Original subtitles

[crowd chanting "RKO"]

- Boy, you're talking about the blue chip.

He was bred to be a WWE Superstar.

- Could've never been any further from the truth.

Never thought I'd be a wrestler.

- Randy Orton, a third-generation Superstar.

- We knew he had the genealogy,

he'd grown up and around wrestling.

He's a natural.

- The man has every gift that a man can be given.

- He's effortless.

Everything he does, he makes it look easy.

- The youngest World Champion in history.

- You're now the face of the company.

You know, go out there and represent us.

Randy wasn't ready for that.

- You get all that fame and fortune, when you're that

young, you're gonna make some mistakes.

And he did.

- Smile, you little punk.

- There's a lot that can blow your head up

if you're not careful.

- I'm the new big man in town.

- Oh ok.

- Yeah, go tell your friends.

- Okay.

- Seriously go.

Seriously go.

- Randy has a short fuse.

He would unload on people.

- Stupid.

Stupid.

- Everyone likes to party, and kinda have a good time,

and then he'd take it one step too far.

- His demons were taking over.

It wasn't good.

- I was addicted to painkillers

at a very early age.

- The thing that I learned over time with him is that

he's a self-destructer.

You have every gift imaginable to be the biggest

star this business has ever seen, and the only one that

can stop you is you, and you are hell-bent on doing it

and I don't know why.

- Everybody has to travel that road at their own course.

- I didn't know what it was gonna take to get me to

where I needed to be up here.

- He' d figured it out, he just had to do it

his own way.

- Randy Orton has been a top star for 20 years.

- The path we take to avoid our destiny is often the one

that leads us directly to it.

[laughter]

- All right, what's this?

What's this?

Holy [bleep] a letterman's jacket with absolutely

nothing on it?

- Where's that from?

- From when I was in high school.

- Oh, is it?

- Yeah.

- I thought this was all wrestling.

- Well, thi-thi-this is from high school.

- 189 pounds.

- 98, yeah 189.

Does it say it on there?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Conference champs, state qualifier.

- Is this your father's?

- Well, show it to the camera.

- WrestleMania 2 shirt.

- Oh, Wrestlemania 2.

- Why do you have this?

Did he bring it for you?

Well, your father was in the first one, right?

- Wow.

- First and third.

- Okay.

- But I have that 'cause of my dad, yeah

- Yeah.

- Gosh, I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee,

and I moved all over the country with my father,

who was wrestling in the Indies.

It was before I can remember, of course, but my

father traveled with the wrestling territories.

He was wrestling all over the country.

- I basically worked the East Coast.

I-I started in Florida and went to Georgia and then

back to Florida, then I went to Carolinas for a while,

and then I went to Tennessee for a while.

- We'd be six to eight months, sometimes a year in

one spot, then we'd move somewhere else.

We lived in Connecticut, Kentucky.

Florida, couple other spots.

But we ended up settling in St. Louis, Missouri, smack

dab in the center of the country, easier to travel.

My dad could get home on pretty much any flight when

he was traveling for WWE and Vince McMahon

and Vince McMahon's father.

- "Cowboy" Bob Orton.

- Great technician.

Bobby was a hell of a worker.

Nothing he did didn't look good.

- Most people remember him from back then, having

the-the broken arm that never seemed to heal.

- How's the injury coming along?

- Not too good, Vince.

It just won't get well.

- He used the cast.

That's a weapon.

You cannot use it as a weapon.

- I knew him as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper's bodyguard.

- This is my bodyguard Ace.

I love my bodyguard.

- We're great together, aren't we?

- Oh, I do.

- I like being together with you.

- So, my dad was in the very first WrestleMania.

- The wrestling extravaganza of all time, WrestleMania.

- WrestleMania 1 was-was a big deal.

Boy, some of the best wrestler that ever come around

was in that match.

- The most phenomenal wrestling card

ever put together.

- I wrestled his father, Bob Orton Jr. several times, and

I grew up watching his grandfather, the Big O.

- The Big O, Big Bob Orton.

- My grandfather, Bob Orton Sr. Big O as they called him

back then, he wrestled in the '50s and '60s.

- Beautiful move by Bob Orton.

- Just having a legacy in the business and having

a-a-a father and a grandfather in the business,

I think at first, that was the legacy that it was a

family thing, but the business back then was

pretty hectic.

When I was quite young,

my father was on the road nonstop.

He was gone.

He was gone for months at a time.

- The family, uh, didn't travel with me anymore.

They just stayed home, and I did the traveling

course back then.

You flew in and flew out all the time.

So I probably got to see him.

Gosh, you know, this is gonna sound horrible, but,

uh, maybe 10, 12 days a year.

- There's Randy.

So big.

- I think not having my dad around in those early years

definitely was something that, uh,

kind of sucked as a kid.

All my friends, you know, they'd have the ball of

glove and they'd be having a catch with the baseball in

the backyard with their fathers.

And my dad, he'd be off in Japan for a month or two,

you know, so if there's one thing that-that I'm sure

that he regrets, it's not being able to be the father

that he wanted to be.

- This business takes them away from day-to-day life.

So you miss out on a lot.

When he was home, he was there and he played the role

of dad quite well.

- Let's get a nice big Christmas smile from Randy.

All right?

- But I remember him coming home and I'd give him a big

hug, dad, I miss you.

You know, I can't wait to go with you one day.

