From @WrestlingBants: What will Randy Orton's legacy be? (No pun intended!) Will he be remembered as "not John Cena?"
That's a really good question. He just turned 35 years old, so he's at the point where he's closer to the end of his career than he is the beginning, but he's basically been a main event level performer for about 11 years now. His first World Title win was in 2004 when he was 24. It's impressive that he's been able to be in that spot for such a long time. What's interesting about Orton is he's a guy that has a lot of really good matches in his career. However, if you really think about it he doesn't have many that you would consider all time great or match of the year contender type of matches. In terms of promos he's pretty average. Even he would likely admit that. He's most comfortable in the ring, but there are times when he's delivered some really good promos too. It's just that he's never been the kind of guy that could carry a 10 minute promo and make it worthwhile. When it comes to guys from his era, Cena is a bigger star. Lesnar is too although obviously Orton has a lot more years put in than him. Batista is probably similar to Orton in terms of their stardom in wrestling. However, Batista's movie success will make people see him as a bigger star too. Orton's not a guy that people are going to remember as one of the five best wrestlers ever, but by the time he's done in another 5-7 years (just a guess) he'll have a long list of accomplishments and has headlined every kind of show there is all over the world. He deserves a lot of respect for that. He's definitely a WWE Hall of Famer as well as one of the better performers of the last 15 years.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
