From what I gather, the Ace Crusher (which is what The RKO is) is most realistically and aesthetically applied using both arms (not one, as R.T. Rock has committed to doing) and hands to trap the head around the general region (at least) of the shoulder (and not 'trapping' the head with one hand and resting the head on the fleshy part of the arm). See Johnny Ace, Stone-Cold Steve Austin, Diamond Dallas Page, Bubba Ray Dudley (the 3-D of course, ends as an Ace Crusher) and Glen Gilberti (the former Disco Inferno) as examples of how to do convincing versions of the Crusher. Teasing the RKO (as he does now as a face) would probably work much better if he were a heel-and even then, only occassionally. It's one thing when Austin used to do it...he had a wrestling pedigree, and could get into the move other ways. DDP never teased the Diamond Cutter...he would get into the move generally by countering someone elses' move. The thing about R.T.Rock is that this is-once again-where his lack of psychology shows up. One is led to believe that he is not capable of getting into the RKO from any standing position, which was DDPs main-selling point of the D-Cutter. R.T.Rock has shown some flashes that he can do this on a rudimentary basis, but as a face, he should definitely be hitting the RKO out of nowhere, as vs. telegraphing it...because this,too, becomes predictable. Unless he is teasing the RKO postmatch, people generally 'see it coming' and counter the move. As a viewer, you know what's coming...in a bad way. And I won't linger on this last part about the RKO...in the past, The Stone-Cold Legend Killer used to semi-regularly whiff on the move. He seems to have corrected this tendency. Good for him. But he telegraphs it to death. I know he's a face (on the verge of a heel turn), but damn.
Were the main aspect of his character-the speaking roles-superior, his ring work-which is really not bad at all-would probably not stand out so much when he botches a move, or delivers something less than his usual C-/C+ match. But he is 24, he is clearly NOT a ring general, and the main event is exposing every area where he is weak. And this is causing a noticeable portion of his fan base-particularly the male portion of said fanbase-to slowly back away from him in terms of support in some cases and in others is causing a predictable backlash of resentment.
I don't resent the guy, I am still a mark for him, and I still think the title SHOT at S-Slam was good booking. What went wrong was everything that happened afterwards from the finish of that match with Chris Benoit-with R.T.Rock going over- to right about now. That's my point...his position on the card and how he is being billed is what's hurting him. You see, everybody knew who was going to win that match, for starters, and the fans may have accepted it if Randy Orton stayed heel. But that did NOT happen, obviously. Now the WWE has gone well overboard on their campaign to shove R.T.Rock down our collective throats, and it's not taking. Ric Flair having to desperately shill on the Raw telecasts prior to Taboo Tuesday as far as R.T.Rock's 'greatness' is not the way to get him over. It's way too forced, too blatant. All that, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the 'greatness' is not readily evident. HHH acting as though he is scare to death of The Stone Cold Legend Killer is not the way, either. This guy was CALLING OUT Stone Cold and The Rock from 1999-2001. For what reason would he fear Orton? Telling us that R.T.Rock is 'The Man' is not the way. Booking R.T.Rock in situations reminiscent of past Raws' where the telecast would conclude with Austin stunning half the locker room is not the way either. When it becomes obvious that the company is going back to the 'Fake Diesel/Fake Razor Ramon' angle they did when Hall & Nash originally took their walk, and try to bring back Stone Cold and The Rock in that fashion, then many fans are not going to buy into it.
How could this have been avoided (IMO)?
BUILDING THE PERFECT RANDY ORTON: The Booking...and how He Carries Himself.
THE STUFF WE CAN'T CHANGE:
1) He should have lost to Benoit at S-Slam, for starters. Bill it as, 'he lost to Benoit...but he came a lot closer to BEATING Benoit than HHH did.' Also, have no Evolution interference in that match. Makes him look a little stronger, but he's still an upper-midcard guy, as he would not have gone over a dominant WHC in the main event of one of the WWEs top PPV events of any calendar year.
