“The Apex Predator” Randy Orton won his first World Championship back in 2004 when he was only 24. His match against the then WWE World Heavyweight champion Chris Benoit is still considered a classic. This match did not get any recognition from WWE because of Chris Benoit but it is such a missed opportunity.
Randy Orton was the youngest World Champion back then beating Brock Lesnar’s record which “The Beast” set just two years prior when he defeated the Rock to become the WWE Championship in Summerslam 2002. Lesnar was only 25 back then.
Randy Orton Was “Not At All” Ready For His First World Title Run
Just two years after that incident Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship at the same event, Summerslam. Even though he had to give up his reign just after a month when he was defeated by Triple H in the Unforgiven PPV event. Back then fans loved this short title reign of Randy Orton.
But how did Randy Orton felt about his first world title run? How much prepared he was for it? Recently he appeared as a guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions where he talked about a lot of things including how much ready he was for his first title reign,
Not at all, no f***ing way. I was getting that confidence. I knew enough and I was surrounded by the right people and had the right knowledge bestowed upon me to where I was ready.
But I wasn’t, and I didn’t know I wasn’t until I realized I wasn’t, but everyone else knew I wasn’t and next thing you know 30 days later – I forget the pay-per-view – I lose it. I had a nice deal with him [Triple H], and Evolution turned on me – I think – the night after this. […] I did [transition from being heel to being a babyface] and I didn’t have a clue. They put me in this role as a babyface, I’m the world champion and now I feel like I have to change everything. Now I know how to stay true to myself and how to y’know it’s not about changing when you turn.
It’s the little nuances, it’s the facial expressions, it’s your demeanor, it’s how you walk to the ring. It’s all those things but I thought every mannerism I had, had to change and that’s where I f***ed myself.
He also said that he wants to wrestle for at least one more decade,
At 40, I want to wrestle another decade if I can. So I know, it’s [working out] not about getting my pecs out here like Bobby Lashley and Batista’s. It’s about making sure my shoulder stays in its socket. I just need to maintain. It’s all about longevity for me man, I wanna be able to do this as long as I can. I don’t see branching off to do this, or that, or the other like a lot of guys do. This is my home, this is what I wanna do. I am a professional wrestler.
Check out how Orton gets his finisher RKO and its name. In his long discussions with “The Rattle Snake” Stone Cold Steve Austin also talked about the full origin of his famous finishing maneuver RKO. Austin also compared RKO with his own finishing maneuver Stunner and had a visual comparison between the two moves.
14 times WWE World champion Randy Orton has been a face for WWE for a huge time. We are pretty much sure that he will win more world titles in the near future.