After taking some time off to heal from a knee surgery (read about that here), ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton returned back at Extreme Rules on July 15th and surprised the WWE Universe by turning heel when he kicked Jeff Hardy “down under” following his match against United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura.

‘The Apex Predator’ would follow up with a vicious attack on Hardy two nights later at SmackDown Live, grotesquely using Jeff’s gauged out earlobe to drag him around ringside. This week on the blue brand, Orton opened the program by explaining his actions, blaming the WWE Universe for his change of heart with a promo that was praised by many fans.

According to the WrestleVotes Twitter account, which has become a fairly good source of information, Orton pushed to return as a heel:

Regarding Randy Orton’s heel turn, it has been something he’s wanted for a while now. Orton definitely pushed for it. I’m expecting him to be the top heel on SmackDown going forward. With him, Nakamura, Joe, Miz & Almas, SD has a strong mix of main event level heels.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) July 26, 2018

EA’s Take: I buy this one hundred percent. Randy’s definitely got some stroke due to his success and tenure, plus he’s been quite open in the past about preferring to work heel rather than babyface. I’ve been calling for it for quite some time myself, as I’ve always felt that ‘The Viper’ is at his best when he’s on the “dark side”. Every time he’s been babyface, he’s gotten complacent and just seems to go through the motions. If you’ve followed his career, you can tell when he’s giving it his all and when he’s mailing it in. The only thing with Orton is, he’s just so damn good that those who haven’t followed his time with WWE from the start may not even pick up on it. This gives Randy something he can stick his teeth into because for all he’s done to turn around his perception backstage and with the people, I think it’s pretty safe to say that “Randy the prick” is still in there somewhere.

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