2) He should've stayed heel. Build on Ortons' strong showing at SSlam (outlined above) as a catalyst for tension between HHH and Orton, with Batista and Flair in the middle. You can still do most of what's being done with Batista in real-life in this angle, with Orton eventually proving to be the dissolving factor of Evolution, Trips turning face, Flair choosing between Trips or Orton, and Batista going solo. This stuff really does write itself. Orton was HHH's handpicked successor? Well, in the wonderful world of kayfabe, how exactly SHOULD that make Batista feel? Well, I'd go out on my own-and this is kayfabe, of course. Flairs' relevance in the ring is a thing of the past-the distant past-and he is much better utilized as a regular manager, not the player/coach role he currently plays. Orton needs Flair as a mouthpeice and extra, instant, heat. Trips can get over on his own. Trips is starting to notice Orton nipping at his heels, and Orton continues to run his mouth and piss people off. Evolution implodes, with its founder (HHH) and its main stalking horse (Batista) turning face, with the two main people who inspired Evolution (I'm leaving Batista out here because he played a background role in the clique for so long)-Flair, who was HHHs' boyhood 'idol' and Orton, who HHH wanted to basically keep the legacy of The Game alive when he was finally done, play the biggest parts in DESTROYING it.
There, that's the stuff we can't do anything about, discounting an anti-climactic swerve. Now, its on to...
THE STUFF THAT CAN BE CHANGED:
Okay, Orton is a face. And it's a challenge, but how, how, HOW to get him over in that role? I say this: Go over the top with the worst parts of his persona:
The cockiness. The arrogance. The disrespect for everyone.
I find it odd that Orton is being forcibly patterned after The Rock, but that their approach to turning Orton FACE hasn't followed the same pattern as Rockys' turn, character-wise. Lets' examine. Rock respected almost no one, Rock was an arrogant, cocky, self-absorbed, perfectly-groomed, loud-mouthed obnoxious asshole pretty-boy...AS A BABYFACE. How in the world did that get over? Well, The Rock is The Rock, for starters, and for seconds, it worked because it merely added to-it did not REPLACE-The Rocks' heel character, which the overwhelmingly vast majority loved to hate. The WWE utilized intelligence in doing this, and they were also in survival mode...the Monday Night War was far from over at this point.
So, why was the same approach not taken with Orton? He 'is' who he 'is.' His character is arrogant. Cocky. Loud-mouthed. He is a complete asshole. He is full of braggadoccio and hubris. He is a complete, Zoolander-esque prettyboy. Go over the top with this. Here's what I would've done, the night after SSlam, if I was made a WWE writer and my only job was to write for Randy Orton. Ortons' the champ. He defends his belt against Benoit in the customary re-match. HHH and Flair try to dole out pointers. Orton ain't having it...he's too full of himself. He goes out, defeats Benoit-with HHHs' explicit help. Orton is not pleased, he didn't need HHHs' help, because he proved that he could beat Benoit one-on-one all alone without outside interference, which is something HHH could not do. Have these two needle each other for about the next 1.5-2 months. Build it up, get the slow burn started. At the next Raw-exclusive PPV, have HHH weasel his way into a Triple Threat match title shot against Orton and, whoever, lets' say Benoit. Flair assists HHH, HHH is the new WHC. Now, instead of the pandering, the appealing to the crowd, Orton instead becomes MORE obnoxious, more self-centered...but he's going up against not just heels, but the heel EVERYONE hates-HHH. Now you shoot a little bit. Many people on the Internet have a true hate for HHH, so they might love this: Have Orton diss not just HHH, but the WHC belt, to boot. It's 'worthless' as long as Trips can (in the storyline) run to Eric Bischoff and whine and complain until he gets a title shot, so what value does the title have? It doesn't mean anything to Orton. It is beneath him, as a result.
What, in the world of kayfabe, does HHH hold in higher esteem than even himself?
The WHC belt. It signifies greatness. Orton just spit on him and all of his accomplishments by stating that the title is subordinate to him, that Orton is greater than the belt. He does all of this in his cocky, contemptuous, arrogant way. But it could get him over as a face because it would be what many of them may be thinking.
