The Hall of Fame

Randall Keith "Randy" Orton (born April 1, 1980 in Knoxville, Tennessee), is an American third-generation professional wrestler currently working for World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand.

Orton comes from a family of professional wrestlers starting from his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr. His uncle Barry O was also a former wrestler. After graduating from Hazelwood Central High School he was trained by his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and made his professional wrestling debut in 2000 with the MMWA-SICW in his hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri, and had a match with another St. Louis group, Central Championship Wrestling, with O.G. Stevie B. Not long after, he signed a developmental deal with WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling. He debuted on WWE programming in April 2002.

Career

The Legend Killer

Orton trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville, 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 became a heel.

Orton's heel turn was drawn out over several months. While sidelined with a separated shoulder, Orton launched the "Randy News Network", a weekly vignette which featured Orton explaining the current status of his shoulder. He also provided an e-mail address by which fans could contact him to express their support (GetWellRandy@wwe.com). His smug, self-centred attitude gradually turned the fans against him.

Upon his return on January 20, 2003, Orton helped Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista beat down Scott Steiner, a rival of Triple H's. Triple H later called the foursome Evolution. At this point Orton was given the gimmick of The Legend Killer which saw him defeating or humiliating legendary wrestlers and personalities. Orton gained infamy when he spat in the faces of wrestling legends Mick Foley and Harley Race. At Unforgiven 2003 on September 21, Orton defeated Shawn Michaels with the help of Ric Flair.

Orton went on to defeat Rob Van Dam for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Armageddon 2003 on December 14. He became one of the longest-reigning Intercontinental Champions of recent years, holding the title for seven months.

World Heavyweight Champion

On the July 26, 2004 episode of Raw, Orton won a 20-man battle royal to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship. On August 15, 2004 at SummerSlam 2004, Orton defeated the World Heavyweight Champion Chris Benoit by pinfall following an R.K.O. to capture his first World Heavyweight Championship, making him the youngest ever World Heavyweight Champion in the WWE at the age of twenty-four. After the match, Orton and Benoit shook hands in which Benoit encouraged Orton to "Be A Man." The match was held in Toronto, Ontario at the Air Canada Centre.

Orton was kicked out of Evolution the night after winning the World Heavyweight Championship, which the group's leader, Triple H, believed belonged to him. Orton became a face, and Triple H began feuding with him over the title. Just under a month later on September 12, Orton lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Triple H at Unforgiven 2004. His short reign as World Heavyweight Champion was largely regarded as a dismal failure, in part due 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 as Chris Benoit had clearly been a popular World Heavyweight Champion. Backstage politics by Triple H were also rumoured to have played a part in his short run as champion.

Orton vs Evolution

After being kicked out of Evolution the night after winning the World Heavyweight title, Orton began a lengthy feud with Triple H over the title. Towards the end of October, Orton was in a match where if he lost, he would not be allowed a shot at the title as long as Triple H was the champion, so when Orton was one of the one-night-only General Managers of RAW, he tried to make sure Triple H lost the title, by putting the belt on the line in a Battle Royal.

Orton, along with Maven, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, emerged victorious at Survivor Series 2004 in a match which entitled the winners to each be General Manager for one of the four weeks following the event. On the November 29, 2004, episode of RAW, Orton booked a Battle Royal for the World Heavyweight Championship. However, Vince McMahon overruled Orton, changing the Battle Royal to a number one contender match. Orton also gave Eugene and William Regal a match for the WWE World Tag-Team Championships against La Résistance, and scheduled a lingerie contest between several RAW Divas.

After the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated, Orton was chosen to face Triple H, Chris Benoit, Edge, Batista and Chris Jericho in an Elimination Chamber match at 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 back the World Heavyweight Championship from Triple H at the 2005 Royal Rumble.

Return of The Legend Killer

After Batista's push began, Orton was marginalized. He began an onscreen relationship with Stacy Keibler and briefly feuded with Christian. After "Superstar" Billy Graham advised Orton to "go where no wrestler has gone before", Orton challenged veteran SmackDown! wrestler The Undertaker to a match at WrestleMania 21, making the ambitious claim that he would defeat The Undertaker, thus ending Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak.

This feud saw Orton hitting the R.K.O. on Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who had warned him not to "bite off more than he could chew" by facing The Undertaker. Just two weeks before WrestleMania, Orton cemented his heel status by knocking Stacy out cold with the R.K.O. He went on to slap The Undertaker and assault him following a distraction by his father, Cowboy Bob Orton. Despite interference from his father, Orton was defeated by The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21 after he attempted a Tombstone Piledriver, but was off-balance, enabling The Undertaker to reverse the move into his own Tombstone Piledriver for the pinfall victory.

