Randy Orton's Momentum Has Been Stunted by WWE's Ill-Advised Booking

Former world champion Randy Orton is one of the most popular WWE Superstars on the roster, but the manner in which he returned to television at the Fastlane pay-per-view has stunted his momentum heading into WrestleMania 31.

Orton should have returned to WWE programming as the triumphant face.

Before his leave of absence, Orton was already teasing dissension with The Authority and had a very clear issue with Seth Rollins. For years, Orton was the Superstar who was handed everything on a silver platter, but now Triple H and Stephanie McMahon favor Rollins as the future face of the company.

After finally snapping and attacking Rollins, The Authority gave the orders to destroy Orton and send him a message by trying to end his career.

With several Curb Stomps, including one on the announce table, Orton was removed from programming in November.

The way he was standing up against heels and forced out of action indicated that he would eventually return and hit a RKO out of nowhere to cement his face turn. Instead, the WWE writers have gone the long way to achieve the same goal.

The majority of the WWE Universe knows that Orton is just biding his time for a full-blown face turn heading into WrestleMania, but the move couldn’t be more telegraphed. Wrestling fans are looking for more surprises, but no one will be shocked when Orton eventually hits Rollins with the RKO.

The only people who will be act surprised by Orton eventually turning on Rollins and The Authority will be Big Show, Kane and the rest of the heel stable. The WWE Universe can see this coming from a mile away.

Orton was getting major cheers as he began fighting against Triple H and Rollins before going away for several months, but he returned to television as a heel.

All of the fans who wanted to cheer him are now forced to boo him as he stands with The Authority and against some of the top faces.

The WWE is clearly setting the groundwork for Orton to make the transition back to a fan favorite, but forcing the crowd to boo him in the meantime may be detrimental to the eventual success of his face character.

The hope is that Orton’s clout with the WWE Universe is strong enough to overcome the dubious booking decisions during his return, but this is another perfect example of the company not putting its top talent in a position to succeed.

For more wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics or catch the latest episode in the player below (some language NSFW).