title sent Orton off the deep end and back to the same dark place where he once resided. Triple H and McMahon told Orton that he had no reason to contain his anger any longer, allowing the voices inside his head to take full control.

On the September 16 edition of Raw in Cleveland, The Miz was set to do battle with Orton in one-on-one action. As The Miz talked to his parents who were in attendance at ringside, Orton ambushed the hometown hero from behind and began to unleash a flurry of aggressive offense on him.

Orton nailed The Miz with a hanging DDT off the barricade, as The Awesome One's distraught parents were forced to look on. This moment marked the new age of Orton and the rebirth of a villain that had been miscast as a hero for far too long.

Granted, Orton's heel persona still isn't what it once was, but he is gradually getting there. As the current reigning WWE champion (and potentially the next unified champion), I am certain that Orton will continue to dominate the WWE as one of its leading miscreants.

Graham Mirmina, a.k.a. Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website at Next Era Wrestling and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.