What we learned from WWE this week: 29th May, 2017

#4 Randy Orton is still very one-dimensional

Randy Bore-ton?

Randy Orton has had an impressive career with the WWE. Seen as second in command to John Cena throughout much of the PG era, The Viper has won multiple world titles and been involved in some very decent feuds over the years. His talents in the ring are obvious to anyone with an appreciation for technical wrestling, and whilst not having the most original gimmick of all time, he has certainly built up a recognisable persona for himself as the unhinged viper.

One problem a lot of fans have always had with Randy is that his promo work has been very monotonous. He seems to rely far too strongly on the basic WWE scripted formulas that prevent him from really standing out on his own in the way John Cena or CM Punk are able to. It has been difficult to get too emotionally invested in a Randy Orton storyline throughout his time with the company because every rivalry and every match kind of blends into one.

This week, Randy had the perfect opportunity to add some layers to his rivalry with Jinder Mahal. On the surface, this is a man who was humiliated at WWE Backlash, being responsible for allowing a random jobber to get his hands on the WWE’s main championship belt.

Randy could have utilised this in his promo by coming to the ring looking dishevelled and embarrassed, but nevertheless determined to right the wrongs of what happened a couple of weeks ago. Instead, he relied on the same old promo, acting like nothing big had even happened. Jinder’s victory was one of the most shocking moments to happen to the company in quite some time, but in this week, Smackdown chose not to utilise this at all.

If Randy does indeed win back his championship at MITB, it’s hard to see what the point of all this was, as it’s pretty obvious the WWE aren’t willing to tell a proper story from it anytime soon.