When Randy Orton finally decides to hang the wrestling boots up for good – he probably won’t be turning to a life of coaching tomorrow’s stars.

“The Viper” was recently interviewed by GiveMeSport, and asked about potentially joining the WWE Performance Center as a coach down the road in his career. However, the 14-time WWE World Champion doesn’t think he’d make a very good coach.

He does think, however, that he has a lot to offer in terms of analyzing match tape and breaking things down.

“I don’t really think I’d be a good coach because I would start to just ramble… It’s almost like I don’t know how to articulate myself to a group of green guys that are coming into the business that need to learn the basics.

“If there was three, four or five guys, a small group, and if we could go and talk and sit in the ring. If it could be like close quarters, just a small group of people where we’re not doing drills and stuff, but just talking and maybe watching tape, I think I’d be good in that aspect.”

Orton would certainly have a plethora of knowledge to pass along after over 20 years in the business. The son of WWE Hall Of Famer “Cowboy” Bob Orton, Randy Orton has carried on his family name in the business with tremendous prestige.

After 14 World Title reigns, Orton has established himself as one of the biggest WWE stars of all time. Currently, Orton sits atop the Tag Team division of WWE, reigning as the RAW Tag Team Champions alongside Matt Riddle.

Currently, Orton and Riddle are embroiled in a feud with The Bloodline (SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos and WWE World Champion Roman Reigns) that will culminate at WrestleMania Backlash. Despite working in a tag team at the moment rather than singles action, Orton has said he’s enjoying wrestling now more than ever.

It will be interesting to see how long WWE decides to keep Orton and Riddle paired together before the duo resume singles careers again.

Many stars of Randy Orton’s generation have branched out of WWE. People such as Batista and John Cena have decided to pursue an acting career and have found success in Hollywood. However, the Viper has been clear about not having any such ambitions.

According to him, he will continue being a WWE star even after Roman Reigns has followed the footsteps of others and left the company.

Orton talked about his legacy in pro wrestling during a recent interview with Metro. He claimed that after The Undertaker, he will be the next guy who will be remembered to never go anywhere else:

“A lot of people ask me what my legacy’ll be. I think, if you’re talking WWE more specifically, my legacy will be that I was the next guy – after The Undertaker – that was the only person that never went anywhere else, and had more matches, more titles, more accolades,”

• Randy Orton Reveals How Much Longer He Plans On Wrestling

Randy Orton also used the opportunity to take a shot at the current Undisputed World Champion Roman Reigns. He said that he will still be in WWE long after Reigns has left:

“I don’t care if Roman Reigns… I’m sure he’s got Dwayne Johnson’s agent’s number on speed dial. Roman will be in Hollywood, I’ll still be here.”

Orton, alongside his partner Riddle have been feuding with The Usos recently. These two teams are scheduled for a title unification match at WrestleMania Backlash. Randy has been taking shots at the Tribal Chief as well. It’s possible that we will see these two facing off in near future.

Former WWE Champion Randy Orton has certainly come a long way in his 20-year career on the WWE main roster.

Over the course of his career Orton has become one of the industry’s most respected veteran’s and biggest stars. This year, Orton celebrates 20 years on the WWE’s main roster since making his debut on SmackDown in 2002 against Hardcore Holly. The rest, as they say, is history. Orton is a 14-time WWE World Champion and a sure-fire future Hall Of Famer.

“The Viper” is also a two-time Royal Rumble winner and a former Money In The Bank winner. He has had some legendary feuds throughout his run, but Orton hasn’t had more programs with anyone else when it comes to his rivalries with John Cena. Cena no longer runs with WWE full-time as Orton does, but that didn’t stop Cena from taking to Twitter to pay homage to Orton on his 20-year WWE anniversary.

Here’s what Cena had to say:

“For 20 years @RandyOrton has cemented his legacy as 1 of the greatest @WWE Superstars ever. I have the utmost respect for every achievement he’s earned & CONTINUES to earn. But my genuine love & admiration for him is in his maturity & growth as a human being. Here’s to RKO!”

Orton is currently in the midst of a Tag Team feud alongside Matt Riddle – as the pair reign as RAW Tag Team Champions. RK-Bro will attempt to unify their tag titles with SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions The Usos, who they’ve been feuding with the past several weeks, at WrestleMania Backlash.

JBL has a reputation for bullying people backstage and giving a hard time to young talents. Though Randy Orton was saved from this treatment thanks to his father, who helped the former APA member during his early days.

The Viper opened up about his early days in the locker room on Out Of Character. He first discussed how he was intimidated by old-school wrestlers during his rookie years including people such as The Undertaker, Billy Gunn, Hardcore Holly, and more.

