Randy Orton's Future
Can the "Legend Killer" Become a Champion Again?
Fresh off a bullrope match win over Dusty Rhodes, can Randy Orton ride that momentum to victory over WWE Champion John Cena at Summerslam? And if he does, what's next?
Randy Orton has accomplished a great deal in his five years with the WWE. He's killed many legends, including Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler and, most recently, Dusty Rhodes.
But now, after dismantling "The American Dream," it appears Orton has his sights set on a legend-in-the-making: WWE Champion John Cena.
Cena is arguably the company's greatest draw since the heydays of "Stone-Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock, having held the WWE Title for nearly 10 months straight. Clearly, he is the present and the future of the RAW brand.
But Orton has other plans after smacking Cena with a RKO last Monday night and leaving the champ lying. RAW has needed a strong heel challenger for Cena since his feud with Umaga ended in January. It looks like Orton has stepped up.
The cocky young lion has to be remembering Summerslam 2004, when he shocked the world with a clean win over Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight title. Unfortunately, that reign was stopped before it had a chance to start when Triple-H beat Orton less than a month later. Could history repeat itself this time?
It's possible. Triple-H has been out since January with a quadriceps injury, and his last bout was a tag match with Shawn Michaels (as DX) against Edge and Orton. So, perhaps The Game would look to target Orton upon his return anyway, but if Randy is holding WWE gold when HHH returns, it just makes The Game's bulls-eye that much larger.
Triple H's victory over Orton in September of 2004 for the World Heavyweight title was his last championship reign, so Triple H should be hungry for gold. In fact, since topping Orton, The Game has not held ANY championship. So Triple H will return hungry to win and perhaps with revenge on his mind--a tough combination for anyone, but certainly for Orton.
If Orton can topple Cena at Summerslam, it could mark a new beginning in the career of the "Legend Killer." Up until now, Randy Orton's career has been a sort of "piggyback" at the expense of others. All the legends he defeated had legacies for Orton to use as a stepping-stone, but Randy rarely took advantage to win gold. Even his World Tag Team title reign with Edge as Rated-RKO was over two legends in Roddy Piper and Ric Flair. And while Edge parlayed that win into a feud with Cena, Orton just went after another legend in Shawn Michaels.
This time around, Orton needs victories over wrestlers in their prime. Winning matches over legends is one thing, but if Orton wants to build a legacy of his own, he'll need to defeat two legends-in-the-making: John Cena and then his likely challenger, Triple-H. If Orton wants to move his career forward, he has to beat them both; if he does not, he'll be right back where he started.
