A Call for Randy Orton To Show His Face

Is it just me or has anybody else had brief thoughts regarding Randy Orton as a face? Is it time for Randy, after becoming the most dominant heel in the business, to suddenly become the good guy?

Although current circumstances would point to a great improbability of such an event occurring, I personally believe that Randy was a very talented and likable face who, because of ridiculous booking on the part of the WWE writers, was changed back to the heel moniker that had been so profitable for them in the past.

In 2004, Randy Orton had already established himself as a future star, defeating the likes of Shawn Michaels and Cactus Jack in a brutal match in which he earned much respect form WWE fans.

By now, the WWE were already preparing Orton for a Heavyweight title reign, and thus it came as little surprise when Orton dropped the Intercontinental title to Edge so he could enter the main event scene.

Orton won a  No. 1 Contender Battle Royal on Raw, defeating Chris Jericho after the two were the last remaining contestants. He soon went on to Summerslam, where he defeated Chris Benoit with an RKO, much to the delight of the crowd. After the match, the WWE turned Orton face, using the respectful handshake technique that had become a common way of turning heel wrestlers into faces (Hulk Hogan vs The Rock at Mania 18).

The following night was the night in which the WWE's main storyline of the year began to take shape as Evolution turned on Randy Orton. This was particularly notable for the "thumbs down" gesture which became a fixture with Orton and most notably Batista when he went on to lift the title for the first time.

The lines were drawn, the stage set and the eyes of the WWE universe on what had the potential to become one of the most engaging storylines in years. WWE had set it up to perfection. Everything was looking promising.

That was until the writers lost the plot with a monotonous storyline that descended into utter boredom, eventually culminating at Royal Rumble, where Orton was defeated in a Pay-Per-View by Triple H in what must have been the hundredth time in 12 months.

Orton quickly became the underdog, the likable rogue of sorts, standing up to what was portrayed as an impossible situation. Three to one, Orton being outnumbered every time and this was the case at Unforgiven, where all three members of Evolution interfered causing Orton to lose his title.

Thus Orton began the hunt, coming near but not near enough on countless occasions. He exchanged momentum with Evolution for the next two months, before he was due to face Ric Flair at Taboo Tuesday. Why would Orton fight Flair? What exactly did that achieve? Orton won, while Triple H faced off against an "injured" Shawn Michaels in what was essentially a one-off match with very little background.

The public ignored both Edge and Benoit, and this was notable for the fact that Edge's heel turn took place at that event.

The WWE made a massive mistake. By not putting Orton in the group of contenders, he instead became pushed to the background and didn't get another chance at the title for another two months. Although Orton eventually became part of a quite good Survivor Series storyline, the fact that he was overlooked for the Taboo Tuesday match was ridiculous. The fans began to tire of the constant build up play with no end game.

Orton became embroiled in a storyline with Jericho, Benoit and well...Maven, who all took places on his team at Survivor Series to take on Triple H's team for control of RAW for the following month. The fans appetite was whetted once again, as Orton's team won and took control of Raw in what was an entertaining end to 2004.

The norm at the time was for the WWE to alternate Pay-Per-Views between Raw and Smackdown, so Orton was forced to wait five months until his next title shot, all while being in the main event scene, a situation which is unheard of today.

The excessive wait for Orton to become Champion was beginning to take its toll as some fans grew tiresome of this feud. However despite this, Orton had great support and momentum going in to New Year's Revolution. He took his place in the Elimination Chamber match which marked the rise of Batista, as footage in the following months showed that Triple H intentionally let Batista get eliminated.

To say that Orton should have won this match would be an understatement. Throughout the feud he showed great charisma, likability and undoubted potential. This marked the second elimination chamber where the WWE ignored the more popular and favourable outcome in order to have Triple-H retain the title.

The previous, of course, was the elimination chamber featuring Goldberg. One cannot help but sense that Levesque's romantic situation may have been somewhat responsible for Triple-H's extremely fortuitous and unnecessarily prolonged spell of dominance in 2004.

Orton lost the match and went on to lose at Royal Rumble, turning heel and challenging the Undertaker. He has been a heel ever since. I personally feel that it is time to change Orton's motivation.

He was turned into the punching bag of the WWE in recent months, only retaining his title with the interference of Legacy, who frankly were portrayed as stronger than he was. This was a very far cry from the hugely interesting Age of Orton which began in 2007.

Now the feud with Kofi making Orton seem more stale and lost than ever, but I do accept the wonders that it is doing for the man from Jamaica, or err...Ghana.

It is time for Orton to become face. I am aware of the fact that it is unlikely, the fact that he is the only main event heel on RAW, but I do hope that sometime in the near future we will see a different, and in my opinion better side to Randy