He recalled that Bradshaw was one guy who always gave trouble to younger talents. However, Orton never got the same treatment because his father had mentored JBL:

“My father took Bradshaw on his very first tour of Japan back in the early 90s. [He] took care of Bradshaw. Took him under his wing and had his back. Bradshaw, of course, the way it works, never forget that and me being Bob Orton’s kid, Bradshaw never gave me any shit.” said Randy Orton,

“He was always one of those guys, man, those local guys, those new guys, they’d come and he’d give ’em a hard time.” recalled Orton, “Nothing wrong. but just f**ing with the guy, you know, just guys being guys. You need a little bit of that, but I was never a target because of my dad. [I was] such a lucky little asshole. No wonder everybody hated me.”

More Originals From SEScoops:

• Sami Zayn Explains Why He Re-Signed With WWE
• Johnny Gargano On Who Helped Him Get On WWE’s Radar
• Pat McAfee Thinks Vince McMahon Doesn’t Get Credit For His Good Ideas
• Randy Orton Opens Up About His Relationship With Vince McMahon
• Randy Orton Reveals Secret Of His Longevity In Wrestling

If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Randy Orton is one of the most respected people in the WWE locker room, but it took a long time for the Viper to earn this status.

Orton is the latest guest on WWE’s Out of Character podcast, hosted by Ryan Satin. Episode 53 was conducted live at the WrestleMania Axxess Superstore last weekend in Dallas, TX.

The former Undisputed Champion discussed a lot of topics, including his personal development, his desire to give back to the business, being a huge Goldberg fan when he was younger, setting records in WWE and much more.

Randy Orton was thrust into WWE’s main event picture early into his career. He’d go on to become the youngest World Champion in company history. Orton admits he wasn’t mature enough for that level of success and the pitfalls that come with it. As Orton puts it, it was a case of “too much too soon.”

“Gosh, years, you know?” he said about earning respect backstage. “And then, I kind of started to get an attitude and I got mixed in with the wrong crowd, I guess you could say. [I] made a couple of bad decisions and that respect I think kind of got put on hold for a while.”

Randy Orton was a member of the Evolution faction, along with Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista. That group had a memorable split, which saw the senior members turn on Orton. According to Orton, WWE discussed him and Triple H breaking away from Evolution, but his behavior issues derailed those plans.

“I think there was even an instance where the plan was for me and Triple H to go and do our thing out of Evolution,” he continued. “I might have the order of this wrong but I want to say they went with Dave Batista instead because of me. [It was] maybe in ’05 of ’06 and I just wasn’t ready. It was like maybe 2005, 2006, 2007 where I was really having some close calls with just being a dumb kid. Too much too soon. [It was] most definitely too much too soon.”

Catch Randy Orton’s appearance on the Out of Character podcast:

Exclusive quotes so ask for credit

Randy Orton has been a staple in the WWE brand for the past two decades. Over the course of his illustrious career Orton has amassed 14 World Championship reigns. He is also an Intercontinental and United States Championship winner, a former Money In The Bank winner, and a two-time Royal Rumble match winner.

His rivalries with the likes of John Cena, Edge, and Triple H have been some of the greatest in the history of the business. However, at 42-years-old and with over 20 years in the industry, many are beginning to wonder how much longer “The Viper” plans on keeping this up. Speaking on “The Pat McAfee Show” earlier this week, Orton revealed he has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon.

Orton credited his current tag team with Matt Riddle, which whom he reigns as the RAW Tag Team Champions, for revitalizing the fun he has inside the ring again. With that being said, Orton plans on wrestling for at least another 10 years.

“I love what I’m doing. I love what I’m doing in the ring. I would love to do it for a much longer time. 10 more years, 12 more years,” Orton said (via WrestleZone) “I’d like to be like ‘Taker and when I get to the point where my body’s like okay maybe not every week, like I’d love to [do] SummerSlam, WrestleMania, like come and have that big match.”

This weekend Randy Orton will once again team up with Riddle and put their RAW Tag Team Titles on the line. The pair will compete at Night Two of WrestleMania 38 in Dallas, Texas, defending against The Street Prophets and Alpha Academy. You check out the full WrestleMania 38 card below.

