WWE’s 10 Worst Choke Artists
8. Randy Orton
Few performers have had as much emotional, physical and financial investment poured into them than Randy Orton, so it'll be of some relief to WWE that he is now begrudgingly accepted as a default main eventer/titleholder at a moment's notice should the company reshuffle the deck and require an insta-headliner to fall back on.
From his 2002 debut to present day, it's been apparent just how many friends in high places Orton has had, ensuring his endless early transgressions and persistent injury problems didn't hamper his ascent to WWE's summit. Carrying such influence that the at-times-devastating Wellness Policy was even subtly tweaked to keep him employed, Randy's lived a charmed life working for Vince McMahon. Had he broken in under the stewardship of Vince's son-in-law, he may not have been so fortunate.
Triple H was accused of (and often culpable for) 'burying' a number of his key rivals during his multiple malevolent reigns of terror, but few suffered under his nose quite like 'The Legend Killer'.
Beaten with relative ease mere weeks into his first title reign in 2004, Orton was on the wrong end of 'The Game' numerous times in 2005, and as a part of Rated-RKO against DX in 2006 and early 2007 before falling foul of a broken collarbone in a match against Hunter midway through another losing series in 2008.
Following his late-2008 return, he was on the wrong end of one of the worst WrestleMania main events in the show's history. It's no shock that 'The Viper's most consistently successful spell came when he finally escaped 'The King Of Kings'.