9 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Raw (Feb 17)

by Scott Carlson

1. Orton’s Conflicted Act Mesmerizes

Matt Hardy Randy Orton
WWE.com

Who else was completely transfixed by Randy Orton telling Matt Hardy and the audience that he respects both him and Edge… before completely demolishing Hardy – and then apologizing for it?

Orton has played the demented villain who “hears voices,” but this is a new twist, where he acknowledges what he’s doing is despicable and wrong, and that he likes his victims, but he still inflicts punishment with glee. In this case, it was an RKO and two conchairtos to Hardy, who was not medically cleared to wrestle Monday night.

The angle, which was originally supposed to just be a one-week deal last week, got stretched out to give Randy a foil for another week, as he proceeded to demolish Edge’s former friend, enemy and friend again in Matt Hardy. While there’s still a fuller explanation that needs to be hashed out with Edge, this ongoing angle is making Orton one of the most hated wrestlers on the roster.

And for a guy who in recent years has engendered a shoulder shrug of emotion from fans, this is a tremendous turn of events.

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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.