WrestleMania 38 Card

(Night One) Saturday – APRIL 2:

• SmackDown Women’s Title Match
  Ronda Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair (c)
• RAW Women’s Title Match
  Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch (c)
• SmackDown Tag Team Titles Match
  Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs vs. The Usos (c)
• Logan Paul and The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio
• Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Baron Corbin
• Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods vs. Sheamus and Ridge Holland
• Seth Rollins vs. TBA
• Kevin Owens presents “The KO Show” with special guest – WWE Hall of Famer “Stone Cold” Steve Austin

(Night Two) Sunday – APRIL 3:

• Winner Takes All Title Match
  WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns
• Triple Threat for the RAW Tag Team Titles
  The Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy vs. Randy Orton and Riddle (c)
• Fatal 4 Way for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles
  Shayna Baszler and Natalya vs. Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi and Sasha Banks vs. Carmella and Queen Zelina Vega (c)
• Anything Goes Match
  Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn
• Pat McAfee vs. Austin Theory
• Edge vs. AJ Styles
• Omos vs. Bobby Lashley

Randy Orton made headlines on Thursday during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show about the way the WWE NXT wrestlers are trained. He stated that a lot of guys have lost the art of pro wrestling – making moves look devastating but never hurting their opponent. 

He brought up how he has to protect himself because he doesn’t want a broken jaw and taking care of your opponent isn’t something taught in NXT. He added that “they don’t know what the f*ck they’re doing.”

During today’s Wrestling Observer Live, Bryan Alvarez stated that “Randy Orton is absolutely 100 percent correct” and he has heard that wrestlers in WWE developmental have been told to lay it in (working stuff).

“Bro I don’t know when that changed but I have heard and I am sure that many other people listening to this who might be in the business have heard the same thing – that in developmental, these wrestlers are encouraged to lay it in. They are encouraged to lay it in.”

WWE Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro will defend their titles against The Street Profits and Alpha Academy in a Triple Threat Match on WrestleMania Sunday. 

H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription

Randy Orton’s relationship with Vince McMahon has grown over the years. He had some early encounters with the boss because of his problems but Mr McMahon took a liking to him. It helped him stay in WWE despite messing things up more than once and since then, the chairman has become a father figure for The Viper.

The Raw star recently talked to Pat McAfee. When asked about his relationship with McMahon, Orton mentioned how he has had some deep conversations with him:

“It’s been a long steady growing one. I’d say early on most of our encounters were because I was fucking up, but I was very fortunate because he took a liking to me.” said Randy Orton, “I think it’s kind of like a father figure on the road. I was so young and I think he saw a little bit of something of himself in me because I’m a little batshit crazy.

I think he’s seen me throw a tantrum or two, and get emotional and lose it and I’ve had a couple of deep conversations with the guy. He’s known some of the troubles that I’ve went through. So we’re kind of on a different level. I think he kind of sees a little bit of himself in me and I think that’s why he took a liking to me.”

Will Randy Orton Consider An AEW Move?

Randy also discussed the reports of his interest in AEW before his re-signing in 2020. Orton said that Vince knows that he’s a WWE guy through and through:

“I think he also, he sees that I’m a WWE guy. I started out a WWE guy, and I’m not going anywhere. Even a couple years ago, there might have been some chatter and some talk, but I wasn’t really the guy talking about really going anywhere else.

That was just the internet and everybody. I was like, ‘Oh, this is interesting. I never said that.’ And here I am. My contract’s up in a couple of years and I’ll sign another one. I love this place.”

• Randy Orton Reveals Secret Of His Longevity In Wrestling

If you use the quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

April 25, 2022 will mark the 20th year of Randy Orton’s first televised WWE match. With two decades of dominance, The Viper undoubtedly has one of the most impressive careers in the history of wrestling. According to him, the secret to his longevity is figuring out how to get a reaction from the crowd without killing yourself.

The former world champion appeared on The Pat McAfee Show. Discussing the secret of his longevity in the business, Orton mentioned how he got injured several times very early in his career. So he had to understand his limitations and figure out how to get people interested without taking big bumps:

“It’s a lot of bumps, lot of traveling, but I feel like I kind of got injured very early in my career several times, boom, boom, boom. And I had to figure out. [I thought] ‘if I’m going to do this for a long time, if I’m going to have any kind of longevity, I gotta figure out how to do that.’ And that’s what I’ve done.

I’ve toned back the physicality to the point where I know what I’m capable of. I know what my body’s capable of, but I also know what I need to do out there in order to get a reaction and I don’t need to break my neck. 220 shows a year bro, you can’t physically survive decades in this industry if you’re killing yourself every night.”

• Randy Orton Slams NXT Talent as Unsafe

If you use any quotes from the article please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

WWE veteran Randy Orton believes NXT talent don’t know how to protect each other in the ring.

