RKO’ed, Part 2 of 2

When we last saw Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton locked in combat last week, Cody had taken control over his former buddy, focusing his attack on the arm to weaken and paralyze it.

Orton, meanwhile, suffers beautifully throughout the match as usual, using his expressive face and eyes to tell the story of his agony and humiliation.  He is playing an aging fighter perhaps being put out to pasture by the younger and faster rookie — the new Big Swinging Dick on the ranch.

After an exhausting battle, after suffering ruthless punishment to the arm, Orton is able to overcome his pain and defeat Cody Rhodes.  He delivers the “RKO” which knocks Cody out cold, ripe for the pin.  Randy proves to be the dominant man after all.

No sooner does he defeat Cody then big Mark Henry bursts into the ring, raging like a wild bull.  Henry wants a shot at Orton’s title belt.  Judging from his nervous facial expressions (good acting, by the way), Orton is fearful of the big animal.  I like the vulnerability and intimidation that Orton portrays.

A sharp contrast between two feuding wrestlers is always an important part of the story, and the differences between Orton and Henry are strikingly obvious.  Orton is lean and defined; Henry is massive and powerful.  Orton is exposed and nearly naked; Henry is covered in thick black spandex.   Orton is as handsome as a movie star; Henry not so much.

Henry is portrayed as reckless, enraged, and merciless — an absolute force of nature.  Orton, meanwhile, plays the outmatched hero to garner our sympathy — finally over-coming the assault of Cody Rhodes only to be flattened by massive, dominating Mark Henry.

Mark Henry then employs one of my very favorite Heel tactics from Old School Pro Rassling.  He positions a chair over Orton’s neck and belly, and sits down on it, using his body weight to crush the hero.  YES!  The beauty of this hold is that the attacker can sit comfortably in the chair like he’s relaxing at a restaurant, while the victim under the chair is gasping helplessly for air.  If the attacker must do nothing but sit there relaxing, and the victim is destroyed — the power possessed by the attacker is infinite.  The massive, over-sized hugeness of Mark Henry only magnifies the brutality and cruelty of this scene.

Orton sells the pain with sublime intensity (or maybe he’s really being strangled), his eyes bugging out of his head as he gasps for air.  He looks directly at us, almost accusing us or begging us to help, like one of those abused cats they find locked in a little cage for years by some Crazy Cat Lady, starving to be rescued.

Usually when an attack like this occurs in the ring, we see some guys run out and rescue the victim, pushing the villain out of the ring and helping the injured man restore his dignity and get back to his feet.  There is no such rescue for Orton, however.  The episode ends with him still firmly planted beneath the crushing weight of Henry perched on the chair.  This implies that the torture could have continued for hours, possibly for an entire week.  When did Henry have mercy and release the man (since Orton is totally crushed into submission and apparently has no friends willing to help him)??