{"id":213958,"date":"2026-03-25T11:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=213958"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T16:10:43","slug":"parkss-take-randy-orton-shouldnt-be-the-heel-against-cody-rhodes-and-it-seems-maybe-wwe-is-realizing-that-and-hedging-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/03\/25\/parkss-take-randy-orton-shouldnt-be-the-heel-against-cody-rhodes-and-it-seems-maybe-wwe-is-realizing-that-and-hedging-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Randy Orton shouldn&#8217;t be the heel against Cody Rhodes and it seems maybe WWE is realizing that and hedging themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3510825107\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>In WWE&#8217;s infinite wisdom, they decided to turn Randy Orton heel and keep Cody Rhodes babyface heading into their WrestleMania showdown &#8211; in other words, the exact opposite scenario I&#8217;ve argued for both in my full-page PWTorch Newsletter column, as well as on the WKPWP Flagship podcast with Wade Keller. Predictably, the results have been poor over the first two weeks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/09\/Staff09ParksC_120_3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-31220 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/09\/Staff09ParksC_120_3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"138\" \/><\/a>Orton&#8217;s ambush of Cody and official heel turn, bloodying the champ to end Smackdown, earned him cheers from a crowd thirsty to see a &#8220;happening.&#8221; In the follow-up last week, Orton castigated another babyface, Matt Cardona, delivering a brutal offensive to him as well. Again, fans supported Orton in this.<\/p>\n<p>Now, WWE has hedged a little bit with Orton. They&#8217;ve made him appear conflicted a bit in what he&#8217;s doing, though in the end, he ultimately takes things too far from a physicality standpoint, so who knows yet whether his talk is just Orton&#8217;s character providing misdirection, or if he&#8217;s REALLY struggling with these urges.<\/p>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Podcast weekly Tuesday Flagship: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/new-flagship-keller-powell-on-wrestlemania-line-up-so-far-swerve-omega-impact-of-toni-storm-absence-sid-hall-of-fame-midnight-express--70862470\">CLICK HERE<\/a> to stream (or search \u201cwade Keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NEW FLAGSHIP: Keller &amp; Powell on WrestleMania line-up so far, Swerve-Omega, impact of Toni Storm absence, Sid Hall of Fame, Midnight Express\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=70862470&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Clearly, though, Orton is positioned to be in the heel category, Cody the babyface. Maybe WWE tries to engineer a double turn at WrestleMania, but that would be whiplash for the Orton character, who just turned heel. If WWE&#8217;s goal here is to get Orton booed at WrestleMania and Cody cheered, I have a hard time seeing that coming to fruition. Orton&#8217;s intensity will win out (though Cody is likely to be portrayed as equally intense in the lead-up over the next few weeks, only from a babyface perspective) and the desire for Mania attendees to see a title change will likely trump how both men are portrayed heading into that big show.<\/p>\n<p>WWE made a curious decision here, choosing not to turn Cody or even keep both men babyface. If they&#8217;re intent on Orton being booed at Mania, they really need to go away from the big attacks from Orton that invite &#8220;one more time&#8221; chants from the live audience, making them appear to be accepting and embracing of this new version of Orton instead of being disgusted by his actions.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (3\/20) - WWE Smackdown w\/Keller &amp; Machado\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FYu8FbtiIPo?start=1&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-1064765060\"><div id=\"pwtor-3699588311\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>In WWE&#8217;s infinite wisdom, they decided to turn Randy Orton heel and keep Cody Rhodes babyface heading into their WrestleMania showdown &#8211; in other words, the exact opposite scenario I&#8217;ve argued for both in my <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/03\/25\/parkss-take-randy-orton-shouldnt-be-the-heel-against-cody-rhodes-and-it-seems-maybe-wwe-is-realizing-that-and-hedging-themselves\/\" title=\"PARKS&#8217;S TAKE: Randy Orton shouldn&#8217;t be the heel against Cody Rhodes and it seems maybe WWE is realizing that and hedging themselves\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,57,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-takes_parks","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-25-at-11.09.55-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213960,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213958\/revisions\/213960"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}