Randy Orton recently discussed his career during an appearance on The Ringer Wrestling Podcast, and throughout the appearance The Viper touched on various aspects of his journey with WWE.
While talking about his promos Orton said that he was never a promo guy, and that for so long he just coasted through his promos because he didn’t have any pride in his body of work. The 14 time WWE World Champion also noted that he had a mental block because he knew he couldn’t be as entertaining as The Rock, or couldn’t be as believable of an ass-kicker as Steve Austin.
Randy Orton went on to say that went he feuded with Edge in 2020 he finally had a lightbulb moment regarding his promos, and after one specific promo he received some major praise from Vince McMahon.
“I was able to make the story real. I was able to change some things at the Barclays Center before I had a promo with Beth Phoenix during the Edge storyline where the writers wanted me to say some stuff about how, like, it was written in Beth and Edge’s will that if something happened to them, Kim, my wife Kim and I would take their children, and vice versa if something happened to Kim and myself. Me and him were that close that we were written into each other’s will to accept responsibility for each other’s children. Like, that was so far-fetched and stupid and yeah I worked with Edge, but to believe that and make that real and make those people believe that I’m really in this guy’s will, like, it’s bullsh*t and you know it.
“So, in ten minutes, I took a story that I hadn’t thought about in fifteen, twenty years, that was true about when I first met Edge. I turned up the volume on that story just a little bit, then I went out there without anything written down, without anything memorized, and I was able to talk to Beth before we went out there, briefly, to let her know the direction I was going to make sure it didn’t mess her up, or she was gonna be, because she was gonna try and get emotional I think out there if I remember correctly.
“But it was this really intense promo, and it was the best promo I ever cut. The best promo I ever cut, and when I came backstage Vince said ‘that was your Oscar-winning moment’ and from then on, I feel like, a lightbulb went off, and almost, each and every promo I had since then I had a little bit of confidence that I didn’t have before, and it was just organically that happened.”
Randy Orton will be in action when he competes in the men’s Royal Rumble match on Saturday, January 29th. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available.
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