In storyline terms, a match with Batista the night after WrestleMania aggravated Orton's shoulder problems stemming from the previous night (in real life he was sidelined for several months while recuperating from his third genuine shoulder injury). The following week, WWE showed footage of Orton undergoing shoulder surgery in a hospital, where he sent Batista a message. Stacy Keibler, watching along with some other RAW divas, stated "Orton got what he deserved." He made an appearance on RAW on May 16 to talk about he was going to stay on RAW to get revenge on Batista and take his world title during the draft lottery and got in a confrontation with Vince McMahon. While Orton claimed that he could not be drafted to SmackDown! because he's on the injured list, Vince McMahon cleared the air for Orton by saying "Even those on the injured list are not immune to the draft."

Orton returned on the June 16, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, attacking The Undertaker and announcing that he had been drafted back to SmackDown! as the second pick in the 2005 draft lottery. On August 4, he challenged The Undertaker to a WrestleMania rematch at SummerSlam, and his challenge was accepted. Orton won his first two matches following his injury, defeating Kamala (with Kim Chee) and Chris Benoit in consecutive weeks, and went on to defeat The Undertaker at SummerSlam following interference from his father. As a result of his wins, Orton became increasingly self-confident, and announced that he was creating a retirement fund for The Undertaker, who was "dead and buried." However, The Undertaker returned on the first episode of Friday Night SmackDown!, setting the check alight with a mysterious bolt of lightning.

On the September 15 episode of SmackDown!, Orton and The Undertaker fought for a third time. Before the match, Orton and his father attempted to shock The Undertaker by placing a casket in the ring with an effigy of The Undertaker inside. Despite the psychological attack, Orton lost the subsequent match. The following week, the Ortons brought another casket to the ring, containing what was purportedly the Undertaker mannequin from last week. However, while the Ortons cut a promo on the mannequin and claimed to have defeated The Undertaker mentally, if not physically, the mannequin (revealing itself to be The Undertaker in the flesh) caught Orton by the throat and threw him into the coffin. As a result of the events of previous weeks, the Ortons were scheduled to face The Undertaker in a handicap casket match at No Mercy on October 9.

On October 3 edition of WWE Homecoming, Randy and his father appeared and interrupted "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Mick Foley during Piper's Pit, this caused a confrontation between Randy and Piper who brawled causing Foley and Bob to intervene between the two which ended with Bob fighting Foley. The segment ended with Randy giving the R.K.O. to Piper and inevitably adding "Rowdy" Roddy Piper to the list of legends killed. This later set up a match between Piper and Randy for October 7 edition of SmackDown!, 2 days before the Ortons faced The Undertaker at No Mercy.

Before meeting The Undertaker however, The Ortons would deal with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper when Piper showed up on SmackDown!, and was clearly unhappy with getting RKO'ed by Randy. The two Ortons challenged Piper to a handicap match in which Piper won due to Undertaker's distraction. While The Undertaker was on the titan tron, four mysterious and dark dressed men approached the ring with a casket in which The Undertaker urged them to take a look inside. When the Ortons did, they were shocked to find two lifelike dummies of themselves resting in peace inside the casket.

At No Mercy, Randy and his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton managed to beat The Undertaker in their first ever casket match, thanks to Bob Orton blinding Undertaker with a fire extinguisher followed by a chair shot from Randy Orton. In an attempt to prove that he is a bonafide Legend Killer, Randy Orton attacked the casket with an axe before setting it alight while believing that The Undertaker was still inside the casket. However, when the flames died down and the casket was opened, Randy and Bob were shocked to find The Undertaker wasn't there.

On the October 14 edition of SmackDown!, Orton fought Eddie Guerrero to determine the Number One Contender to Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship. As Guerrero climbed up to the top rope for his finisher Frog Splash, Bob Orton pushed Guerrero off the turnbuckles and into the ring. As a result of this, Guerrero was declared the winner via DQ.

Orton was scheduled for a Triple Threat match against Eddie Guerrero and Batista on the November 18 edition of Friday Night Smackdown, where the World Heavyweight Championship would be up for grabs. It was predicted that Batista would drop the title to Guerrero because of having to take time away from the ring for injuries. However, after the unexpected passing away of Guerrero, it was unknown what would happen concering the Championship.

The expected Buried alive match between Orton and The Undertaker was called off allowing Orton to take Eddie's place to join Team SmackDown to face Team Raw at Survivor Series.

On the November 25 edition of Smackdown! it was announced that Orton would face Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship in a No Holds Barred match. With Batista's future as Champion still unclear because of an injury, it was rumoured Orton may have won the title. The match though ended as a no contest as the Raw roster invaded Smackdown within minutes of the match starting.

