WWE Live Review From Allentown - 10 Interesting Observations From Ringside

3. Poor Booking Has Not Killed Orton's Drive or Heat

There are few wrestlers booked as poorly as Randy Orton has been since he turned heat just over a year ago at SummerSlam 2013. Since he cashed in Money in the Bank to capture the WWE Championship from Daniel Bryan, he has been treated as the lapdog for The Authority, the lackey for Triple H and anything but the dangerous and calculating Superstar that had captured over ten heavyweight championships. He was a coward, a pathetic excuse for a main event talent, one that needed the assistance of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon to win against even the least convincing midcard Superstar. After dropping the title to Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, he became even more pathetically booked by the rocket scientists employed on WWE's creative team. Rather than focusing on his star and portraying him as a strong villain so that, when a young star beat him, it meant something, WWE Creative opted to book him like a glorified jobber in need of his bosses to bail him out when things got rough. Sunday night, it became obvious that Orton has built such a legacy for himself already, just 10 years into his main event career, that fans still buy and respect him as a top flight star. He entered the PPL Center to an electric reaction, with more fans cheering The Viper than booing him. As he stalked toward the ring, even the man himself appeared somewhat proud of the response. After all, it was his work over the last decade that has earned him the adulation of the audience, no matter how pathetically handled he may be on television. As he climbed the ropes and extended his arms in his trademark pose, the flashbulbs went off and the crowd roared. Of course, once the bell rang and things settled down, fans reacted with the boos and jeers one would expect the top heel on the show to receive but for that five minutes that Orton took to enter the ring, scale the ropes and greet the fans, he was reminded that no lackluster handling of his character can undo the relationship he has formed with the audience throughout his Hall of Fame career.