10 Live Observations From Attending WWE Raw Live In Manchester

3. Confusion Over Randy Orton

Raw Randy Orton
WhatCulture

In terms of pops, Randy Orton got one of the largest reactions of both the SmackDown and the Raw taping from this past Friday. People often talk about the famed 'legacy pop', and that was certainly true when it came to Randal Keith.

Orton felt like a bona fide legend, a beloved veteran, and somebody who was on their own unique pedestal when its comes to star power. The noticeable thing about The Viper, though, was that a lot of the crowd were a little confused how to react to him.

While hearing Orton's entrance music and seeing him appear on the stage is always going to garner the aforementioned legacy pop, the problem after that was that it was unclear what side of the fence the 13-time World Champion was on. As in, he was positioned as a babyface on Raw, yet Orton's been pretty much working heel for the past year or more.

From a vicious, sadistic heel, to suddenly having beef with The OC to the point he handpicks the babyface duo of Ricochet and Humberto Carrillo to be his partners, it left the audience feeling as if they'd missed some sort of Orton babyface turn on WWE programming.

Maybe Raw will see something pre-recorded to fully explain Orton's supposed babyface shtick, but the live Raw crowd was largely left confused as to how to react to Randy.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.