The veteran is coming up on his 20th anniversary since his debut in WWE. Orton has become one of the few active veterans that have competed with the company since the early 2000s. As a veteran of the WWE locker room, Orton believes that wrestlers from NXT lack the knowledge to protect their opponents.

In an interview with Smackdown Commentator Pat McAfee, he talked about dealing with the longevity in WWE. Orton also praised Edge and felt it was refreshing to work with someone he looked to as a mentor. He then compared working with a veteran like Edge and dealing with newer wrestlers, which he feels work unsafe.

“…When Vince was on, he talked about his number one priority, above all being to protect your opponent. That’s not taught necessarily in NXT, and I know that because I’ve been in the ring with guys that came from NXT, and they don’t know what the f*ck they are doing, and it’s unfortunate,” said Orton.

Does Randy Orton Have a Point about NXT Talent?

WWE calls up talent from NXT that they believe is ready to work on the main roster. It’s unclear if WWE Chairman Vince McMahon thinks that NXT call-ups could not protect others in recent years.

While Orton shared his belief, he omitted what former NXT talent didn’t protect him in the ring. Although, Wrestling fans have seen an incidence where a former NXT talent hurts someone on the main roster.

One of the recent examples is Ridge Holland accidentally breaking Big E’s neck with a belly-to-belly suplex on the ringside floor. However, it may not be fair to blame the coaching in NXT on accidents that involved a former NXT talent. Orton also clarified that he wants to help talent have longevity in wrestling but didn’t share how he’d plan to support up-and-coming talent in NXT.

Orton will defend his Raw Tag Team Championship with Matt Riddle against Alpha Academy and The Street Profits at Wrestlemania 38: Night Two on Apr. 3.

RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Matt Riddle) are back on top in the tag team division as they are once again the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They worked a triple threat match against Alpha Academy and Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins on Monday Night Raw. 

At one point, Gable went for a moonsault off the top rope and Orton hit an RKO. The finish saw Rollins hit the Buckle Bomb to Gable then Owens hit a Stunner and Rollins capped it off with the Curbstomp. Riddle pushed Rollins out of the ring and pinned Gable for the win. 

Following the match, they cut a promo. Orton said that he has never had this much fun in his career and he would not want to do it with anyone else, but his friend, Riddle. He ended the promo by saying that they’re going to WrestleMania. 

Orton and Riddle first won the titles at SummerSlam last August by beating AJ Styles and Omos. They dropped the straps to Otis and Gable on the January 10th edition of Raw. RK-Bro’s reign lasted for over 140 days. 

It’s unclear who Riddle and Orton will be defending the Raw Tag Team Titles against at WrestleMania 38 next month in Dallas, Texas. 

Randy Orton has been a top star in WWE since 2004 after being paired with Triple H, Batista, and Ric Flair. At 40-years-old, he still has plenty of years left as an active in-ring performer. 

He was asked if he will get into acting once his in-ring days are over while speaking with Adam Glyn of the Adam’s Apple YouTube show.

“You know, I’m a homebody, I don’t think that would be the lifestyle for me,” Orton said. “I like my schedule with the WWE right now, so I see [me] riding off into the sunset, still wearing my wrestling boots.”

Regarding his in-ring future, Orton stated that he thinks he has another 10 years left.

“I just turned 40 a year ago, I got another decade in me, you know. We’ll see,” Orton said.

Finally, Orton was asked who he’d like to induct him into the WWE Hall Of Fame and a few names came to mind such as Triple H, John Cena, and Ric Flair. 

“My wife actually just brought that up the other day, and we were thinking about it and it was kind of funny because we didn’t know who would be the guy,” Orton said. “Hunter came up, and Cena came up, Flair came up, but you know, I don’t know if I could get Cena to come in from Hollywood to do it. Maybe he could do it virtually, I don’t know.”

H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcript

Randy Orton may have suffered some sort of shoulder injury during this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw from Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH.

During a match featuring RK-Bro and the Street Profits, Montez Ford went up to the top rope for a frogsplash on Orton. Ford landed awkwardly on Orton, who moved towards the rope after taking the move. Orton tried to put his foot on the rope when Ford went for the pin.

Angelo Dawkins stopped The Viper and the Street Profits managed to pick up the win. Though the whole affair looked like it did not go as planned.

You can check out the ending of the Street Profits vs RK-Bro match below:

Montez Ford was seen checking in on Randy Orton as soon as the bell rang. He informed the referee and everyone seemed to be concerned about Orton.

A fan noted that Orton, Riddle and the referee went back through the side of the stage after the match, while everyone else walked back through the tunnel. Randy was also seen favoring his shoulder on the way back.

