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Blandy Boreton?

Hey Scott, I was doing some reading, and I noticed that a cavalcade of legends including Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle and John Cena (he's a legend) have all praised Orton's skill in the ring, calling him the best wrestler in WWE and all this other stuff.  I know that part of it has to be WWE building up Randy Orton as a legend, but some of these comments are made by guys outside of the company.  So it's more than just politics.
Okay, I don't want to bash Randy Orton, but this needs to be said.  Randy Orton isn't that good.  Mildly above average, maybe.  But he's never elevated a crappy wrestler to a good match.  So what about Orton makes all these guys praise him?  Is it his "crispness" and "cleanness" that marks him as a safe wrestler?  Cause after the Rhodes incident, that can't be the case.  I just don't get why such a boring wrestler is praised as an in-ring genius.  And before anybody makes Benoit, Hart, Bryan or Malenko jokes, they were never "boring" inside the ring, they showed an intensity and passion that Orton just doesn't have.
So, I have to plumb the depths of your wrestling knowledge and ask you.  Why do legends praise Randy Orton as the best wrestler in the world when from where I'm standing he's a thoroughly bland and pablum worker?

Well, I wouldn’t go THAT far.  He is certainly someone with major issues for being in such a high position, however.  He’s supposed to be the top babyface, but he doesn’t really have believable comebacks or make you care about his plight.  He’s also, like most of the guys who come up through the system, a bit stiff and robotic in the way the match flows.  It’s like in the AKI WWF games, where the AI would suddenly decide that now was the time for the block, now was the time for the comeback, and there’s not much you can do about it.   He’s basically a human video game character. 

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