Randy Orton and Batista are two of the biggest stars ever produced by WWE and both of these wrestlers are their homegrown talents. They were developed in the Ohio Valley Wrestling which was the development territory of WWE. In 2002, they both joined the main roster and went on to become two of the biggest stars ever.
Orton and Batista are not the only two wrestlers who were developed in OVW and debuted in the main roster in 2002. There was another star who went on to become a huge star much like them, and in some aspects, he became more successful than both Orton and Batista.
Behind the Scenes: Wrestling Legend Reveals Who Vince McMahon Picked Instead Of Randy Orton And Batista
The wrestler we are talking about here is none other than John Cena who is a former sixteen times WWE World Champion. Wrestling legend Arn Anderson who trained a lot of big names during the time recently revealed on his “Arn” Podcast that Vince McMahon wanted him to teach ‘how to work’ over Batista and Randy Orton. Anderson said;
“When he decided on John he just said to me one day, ‘Okay Arn, I am giving Cena to you, teach him how to work, teach him the business,’ just like that,” Anderson said. “From that point on I guess he told whoever assigned the matches, ‘Give Cena to Arn,’ and I started working with him and worked with him the entire time that he was being groomed and what he became.”
Vince McMahon Wanted To Push John Cena Over Randy Orton And Batista
“Some guys already started to balk at it and I had to do some politicking with these guys and let them know it’s okay,” Anderson explained. “Normally you wouldn’t get beat in that amount of time but hey, it’s going to be everybody guys so don’t be the guy that bucks up and loses their job cos everybody is going to put the guy over and in record time.”
John Cena had a different gimmick in the OVW. He was known as the Prototype in the mentioned brand but he debuted on the main roster as John Cena in 2002. He had been pretty impressive from the very first day of joining the main roster.
Batista and Cena’s main event push started on the same night at WrestleMania 21. But Randy Orton’s main event push started a little earlier. All of them went on to become the top stars of the promotions, but Cena achieved more success than the other two as of now. Orton can definitely beat Cena’s record since he is the youngest of them all and he is also rumoured to return to action soon.
Credit “ARN”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription