6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (April 25)

2. A Decent Enough Tribute

Wrestling for 20 years with one company is a pretty big accomplishment at this stage, though could you imagine Randy Orton anywhere else but WWE?

Raw opened with a tribute to Orton, with the typically well-produced video package, complete with highlights throughout his career. But it was Orton’s promo that actually carried this part of the segment, with Randy speaking from the heart a bit – something he’s not known for doing.

Orton talked about being born in Knoxville, how wrestlers like Mick Foley put him on the map as the Legend Killer, and how he knew he and the fans have had an up-and-down relationship through the years. He put over his friendship with Riddle, saying he hasn’t had this much fun in his entire career.

If the segment stopped there, or had a couple of genuine legend appearances (Triple H? Foley?), this would have been excellent, but as noted earlier, things turning into a promo train/angle derailed the celebration.

Still, we’ll give passing marks to this part of the celebration. And let’s lump in the eight-man tag match, which really only served to eat up the last half-hour of Raw and allow Orton to hit four RKOs and pick up the win.