To further piss HHH off, Orton would keep his Evolution theme music. His current one sucks. Doesn't fit his style or character. The Evo theme did. As a heel or as a face.
Orton would not beg for title shots, would not demand them. He would state it once, after Evo officially kicked him out, that ' if HHH wants to go down as the biggest (*insert expletive) in the history of the WWE, then he'll continue to blindside me every night 3 on 1, like a coward. If HHH wants to be legit, if he really wants to be The Game, then HHH will come begging to ME to face him in a match for the WHC belt...because, even though he says he 'made' me, what HHH really did was look in the mirror expecting to see the present state of Raw. But when HHH looks in the mirror, he doesn't just see the present-he sees the future, too. And let me tell each and every last one of you people out there something...That present and future he sees is...ME. And that terrifies HHH more than anything else. Because HHH knows that he really can't stop evolution. HHH. Cannot. Stop. ME! Now, I was right on when I referred to myself as a Legend-Killer. It's what I do. I'm right on point when I look in the mirror and say 'man, Orton, man, man,man are you THE sexiest beast on Raw or what?' and I'm always on point when I run down my list of accomplishments. And I'm on point again tonight. Listen close, because I'm only gonna say this ONCE: HHH will come to me, not the other way around, he will come to me when he's done RUNNING.'
Maybe a promo along those lines could get over. Maybe not.
I'd make Orton work on his wrestling skills more so I could book his finisher properly...as a move that is the one great, universal equalizer, because no matter how much he is beat down, no matter how much punishment he takes, The RKO-just like the Diamond-cutter before it-would be a move that he could hit from any standing position. The onus would definitely be on Orton to make this possible.
The one-night edict from Orton (the 'great' promo I wrote above) frees up booking possibilities. For starters, the rematch between Orton and HHH would have nothing to do with the GMs bookings. It would be contingent on HHHs' pride in the storyline. Of course, Trips would enjoy not having to bother with Orton, but after a while of being booked towards him slowly (tag matches, triple threats and 4-ways...never one-on-one affairs) as well as Orton publicly bashing the WHC and HHHs standing in the record books along with that, the feud would (hopefully) be white hot by around, oh, I don't know...WM21? This way, Orton is not a main-eventer until he and HHH come to official blows in that Teacher vs. Pupil blow-off match extravaganza on PPV. Until then, he's still in the midcard, taking on Jericho and Edge, while still building towards HHH. This way, the show is not just all about Evolution and Ortons' tiff with them. This way, we don't have to use quick fixes-like putting Edge in Evolution. This way, Orton takes steps towards the Main Event that don't seem forced.
I like this way of booking Orton, but...that's just me.
USELESS FACTS: These are facts that you cannot use...but I'm giving them to you anyway.
Spam*. Is. Disgusting. Yuck. Spam 'fritters' (?) are even worse.
Pickled Eggs are better than Spam fritters...and I know this because Aaron Hicklin (on pg.115 of the May 2001 issue of Gear) said so.
(*What is Spam? This is one of the last great culinary mysteries...right up there with The McRib Sandwich and the McGriddle. Ugh. I can feel my colon shriveling up right now just thinking about the pickles, the soy extracts used in the 'pork' rib, and the fact that these 3 items are made up of all of the parts of ALL of Gods' creatures that all the REST of Gods' creatures would never, ever eat, from anus to sinus. *Hurl.*)
THE PORTION OF THE COLUMN THAT PUTS THE MOLLY IN MOLLYOPOLY:
You know what? I just can't resist. They're not gonna put homegirl on T.V.? Fine. I'll get creative with it...here are some more things that Molly is better than:
Molly>>>> The whole damn McMahon Family.
Blasphemy, you say? Get outta here. 'Cause this is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...I don't even know how to lie!!! Molly deep-sixes the whole McMahon clan in more ways than one, and continues to prove that she is my own personal Raw MVP...even if she is never on the show.
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