A Brief Deconstruction of Randy Orton Burning Down the Wyatt Family Compound

My reaction to most things (WWE.com)

Here at WrestlingShame, we love wrestling, but it's not our end all and be all. After all, Rick and I do have lives outside of the realm of professional wrestling.

Well, we sorta do.

*pause*

WE ARE NOT THINKING ABOUT DOING A PODCAST.

Anyway, it's a busy time of year for me, so I don't get to watch the Raw or Smackdown as frequently as I once did; instead like a lot of fans, I'll watch highlights later in the week. However,  friend of the site @HolmanTravis alerted us to the existence of a rarity on the WWE's Tuesday night show:

I hope @Rick_City watches the Smackdown that aired tonight, the Wyatt-Orton double turn is a @WrestlingShame moment

— Travis Holman (@HolmanTravis) March 1, 2017

To be fair, this double-turn is not on the level of Austin / Hart in 1997. But it was....well, shameful.

For starters, we need a brief overview of Mr. Orton's involvement as a member of the Wyatt family. Justin Donaldson gives a good overview of this narrative in his review of the show for Uproxx:

Join the Wyatt Family in the least convincing way possible. Pretend to be a loyal member for a few months. Win the tag team titles. Lose the tag team titles. Somehow win the Royal Rumble, then do nothing to help Bray Wyatt win the World Title, so by absolute happenstance, you’re booked to wrestle Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania. Then refuse that match, causing chaos with the WrestleMania card. Then dig up Sister Abigail’s grave and burn Bray Wyatt’s house. That’s the best Randy Orton can do, folks.

In short, Orton's plan makes no sense. I mean this is a really long-con, and even then, I'm not sure what Orton's end game is here. Or what the WWE's endgame is here (I realize this could apply to most everything the organization does, but that's another story for another day).

So, to the video:

-Bray begins with his run-of-the-mill "Bray Wyatt" promo in which he references Beelzebub and threatens AJ Styles. True story: Yesterday, I mentioned Beelzebub to a colleague who works on medieval literature, and I got a 42 minute lecture on the figure's treatment in Judaeo-Christian texts. Pretty sure she's still talking about it.

-Bray then mentions that his roots stretch all the way to the earth's "molten lava core." I hope he means the liquid outer core and not the solid inner core because that would be a huge-faux pas.  I expect better science from a professional wrestling organization that has featured a magical dead /undead Old West undertaker character for 30 years. 

-Randy Orton then interrupts Wyatt via the jumbo-tron; Wyatt's response of "huh" and then "RANDY?!!!" has made me laugh for a good ten minutes.  

-"No Bray, here I am." Okay, I kinda expected Orton to recite "Where is Thumbkin?" there.

-Can you really smell the "stench of evil" Randy? ....*pause*....Wait, you can't burn a "spirit to death" either. *pulls up chair* Randy, there is such a thing as too many metaphors. 

-I really hate that Orton chucks the pick-axe away. I really like pick-axes. Frankly, we need "Pick-Axe Matches" in wrestling.

-Listen to how heavily Orton is breathing when he's pouring the cans of gasoline. This is either done for "dramatic" effect or Orton really needs to work on his cardio. 

-Seriously, Orton is on his 3rd or 4th can of gasoline at this point. Remind me to never let Orton use lighter fluid on my grill.

-"I'm going to burn the soul of Sister Abigail to eternal damnation." I mean, if she's aligned with Satan, isn't she already eternally damned? *pulls card out of wallet that reads 'Don't Apply Logic to WWE Narratives'* Nevermind.

I'm not sure what else to say here, but that as a viewer, I feel really bad for Bray. But I'm not sure this is quite the double-turn it's supposed to be. Again, logically, if someone burns down the "hallowed ground" where your sister is buried, doesn't that make him a bad guy? So I think in all other media, if viewers were presented with this story, they would align with Bray. But listen to the crowd cheering in that video; they are still seeing Orton as the face, right? I'm confused. I can't see how this makes Orton look like the good guy, but I'm sure that's how the WWE will play this because wrestling.....