At Survivor Series, Orton was once again the sole survivor for the 3rd year in a row as Team Smackdown! defeated Team RAW in a classic Survivor Series match. His victory was however short lived as a returning Undertaker came down and made Orton run out of the ring.

On a special live edition of Smackdown on November 29, Orton gave The Undertaker an RKO, hit him with a crowbar and draped him over the trunk of one of Eddie Guerrero's lowriders that Rey Mysterio had driven to the ring in honour of Eddie. Orton then started the car and reversed it into the Smackdown set, causing the car and, supposedly, The Undertaker, to catch fire. This angle has already attracted a large number of complaints from fans saying that this was a slap to the face of Eddie Guerrero's legacy just two weeks after his death.

On the December 2 edition of Smackdown, The Undertaker started playing his usual tricks on Orton, including a casket and striking lightning near Orton whenever he tried to escape from the ring. Then Undertaker proclaimed that "he was going to take Randy with him to hell...Hell in a Cell!". At WWE Armageddon Orton and Undertaker will wrestle in Hell in a Cell

Finishing and signature moves

• R.K.O. (Jumping cutter)
• O-Zone (Overdrive)
• Top-rope flying crossbody
• Elevated DDT
• European uppercut
• Rotated inverted-facelock into a back stretch
• Rear chin lock with forearm shots to the chest and neck
• Wheelbarrow german suplex (Done in OVW)
• Falling clothesline
• Dropkick
• Jumping Knee drop

"Legend Killings"

Orton's "Legend Killer" gimmick has led to him defeating, assaulting, humiliating or otherwise denigrating the following "Legends":

• The Fabulous Moolah - 9/15/03
• Shawn Michaels - 9/21/03
• Mark Cuban - 11/16/03
• Stone Cold Steve Austin - 11/16/03
• Sgt. Slaughter - 11/24/03
• Rob Van Dam - 12/14/03
• Booker T - 12/29/03
• Jerry "The King" Lawler - 1/5/04
• Mick Foley - 3/14/04
• Cactus Jack(Mick Foley again) - 4/18/04
• "King" Harley Race - 4/26/04
• Chris Benoit - 8/15/04
• Ric Flair - 10/19/04
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts - 3/14/05
• Eric Bischoff - 3/07/05
• Kamala - 8/11/05
• The Undertaker - 8/21/05
• "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - 10/03/05

Personal life

Before becoming a wrestler, Orton enlisted with the United States Marine Corps out of high school. Orton was dishonourably 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.

While on RAW, Orton was accused of harassing fellow WWE employees Amy Weber and Rochelle Loewen, leading to the departure of Weber from the company, while Loewen was transferred to SmackDown! (she was later released). Loewen claimed that he vandalized her possessions and directed racist remarks towards her, calling him "an animal." It should however be noted that Orton's friend Mark Jindrak refuted several of Loewen's accusations in an interview with Voice of Wrestling, and claimed that Orton had apologized to Loewen at the time of the 2005 Royal Rumble, and that fellow Diva Search contestant (and eventual winner) Christy Hemme denied what she knew of the allegations in an interview with The Sun ^[1].

In late 2004 and early 2005, it was rumoured that Orton was in a relationship with Stacy Keibler after appearing on RAW together, but neither Orton nor Keibler ever confirmed the relationship.

In November 2005, Orton announced his engagement to a woman named Samantha.

Trivia

• Though Orton is the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in the history of WWE, he is only the fourth youngest person to hold the title belt itself. Lou Thesz won the title at the age of 21 when it was known as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, The Giant won the belt when it was known as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the age of 23, and Kerry Von Erich won the belt at the age of 24 years and three months in May 1984 when it was known as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• 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, trained by such wrestlers there as Ron Powers, Gary Jackson, Mark Bland, Jeremy Lightfoot, Phil E. Blunt and promoter Tony Costa as well as father, Cowboy Bob Orton. This is a organization that was a off-shoot of the old Wrestling at the Chase headed by Sam Munchnick between 1950-1983.
• His entrance music (called Burn in My Light) is performed by Mercy Drive. He began using it a week after spitting in the face of Triple H and refusing to surrender the World Heavyweight Championship.
• Orton's finishing move (the "R.K.O.") is a reference to the initials of his full name (Randall Keith Orton).
• Randy Orton has competed in three elimination tag team matches in Survivor series in which he became the winner of each elimination match. Two out of his three match's he's defeated Shawn Michaels to help his team win. In each match he was the "sole survivor".

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 1-time World Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time WWE Intercontinental Champion

• Ohio Valley Wrestling

• 2-time OVW Hardcore Champion

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI Rookie of the Year Award (2001)
• PWI Most Improved Award (2004)
• PWI Top 500 ranked number 29 (200

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