6 Ups & 5 Downs From WWE Raw (Aug 9)

Ups…

6. Orton’s Little Things

Riddle Randy Orton
WWE.com

During his appearance on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s “Broken Skull Sessions” this spring, Randy Orton talked about working on his presentation and doing the little things right with his promos and mannerisms – basically, the acting part of the presentation.

Orton returned to Raw after nearly two months away, his first appearance in front of fans since WrestleMania 37. And Randy really milked it. He slowed things down (which is saying a lot for him), but it was to goad the fans into cheering more. He paused on his delivery just right when Riddle begged him to re-form RK-Bro. And gave AJ Styles and Omos a convincing verbal putdown when they interjected.

Wrestlers aren’t actors, but in WWE, they’re often asked to perform lengthy dialogue and convey emotions and nonverbal messages. While Orton won’t win any awards, it’s noticeable how he’s focused on stuff like this, because he’s gotten better at it than the vast majority of the roster.

Now, if we could do something about him moving at half-speed all the time…

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.