Bob Orton Jr.

[Grimmas]

I was listening to Steve Austin's podcast and he mentioned that Bob Orton, Jr. is one of his favourite wrestlers to watch.

 

What is the best stuff to watch from him? He always seemed great on the 80's set matches, but he seems like a guy like Bossman where he is great, however doesn't have many great matches.

 

Although his prime may be in he 70's, I am not sure.

 

The arm cast gimmick was really great though.

[cheapshot]

No specific match jumps out for me I am afraid but I was a big fan of his team with Slater pre WWF run.

 

I thought the angle where him and Slater beat down Flair and collect Harley Race's bounty before Starrcade '83 was phenomenal.

[Dylan Waco]

Orton/Adonis v. Rockers from 88 AWA is awesome.

 

Orton/Tito had some good matches.

 

I really like Orton's one match from this year.

 

I would note that wrestlers really seem to love Orton. Buddy Rose said he was the best wrestler he ever saw/worked with (not kidding).

[JerryvonKramer]

I'm probably a bigger "offense" guy than most people who post here and by God is Bob Orton Jr awesome.

 

Thought he was great vs. Wahoo and Youngblood at Starrcade 83.

 

Thought he was awesome in that match Dylan mentions from AWA.

 

I'd love to see some more of him.

[Loss]

Tenryu/Kabuki vs Orton/Jarrett from SWS in 1990 is worth a look.

[goodhelmet]

Six Man Tags that made the New Japan set...

 

Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu & Kantaro Hoshino vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (11/17/88)

Tatsutoshi Goto, Masa Saito, Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Scott Hall, Bob Orton & Dick Murdoch (12/7/88)

[shoe]

He's had some good matches with Steamboat, and Backlund. I remember watching him have a pretty good one against Shane Douglas in 89.

[W2BTD]

I've never seen an Orton match that I liked. With that said, I don't recall watching any of the stuff being tossed around here, so i'll make it a point to check some of these out, particularly this: "Orton/Adonis v. Rockers from 88 AWA is awesome." & this: "Tenryu/Kabuki vs Orton/Jarrett from SWS in 1990 is worth a look."

[Grimmas]

His AWF title match against Tito is pretty good too!

[khawk20]

I always liked the Orton-Santana match from MSG circa June 1984. It was a 20 minute draw, but one of those ones you don't really see coming.

 

Backlund-Orton I remember enjoying when I got the tape way back when, but feeling that the bouts could have been better. I'd have to go back and re-watch the bouts to give this more than a remembrance, however. I'll have to check Brick's 1982 set to see if they're on it (or one of them at least).

[ohtani's jacket]

I'll tell you what I don't recommend and that's the Orton/Adonis match from SCW. One of the most boring matches I've seen in months.

[Matt D]

Jumbo vs Orton, Jr. - 4/75

 

There is a lot of late 80s or AWF easily available. I wanted to watch something older but maybe not THIS old. This is from 75 so Orton's 25 or so. Opening chain wrestling is pretty good if minimal. Orton's smooth but not exactly expressive. The early headlock base is fairly well done. It looks good with Orton wrenching and them working well in and out of it of, never staying too long in one position. Orton keeps hanging on though. Best of these is a top-wristlock test of strength and here Orton's facial expressions are better. Once he stops losing he hits a quick drop toehold and moves back into the headlock.

 

Jumbo finally escapes and slaps on an Indian Deathlock. Orton's selling is pretty emotive here. The beginning must have been a blip. Jumbo turns it into a bow and arrow pretty effortlessly for a few seconds. They reset and each guy dives for a leg and trades waistlocks, including Jumbo doing this really deep one which leads to him seating Orton up on the top rope. It looked impressive at least. Jumbo hits a pretty fireman's carry takeover and grabs and arm but Orton's back up. They're trading stuff 1 to 1. Shoulder block to armdrag. It ends with Jumbo getting the upper hand and Orton begging off. Now it's Jumbo's turn for the headlock and he does these driving elbows to the skull. Orton shrugs him off, eats a shoulder tackle and a dropkick before begging off. Jumbo'll have nothing to do with it and hits a neckbreaker for a two count before going back to the headlock. It's a little weird they've gone back to the base like this but with Jumbo in charge. They do the shoulder tackle again but this time Orton goes to the dropkick but misses. Back to the grounded headlock. Lots of cute parallels in this match. Orton has interesting ways to try to get out: turning into the pin, multiple knees to the skull. They're keeping it engaging at least, but I'm not sure it's what i want for this part of the match. Finally Jumbo runs him head first into the corner and they start trading blows. Orton gets the better with a few knees and hits a suplex, goes for a pin, and hits a slam but then misses a big elbow.

 

Orton ends up in an abdominal stretch, but hiptosses his way out. Jumbo goes for the headlock again but this time Orton hits a belly to back for a two count. Give the match, that probably should have been the finish. This time Orton hits the drop kick for another two count. Another Orton headlock leads into late, late match rope running and a reverse monkey flip by Jumbo. Jumbo hits the butterfly suplex for the win.

 

Well, I think what they did was well-excuted and all of it was interested. The parallels gave at least the illusion of storytelling though maybe not storytelling itself. It was a little disjointed but I think you can easily tell that Orton was pretty talented at 25.

[Superstar Sleeze]

WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Bob Orton - Nassau Coliseum 9/7/84

 

When I was looking over Hogan's 84 challengers (lots of Big John Studd & Dr. D), this match immediately jumped out at me. Orton is someone that I have been meaning to watch more and he did not disappoint in this outing with Hogan. He is just at stooging and shining up the babyface as he is in control of the match. Hogan just know how to get a crowd rocking in the beginning with his punches and then the big boot sends Orton to the outside. Orton no sells the tap on the shoulder twice so Hogan wallops him and when Orton retreats via the ring to the other side Hogan runs around wallops him there. That was fun. Hogan telegraphs two elbows and Orton goes to work on Hogan's arm. Showing us the fan that Orton can only get the advantage because Hogan hurt himself, but at the same time Orton is savvy enough and proficient enough to pick apart Hogan's weakness. Anytime, Hogan looks to get something going Orton goes for the hair. Hogan is just so much more energetic and really working hard from underneath. Orton impresses me with a Volkoff like backbreaker on Hogan. Hogan is able to crotch Orton on the top turnbuckle and this allows him to mount a comeback. It is an arm for an arm in Hogan's Law of the Jungle as he wrenches Orton's arm over the ropes and sends into the railing. I love that type of revenge. The match veers off track as Hogan looks like he has it won, but stalls and all of sudden Orton retakes command with an inverse atomic drop. Nothing of note really happens until Hogan more traditionally Hulks-Up with the punches, but instead of the big boot Orton whiffs on a kick sending him onto his back prone for the Atomic Legdrop. Again another really good Hogan match with a heel that could work a strong control with Hogan working hard with hope spots and struggling underneath. What hurt this match was it seemed regress back to Orton's second control to kill time before going home. This is where Orton either teasing or hitting his finisher would have helped build drama for the Hogan comeback. Still this was another great showcase for how good and vibrant Hogan was in 1984 and how Orton was a great hand in the ring. ***1/2