4 Ups & 3 Downs Of Brock Lesnar Vs. Randy Orton At WWE SummerSlam 2016
2. Up: There's Plenty Of Time To Tell A Story
Randy Orton can’t match The Big Show when it comes to flip-flopping between alignments and character directions, but he’s not far off. Orton’s persona has been switched-up so many times over his career that it’s difficult to say what kind of route he’ll take upon return.
Fortunately, WWE have given themselves plenty of time to clear this up. There’s a lot of TV time between now and SummerSlam for them to establish Orton’s mindset and motivations, and Lesnar is the perfect opponent for this: he occupies a unique grey area between heel and face, which gives WWE flexibility in however they want to portray Orton this year.
Not only that, but there’s a great opportunity to build a memorable story here. Lesnar vs. Orton, in its current state, is no more than a long-anticipated exhibition match. Lesnar’s unlikely to feature much before the big match, but there’s no reason WWE can’t bring Orton and Paul Heyman back to television and get the ball rolling straight away.