How Randy Orton Has Become the WWE Star Maker

There has been a changing of the guard on SmackDown. This change began when Mark Henry cleanly defeated Randy Orton for the World Heavyweight Championship.

People have been complaining that Orton was SmackDown's answer to John Cena in that he was presented as unbeatable. I think we can safely say that is no longer the case.

Lately, Randy has taken up the role that Chris Jericho left. Jericho could lose a match to an up and comer, but was so over with the crowd, he could recover no problem. Randy is in that same role now. Orton is so over with the crowd, he has made other guys look good and like legitimate threats, and hasn't lost his superstar status. In fact, I believe this has only helped him out to be even more over with the crowd.

It's also not like he has been on a constant losing streak. He has become the guy that gets other guys over by simple, classic booking. Heels would get the better of him for a bit, but he would "win the war" so to speak when he would win the blow-off match to the feud.

This has only increased interest and variety in SmackDown's programming, and it seems like "flagship" Raw has decided to finally follow suit.

Let's take a look at who Randy has put over lately.

First off is the current World Champion, Mark Henry. When Mark Henry started his path of destruction, I personally thought that he would not really make it into the main event. I have been proven wrong, and I'm glad I have been. Mark Henry is doing the best work of his career right now and creative's decision to have him go clean over Orton has done wonders for him.

Next is Randy's former Legacy stable mate, Cody Rhodes. Cody has been on a mission to bring prestige back to the intercontinental title, and I, for one, believe he has started to do so. He started by bringing back the classic white title and has become more than the WWE's usual cowardly heel. The small feud with Randy a short while ago definitely helped elevate Cody in the eyes of the WWE fans. Although Cody came out on the losing end of the feud, he was booked to look strong at the outcome. Just go back and listen to the crowd in MSG at Survivor Series. Cody had one of the loudest chants of the night. And it wasn't "Cody sucks!"

Randy is currently embroiled in a feud with Wade Barrett who is looking to put his stamp back on the WWE. At Survivor Series, Randy took the pin from Wade Barrett to leave Wade and Cody as the survivors of the match. Randy has even put Dolph Ziggler over a bit during this feud with Barrett. Although it was a bit of a tainted win seeing as Barrett provided a distraction to allow Ziggler to hit Randy with a Zig Zag from behind, a year ago Orton would have been booked to hang onto the ropes to cause Ziggler to fall to the mat and eat an RKO when he got back up.

Randy has taken his game to new levels as the result of all of this. He has taken the position of veteran of the locker room. And he is only 31 years old. I think it's kind of scary what this man could do for the WWE in terms of building new stars.

It seems obvious to me that Randy has matured quite a bit in his last few years with the WWE and is willing to accept the role of veteran and "talent enhancement" (in a good way though).

He has definitely won the respect of many people as a result of this, myself included.

Congratulations, Mr. Orton. You are the new star maker in the WWE.