10 WWE Superstars Randy Orton Has Actually Helped Elevate
4. Mark Henry
If his feud with Wade Barrett was any indication, 2011 was a huge year for Orton's career in terms of the vast amount of stars he helped elevate. Mark Henry leads the list, however, of wrestlers who benefited the most from being put over by Orton that year, as it was what capped off his incredible Hall of Pain run.
Henry had already decimated the likes of Big Show and Sheamus that summer, but fans didn't begin to take him seriously as a viable world championship contender until he went after then-World Heavyweight champion Randy Orton (who had just regained the gold from Christian at SummerSlam).
Considering Henry got the better of Orton at every turn leading up to their match at Night of Champions, Orton retaining his title and ending Henry's short-lived push was the expected outcome. That said, you can imagine how shocked fans were when Henry hit the World's Strongest Slam and secured the three count as well as the championship.
The World's Strongest Man then beat Orton a second time inside Hell in a Cell two weeks later for extra measure and ran rampant on the rest of the SmackDown roster for the remainder of 2011 before injuries cut his time on top short.