Montez Ford has since tweeted about the situation and says everyone is “healthy.”

“Pinned a World Champion,” he wrote. “Got the Woman. And everyone is healthy. All in one night. GOD IS GREAT,.”

It’s been quite the week for Shane McMahon, who went from an appearance in the Royal Rumble to reportedly being let go by his father’s company.

In an update to what went down last weekend in St. Louis, Fightful Select published more information on McMahon’s backstage dealings prior to the Royal Rumble match. Though McMahon wasn’t the sole producer of the match, he was involved in creative and had some wild pitches that didn’t make it into the final match.

According to Fightful Select, McMahon was pitching ideas for his entry into the Royal Rumble match that he felt would highlight him personally. He even pitched being the number one entrant in the match. According to the report, Vince McMahon got involved, made changes to the match, and noted that they wouldn’t be doing much of what Shane had pitched previously.

Apparently it wasn’t just Vince McMahon who wasn’t happy with Shane’s pitches. Brock Lesnar also took issue with the ideas being thrown around by the younger McMahon.

Shane was pretty insistent on some of his ideas, even though they didn’t come to fruition. He was reportedly acting quite unprofessional about the situation, talking down to people in the process. One source told Dave Meltzer:

“Every single story you’ve already heard, multiplied many times over. He was unprofessional the likes of which left Vince no options but to fire him.”

WWE Source on Shane McMahon’s Behavior

• Update on Shane McMahon’s Departure From WWE

There was also a funny situation with Randy Orton. According to the report, McMahon was originally supposed to be the 29th entrant and Orton was supposed to come in at 28. However, this got mixed up and Orton told McMahon that he would not be coming down to Shane’s “Here Comes The Money” theme so he better get out there once number 28 was called.

Overall, this year’s Royal Rumble was very poorly received by both the fan base and backstage, leading to a lot of the fallout which has been reported this week. WWE has not confirmed Shane McMahon’s release publicly as of yet.

Don’t forget to check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.

Matt Riddle said in a recent interview with Mark Andrews that his team with Randy Orton, RK-Bro, was not supposed to be a long term deal. In fact, Riddle says the original plan called for Randy Orton to turn on him the very first night.

“I’ll tell you this, I guess it’s just my luck with tag teams because now I’m tagging with Randy Orton, doing the RK-Bro and bro, same thing happened. It was supposed to be a one — he was supposed to turn on me night one,” Riddle said.

“Like literally, he was supposed to turn on me night one and then Vince and the crowd and everybody liked it so much they’re like, ‘You guys willing to see if this works?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah’ and Randy was like, ‘Yeah, we’re willing to see.’”

“You know, we like working with each other, we’re friendly, it’s been crazy. Randy was gone for three months, I just kept the team afloat. Always talking about Randy. They’re like, ‘Oh man, he’ll be back soon.’ I had no idea when he was coming back.”

Where Is Randy Orton?

Randy Orton appears to be taking time away from WWE again, although it is not clear how long he will be gone for. Bryan Alvarez noted on Wrestling Observer Live that the Viper will be away for “a little while” although the reason for his absence is not clear.

Orton entered into the Royal Rumble match at #29 and only lasted a little over 2 minutes before being eliminated by Brock Lesnar. He then missed this week’s RAW even though he had been scheduled to take part in the scooter race along with Riddle against the Alpha Academy. It’s not clear if Orton will be on RAW next week for the Quiz Bowl with RK-Bro, Chad Gable and Otis.

H/T to Fightful for the above transcriptions.

Many things have changed in wrestling in recent decades. Things such as the reduced drug usage and better locker atmospheres have been for the better. However, not everything that has changed is good. The one difference that especially bothers Randy Orton is the dwindling level of respect among the new stars for each other.

The viper talked about it in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani for BT Sport. While he didn’t name names, Orton explained that the stars coming out of NXT nowadays are more concerned about themselves instead of making their opponent feel safe.

“I would never name any names, but you see the general attitude coming out of NXT is ‘Alright, I’m here.  Where’s my stuff? Where’s my music? I’m gonna go do my thing.’ You have to respect everybody that came before you. You have to respect everybody that you’re in there with.

If I’m out in the ring with you, I have to be able to know that you’re gonna put my body first and you’re going to protect me in everything that you’re doing and you have to know that about me. With that comes respect. I just feel like sometimes now, that level of respect has dwindled. If anything, that’s what’s upsetting to me as an old-timer.”

