Randall Keith Orton, better known as Randy Orton, (born April 1, 1980 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is a third-generation professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand. Randy came from a family of professional wrestlers starting from his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr.. He was trained by his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, Jr., and made his professional wrestling debut in 2000 with the MMWA-SICW in St. Louis. Not long after, he signed a developmental deal with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He debuted on WWE programming in September, 2002.
Before becoming a wrestler, Orton enlisted with the United States Marine Corps out of high school. Orton was dishonorably discharged about a year later after going AWOL on two occasions, the first time for 82 days, and disobeying an order from a commanding officer, under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Private First Class Orton was convicted under a special court-martial, and because this was before the law changed in 2002, did not become a felon as a result.
Profile
Career
Orton went to Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, Kentucky, until he was brought up to the main roster. He made little impact as a face on SmackDown! before being drafted to RAW where he was portrayed as a heel by having a run-in with Shawn Michaels and becoming part of the highly successful wrestling stable Evolution.
At this point he was given the gimmick of "Legend Killer" which involves defeating or humiliating legendary or great wrestlers and is famous for spitting in the faces of previous wrestling legends Mick Foley, Harley Race and Triple H.
Randy Orton went on to beat Rob Van Dam for the WWE Intercontinental Championship and is now known as one of the longest-reigning WWE Intercontinental Champions, holding the title for seven months.
On August 15, 2004, at the WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit by pinfall following an "RKO" to capture his first World Heavyweight Championship, making him the youngest World Heavyweight Champion (in World Wrestling Entertainment) of all time at the age of twenty-four. After the match, Orton and Benoit shook hands. The match was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the Air Canada Centre.
Randy was kicked out of Evolution after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, which the group's leader, Triple H, believes belongs to him. Orton (now a face) and Triple H began feuding for the World Heavyweight Championship.
On September 12, 2004, Randy lost the championship to Triple H at Unforgiven. His short reign as World Heavyweight Champion is generally seen as a dismal failure, due in part to his unwanted and sudden rise to main event status but largely because his face turn was not well received by the majority of the WWE audience, especially with Chris Benoit clearly being a popular World Heavyweight Champion. Backstage politics by HHH alsoplayed a part in his short run as titleholder.
He was part of the general managers for RAW, alongside Maven, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit after their win at Survivor Series 2004, a match which allowed the winners to be general managers for four weeks.
After the World Heavyweight Championship became vacated, Orton was chosen to face Triple H, Chris Benoit, Edge, Batista and Chris Jericho in an Elimination Chamber match at WWE New Year's Revolution to determine a new champion. Triple H managed to win the match, thus keeping their feud active for a longer period of time. He was later unsuccessful in his attempt to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H at the 2005 Royal Rumble.
In a shocking move, Orton challenged Smackdown's Undertaker (in actuality, the Undertaker asked for this match since he didn't like the writers' original plan for him at Wrestlemania). During Orton's challenge, he made the claim that he would defeat The Undertaker and end Taker's 12-0 winning streak at WrestleMania 21.
This feud saw Orton in an in-ring confrontation with Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who warned him not to "bite off more than he could chew" by taking on the Undertaker, Orton would then hit the RKO on Roberts, to the boos of the crowd. Orton would officially turn heel again just 2 weeks before WrestleMania, when he turned his back on his own storyline "girlfriend" Stacy Keibler, giving her the RKO - knocking her out cold in the middle of the ring to send a message to The Undertaker.
The Undertaker made Randy Orton his 13th "victim" at Wrestlemania 21, thus ending the "legend killing" streak. Orton then fought World Heavyweight Champion Batista at Raw after WrestleMania and was powerbombed. In storyline, the match made Orton's shoulder problems from WrestleMania worse. He is expected to be out 4 to six months nursing a real-life shoulder injury. They showed his shoulder getting worked on in the hospital on the Monday after that and he sent Batista a message. Stacy Keibler and other divas were watching him on television and her exact words were, "Orton got what he deserved!" There have been occasional rumors stating Orton will be drafted over to SmackDown! upon his return.
"Legend Killings"
Orton's gimmick of being a legend killer has him defeating some legends, here is a list of legends whom Randy Orton defeated in Legend vs Legend Killer matches or legends the he has attacked and disgraced in the ring:
Quotes
- "Get a look at greatness!"
- "Not only am I better looking, I am just way better!"
Championships and accomplishments
Trivia
- Though Randy Orton is the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in the history of World Wrestling Entertainment, he is only the second youngest World Heavyweight Champion in the belt's history. Kerry Von Erich is the only person to win the belt at a younger age, which was back in May of 1984 when the belt was known as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. When Von Erich won the belt he was 24 years and three months old. This makes Von Erich one month younger when he won the belt first making him the youngest World Heavyweight Champion of all-time, contradicting the reports that Orton is the youngest all-time to win such an accolade.
- Along with Kane and Chris Jericho, Randy Orton holds the record for the number of wrestlers a single competitor eliminated in the Royal Rumble. The record is ten eliminations.
- Orton started his training and made his professional debut at the above mentioned MMWA-SICW or South Broadway Athletic Club as it is known in St. Louis. This is a organization that was a off-shoot of the old Wrestling at the Chase headed by Sam Munchnick between 1950-1983.
