One Moment WWE Wants You To Forget From Every Year (1985 to 2026)

23. 2004 - Legend, Killed

Triple H Randy Orton Evolution
wwe.com

Fans were excited about Randy Orton in 2004.

Though he was one of the company's top heels underneath a slate state of topliners, he was perfectly pitched at a guy ready to turn on his Evolution overlord Triple H. 'The Legend Killer' was too young, too wily and too cool to be under 'The Game's thumb, and having defeated Mick Foley at both WrestleMania XX and in what remains his best ever match at Backlash, he was even working through Hunter's own checkpoints en route to the split.

Years after this first severance, JBL made a catchphrase of Orton being a "Sports Entertainer from the ground up". He took his time to even make it to the surface - this was a push that started somewhere down around the core of the earth. Triple H outsmarted and turned on him following a shock World Heavyweight Title win, then promptly took the belt back at the first opportunity with some routine cheating. 

In some respects, he was better off. In his short stint as Champion, Orton had been beaten down, ran away from his former boss and stablemates, and posed and RKO'd his way through a series of moments that felt stolen rather than earned. The whole thing was so poorly executed that fans organically chose Batista to get conclusive revenge when WrestleMania 21 came around, forcing Orton to turn back heel for a match against The Undertaker. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.