One Moment WWE Wants You To Forget From Every Year (1985 to 2026)

23. 2004 - Legend, Killed

Fans were excited about Randy Orton in 2004.

Though he was one of the company's top heels underneath a slate state of topliners, he was perfectly pitched at a guy ready to turn on his Evolution overlord Triple H. 'The Legend Killer' was too young, too wily and too cool to be under 'The Game's thumb, and having defeated Mick Foley at both WrestleMania XX and in what remains his best ever match at Backlash, he was even working through Hunter's own checkpoints en route to the split.

Years after this first severance, JBL made a catchphrase of Orton being a "Sports Entertainer from the ground up". He took his time to even make it to the surface - this was a push that started somewhere down around the core of the earth. Triple H outsmarted and turned on him following a shock World Heavyweight Title win, then promptly took the belt back at the first opportunity with some routine cheating. 

In some respects, he was better off. In his short stint as Champion, Orton had been beaten down, ran away from his former boss and stablemates, and posed and RKO'd his way through a series of moments that felt stolen rather than earned. The whole thing was so poorly executed that fans organically chose Batista to get conclusive revenge when WrestleMania 21 came around, forcing Orton to turn back heel for a match against The Undertaker.