10 WWE Superstars Randy Orton Has Actually Helped Elevate

Most fans can agree that WWE putting John Cena over The Nexus was a ridiculously dumb call that put an abrupt halt to their hot momentum in the summer of 2010. Thankfully, Wade Barrett wasn't completely ruined by the loss and continued to climb up the ranks in the months that followed.

Although Barrett failed to beat Orton for the WWE Championship in their back-to-back bouts on pay-per-view that year, they rekindled their rivalry at the end of 2011 after Barrett had broken out on his own again. This time around, WWE was smart enough to give Barrett the victory when it mattered most at Survivor Series, which cemented Barrett as a top heel on SmackDown.

Orton eventually bounced back by beating Barrett at TLC before getting sent spiraling down a flight of stairs on an edition of SmackDown several weeks later. The angle was used to explain Orton's subsequent absence from the blue brand, but Barrett benefited from being the one to take him out (if only temporarily). He also owns a clean win over Orton from Raw's 20th anniversary episode in January 2013, where it would have been easy for Orton to emerge victorious and never look back.

Barrett didn't pan out the way fans and officials had hoped due to repeated bad booking decisions, but at least Orton played his part in making him look like a believable threat.