• Jim Ross Talks Some Younger AEW Talent’s “Bullsh*t” Attitude

Randy Orton Wants Talent to Show Respect for Their Opponents

Randy Orton mentioned how many of the development talents nowadays do not have a wrestling background. They got here because of their size or their accolades in other sports. The 22-year veteran explained that the downside of this is that they don’t know how to show the proper respect to their opponents:

“They don’t understand that when you’re so big, you don’t have to take any bumps because you’re the giant. You got that guy in the ring opposite you, bumping all over the place and wearing his body down to make you look like a giant. You owe him a steak dinner. You need to thank him every chance you get.

If he needs a bag of ice after the match because he took all these big moves because you’re a big son of a bitch and he was trying to make you look like a killer.” said Randy Orton, “Then you go get that ice for him. See if he’s ok. Check on him. I feel like guys take for granted how much we’re beating each other up.”

Randy Orton Has A Problem With Selfish Talents

The former world champion continued by saying that the young stars take for granted how gruelling the business can be in the long haul. According to him, the locker room is like a band of brothers and you need to have each other’s back. However, it’s hard to trust somebody when they are only concerned about themselves:

“When you can tell guys don’t get that. Or it’s not as much of a team player mentality, but it’s more me, me, me, me, me. There’s a time and a place for that. But when it’s all the time, then that’s not a good look. When I can’t trust you to respect me enough to be thinking about my body and my health rather than you knocking my head off on live TV and making it look like you killed me. Then we got a problem.”

• WWE Royal Rumble 2022 Predictions

If you use any quotes from the article, please credit SEScoops with an H/t for transcription

Randy Orton has revealed that he missed a couple months of action back in 2021 after catching COVID and losing a lot of weight because of it.

The Viper recently had an interview with The Ringer Wrestling Show. During the talk, he revealed that he tested positive for COVID-19 in June:

“In June, I got COVID. I missed seven weeks of TV because my blood inflammation levels were so high that they were worried that it was going to turn into a mild cardease or echo cardease or something with the heart.”

• Randy Orton Has Started Feeling The Effects Of Using RKO For Decades

Revealing the effects of the disease on him, Randy Orton explained that he lost 20 pounds due to the infection and was stick skinny:

“I lost 20 pounds during Covid. I had it so bad. I was stick skinny, stick thin. I had a chance to rebuild. I’m either going to do it this way or I’m going to do it that way.”

Orton later explained that as part of his recovery he cut down sugar and alcohol from his diet. He also started seeing a physical therapist for some of his shoulder issues and Randy said that he is now feeling the best physically since he can remember.

Randy Orton missed a couple of months of action in mid-2021. He wrestled during the June 21 edition of Raw and didn’t compete in another match till 9 August.

Thanks to WrestlingNews.co for the transcribed quotes

Randy Orton has an idea of when he’ll retire from the wrestling business.

Orton has been with WWE since 2001. He first underwent a development process in OVW before making his television debut for WWE in 2002. Orton has become a legend in the industry and is a surefire WWE Hall of Famer.

Randy Orton On When He’ll Wind Things Down

Appearing as a guest on Ringer Wrestling podcast, Randy Orton said he can see himself retiring by the age of 50 (via PWMania.com).

“I’m 41. By the time I’m 50, I think I’m done. I’ll do auditions every once in a while, but I only do them because my wife says, ‘Oh do them because what if you don’t and then you’ll wonder, what if you did?’

“I do auditions here and there crossing my fingers that I don’t get a call back because I love what I do. I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to have to stop because of my body.

“I’ve taken it upon myself to make sure I’m doing everything I can on the daily that physically I’m able to continue, but if it was up to me, and I knew physically it wouldn’t be a problem, I’d say I would wrestle until I’m 50 years old, I would go out and have that last match when I’m 50, and say I was able to do it on my own terms. That’s nine years from now.

“I don’t see an end to my career anytime soon. I would like to continue to go.”

Orton is currently in a tag team with Riddle as RK-Bro. The two were even Raw Tag Team Champions. They lost the gold to Chad Gable and Otis of Alpha Academy.

Randy Orton continues to be one of the most exciting wrestling superstars even after being in the business for over 20 years and his finishing maneuver has played an important part in it.

The unpredictable nature of RKO makes it one of the most unique and deathly finishing maneuvers of the industry. The Viper has hit it countless times on opponents of all sizes over the decades.

Though during his most recent interview with Fox 2 Now, Orton admitted that he is starting to feel the effect of landing on his back night over night for the move:

“I kind of wish I could go back in time and create a finishing move that didn’t entail me jumping up as high as I can and landing on my back. After doing that a couple of thousand times over the last few decades, I’m starting to feel it,”

– Randy Orton

Apart from this, Randy Orton also discussed the history of his family in the wrestling business and his children possibly continuing the legacy in the future.

The former world champion hasn’t officially been announced for Royal Rumble yet, but he is most likely to compete in the 30 men battle royal at the upcoming PPV event on January 30.

• Mark Henry Praises Randy Orton: “He Grew The F*ck Up”

The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized the achievements of both Randy Orton and Natalya. Both Orton and Natalya achieved PPV milestones for the company at this year’s Survivor Series.

In the case of Randy Orton, he broke the all-time record for most matches on WWE PPV when he wrestled in his 177th at Survivor Series. This topped Kane’s tally of 176. Natalya also set a record at Survivor Series, with her 68th PPV match, setting a record for women’s wrestlers in the company.

“Randy Orton (USA), one half of the current WWE RAW Tag Team Champions alongside Riddle, is a third-generation superstar who made his wrestling debut in 2000,” reads Guinness’ description of Orton’s record. “Fast forward 21 years and he has appeared on a record-breaking 177 pay-per-view (PPV) events, surpassing the previous record for most WWE PPV appearances (male) held by Kane (USA).”

“Natalya (Canada) has set the record for the most WWE PPV appearances (female)with 68 following her traditional 5-on-5 Survivor Series elimination match. Her team of Smackdown superstars lost to RAW’s,” reads a description of the record set by Natalya.

Other female wrestlers with large PPV match tallies include Charlotte Flair (57), Trish Stratus (43), Sasha Banks (43), Becky Lynch (43), Bayley (42), Lita (23), and Chyna (20).

Recently, Randy Orton broke the record for most PPV matches in a WWE ring with his 177th match taking place at Survivor Series. According to a report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, however, when non-WWE PPVs are factored in, there are a few wrestlers who top him on that list.

When both TNA and NJPW PPVs are included, AJ Styles holds the record with 289 PPV matches. This is including the TNA weekly PPVs from their early days, however. Anyone involved in this era of TNA has a big advantage as a result. James Storm also has 228 PPV matches when TNA’s weekly shows are included.

Excluding TNA, ROH or NWA shows, however, Chris Jericho tops the list with 187 PPV matches between his time in WCW, WWE, NJPW, and AEW.

“If you don’t include TNA, ROH or NWA, the top person on the list would be Jericho with 187 between WWF, WCW, AEW and New Japan. Jericho was unaware of this,” wrote Dave Meltzer.

The Undertaker has had 183 PPV matches when his time as “Mean” Mark Calaway in WCW is factored in. Triple H also had 7 PPV matches in WCW, bringing his total tally to 180. Big Show/Paul Wight is also at 180 when his non-WWE PPV matches are included.

Including TNA PPVs, Jeff Jarrett has wrestled on PPV 179 times and Kurt Angle 178 times.

The top-10 in WWE history are as follows:

1. Randy Orton – 177
2. Kane – 176
3. The Undertaker – 174
4. Triple H – 173
5. John Cena – 163
6. Chris Jericho – 144
7. Big Show – 142
8. Edge – 135
9. The Miz – 121
10. Kofi Kingston – 117
11. Shawn Michaels – 117

Randy Orton has come a long way and Mark Henry couldn’t be happier.

Orton will be reaching a massive milestone in his career. He is set to break Kane’s record for the most WWE PPV matches in history. By the time his match at Survivor Series starts, he will have a whopping 177 PPV matches in WWE.

He’s also due to break another record held by Kane. Orton is just six matches away from having the most matches on Monday Night Raw. He currently has 431, while Kane has 436.

Mark Henry Says Randy Orton Evolved As A Man

It’s been well-documented that Randy Orton had major behavioral issues early in his career. It got to the point where many speculated that WWE would eventually cut ties with him despite his upside.

During an episode of Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry discussed Orton’s journey from being an immature kid to a grown man who will go down as an all-time great.

“I go a long way with Randy and Randy makes me emotional because I love the dude because of his journey. He made a lot of mistakes just like I did.

“Randy found out that he actually had friends and he found out that people actually cared about him. And his wife Kim, I thank God for her.

“She changed him, she allowed him to grow as a man without emasculating him cause a lot of women try to change their men so much that they diaper em’ and make em’ kids.

“Randy’s a grown-ass man with an opinion and he grew the f*ck up.”

Orton and Riddle (RKBro) will take on The Usos in a brand vs. brand tag team match. RKBro hold the Raw Tag Team Championships, while The Usos are the SmackDown titleholders but the gold will not be at stake.

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Randy Orton will make history this weekend at Survivor Series. When Orton and Riddle step into the ring to battle The Usos, Orton will set the record for the most pay-per-view matches wrestled in WWE history.

Coincidentally, Orton is on the cusp of another big career milestone. He’s also one match away from setting the record for most matches wrestled on WWE Raw.

The Viper addressed these achievements on social media.

“I’ve never been one to keep records or stats throughout my career. Early on, it was laughable to consider in my profession you had ‘wins’ and ‘losses’. You certainly wouldn’t talk about it, with the boys much less fans. But I’m fortunate to have some fans (and friends) that have done just that, kept my stats. Not just wins and losses, but damn near everything you could think of!

It came to my attention that tomorrow at Survivor Series I’ll set a new record for most PPV matches by anyone in WWE history. The following night on RAW coincidentally, if I have a match, I’ll have had more matches on RAW thea anyone in history.

I saw this online, checked it, and it is true… kind of hard to believe, as it feels like I only started down in OVW yesterday.

I just wanna take a minute in light of these ‘stats’, and let everyone out there that’s ever supported me in any way know that I am thankful. I also know with all of my heart that I couldn’t have done it without you. Now on to my 15th Survivor Series…man time flies don’t it?”

John Cena commended Randy Orton for this “mythical” achievement. Orton’s former rival says he’s proud of him and called him an inspiration.

Randy Orton PPV and RAW Stats

Statistics like this can be difficult to track, but that hasn’t stopped various websites from attempting it. According to ProFightDB.com, Orton and Kane each have had 176 matches on PPV.

Cagematch.net has Orton’s PPV tally at 175, however. ProFightDB.com also has Orton listed as having wrestled 431 times on RAW and Kane 436.

There are several other databases that keep track of such statistics, and all of them differ from each other to some degree.

It’s unclear which database Orton used to check the statistics, but regardless, he will eventually become the wrestler with the most matches on both WWE PPV and RAW.

As RK-Bro made their ring entrance at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia, Riddle rode atop a camel. Orton just walked to the ring as per usual, however. According to comments that Riddle would make recently to Metro UK, his tag-team partner was upset that he didn’t get to ride a camel as well.

“The camel was a good time! I highly recommend, if you haven’t ridden a camel, get yourself a camel, get yourself the opportunity to ride one,” Riddle said.

“You know who wasn’t happy about it though, because they didn’t get to ride a camel either? Randy. Randy wanted to ride a camel and Vince wouldn’t let him,” Riddle continued. “He goes, ‘Randy, that’s not your character, riding a camel.’ He’s like, ‘What does that mean, man?! My character doesn’t ride a camel?!’”

Riddle then says he tried to make his partner feel better about the situation.

“I’m like, ‘Randy, I’m sorry bro, sometimes you’re just not the dude that rides camels.’”

RK-Bro RAW Tag Team Championship Reign

Randy Orton and Matt Riddle won the RAW tag team championships at SummerSlam from AJ Styles and Omos. They then successfully defended the titles against Bobby Lashley and MVP on an episode of WWE RAW. Their second title defense was against the former champions, Styles and Omos, at Crown Jewel when the above mentioned camel riding took place. They’ve since defended the titles a 3rd time on RAW against the Dirty Dawgs team of Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler.

They are the 66th team to win the titles since their inception in 2002. Their victory to win the titles at SummerSlam was the 85th title change in the championships lineage.

Riddle believes he’s garnered more haters since aligning with Randy Orton.

Riddle is one-half of the Raw Tag Team Champions along with Orton. Riddle and Orton call their team “RKBro.” They captured the gold back in August during the big Summerslam PPV event inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Riddle Attracts Haters With Orton Pairing

Speaking to talkSPORT, Riddle said that somehow he’s been on the receiving end of more negativity thanks to teaming with Orton.

“No, I think people hate me even more now I’m with Randy,” Riddle answered with a smile. “‘This son of a b**** thinks he;s untouchable now’ [laughs]. I try to tell Vince and other people, it’s part of my persona. It’s part of what makes me popular. I’m legit, I’ve fought in the UFC. Anyone can test me anytime. 

“Everybody here knows I can throw down and I’m going to talk s***. It’s one of those things where I can’t change that. I talk trash. For me, isn’t that my job? Make people care about what we’re doing and talk trash so people say ‘oh man, I’d watch that fight!’ or is it real?”

Riddle has been known to ruffle some feathers. He once had beef brewing with Goldberg but the two have seemingly settled their differences. He also had a backstage run-in with Brock Lesnar over some comments made to the media.

More recently, Riddle has gotten on Roman Reigns’ bad side for saying he was never a needle-mover.