I was a little too young at that point, but eventually I

was fortunate enough to travel with my Pop now and

again, I didn't take him very often unless we were

pretty close to home.

But yeah, those guys used to watch him when I was in the

ring, so he got to know everybody

when he was pretty young.

- The few times that I did get to go with my father,

you know, I'll never forget being in the locker room,

seeing the bigger than life guys walking around,

you know, these were like my uncles,

my dad's close friends.

I was in awe as a child,

when I did get to go with my dad

- I had no problem, you know,

with them watching over him, I knew I wasn't

gonna be gone too long.

It didn't take me long to win or lose.

They treated me just wonderfully.

I was their-their-their little buddy.

Early on, people would always ask me, kids at

school, teachers would ask me, you gonna be a wrestler

like your dad.

- Bob Orton.

- But never ever was it something that, you know,

I contemplated because just didn't see it in myself.

To be able to do something like that.

I looked at what my father did as something

I could never do.

I just didn't have the confidence.

I was such an insecure kid.

I was a skinny little bean pole, got picked on bullies.

People might think I was like popular in high school,

but not at all.

Socially, I didn't have a lot of friends.

I didn't go to the dances.

I didn't go hang out with the friends and go to the

parties on the weekends.

I played sports.

Didn't excel at one particular sport, but I

really enjoyed amateur wrestling.

And I ended up doing okay there.

- He wrestled all through school.

His last year, I think he just lost one or two matches

the whole year.

- I made a good GPA.

It was like 3.1 something or whatever, but wasn't sure

what I was gonna do with myself.

I wasn't gonna get a scholarship to wrestle,

I wasn't gonna get, um, you know, an academic

scholarship either, didn't really even want

to go to college.

And it was my junior year that I made the decision to

sign up for the delayed entry program with the

United States Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps recruiting officer, his recruitment

office was right next to a grocery store called Shop

and Save, and he'd give 17 and 18-year-olds liquor

and-and beer, and in turn, we pretty much

signed our lives away.

"You sign this paper when you go to the Marine Corps,

you're gonna get paid, man.

You'll be able to buy that fancy car

you always wanted."

Drug, sex, and rock and roll is what he was selling us.

You join the Marine Corps and you're gonna have girls

throwing themselves at you.

You're gonna wear the uniform.

"Girls love a guy in uniform."

He did his best to be our best friend, and that was

part of the reason why I signed up.

I thought,

"Hey, maybe the military is the place for me."

And, um, I was not correct in that assessment.

When I graduated high school, I think it was two

weeks to the day that I got on a plane and I flew to,

uh, San Diego, California to the, um, Marine Corps

Recruit Depot, MCRD, California.

Marine Corps boot camps like one of the hardest, more

grueling boot camps and I ate it up.

I loved it out there, I loved it.

I was excited to go out there and be a part of

something bigger than myself.

To be a part of a team, so to speak now, and be in the

Marine Corps, which was hard, it was grueling,

mentally and physically, but I excelled and I graduated

boot camp with a meritorious promotion and went from

private to private first class.

Boot camp turned me into a man.

But I went to the fleet.

That's where, you know, you find these relationships

with these men who are gonna have your back and this is

where the [bleep] goes down.

But instead, it's almost like boot camp part two,

only worse.

I witnessed a couple other guys get hazed.

You know, guys being stripped down to their

underwear holding a- pushup position and being cattle

prodded with a lamp that had a light bulb that was

plugged in and hot, you know, which couldn't break

the pushup position and [bleep] like that, the kind of thing

where it-it-it had happened to me, like I'd-I'd have

PTSD from it.

They had this one kid, they tied him up in telephone

cord, wrapped him up in a sleeping bag,

and he had a panic attack.

What the-they didn't know was he had just called his

mother or something and when-when they came into his

room and did this to him, and she was still on the

phone and the phone was off the hook.

So she heard all this, you know, guys were sitting on

him and he's screaming and I quickly realized like,

oh man, I don't want to be a part of this.

I've had to deal with bullies my whole life like,

why did I sign up to deal with them?

Like, this is stupid.

I even tried going to the Chaplain and telling him

about what I had seen and how I wanted to go home, but

that wasn't happening.

All I kept hearing was, you signed a contract with the

United States government, you're here to stay, we got

you for four years, you're ours, you know,

you ass is ours.

So I was like, okay, what are my options?

And I got on a Greyhound bus and I took a two day trip

from Oceanside, California to St. Louis, Missouri and

my mom picked me up, brought me home, and I stayed home

for like two and a half months.

So I went to AWOL.

Check this out, it's not all wrestling.

Oh [Bleep]

- Aw.

- Yeah.

That's from, uh, 1998 and 1999.

- Dad was in the Marines.

- Look-look, I-I-I'm a-I'm a soldier.

- Yeah.

Is that cool?

- Actually, I can't claim that [bleep].

I went AWOL, essentially and, um, it wasn't what you

think, I wasn't on the run, there wasn't people after

me, they didn't send the cops banging on my door,

they knew where I was, and I just kind of waited it out,

nothing ever happened, so I went back to California,

turned myself in and said, all right, I-I want out.

And now I've-I've shown you that I'm serious,

I want out and they were like, yeah [bleep] you go to the field

pick up your rifle, you're going back to training.

You signed a contract with the United States

government, you ain't going anywhere.

So now what am I gonna do?

And so instead of grabbing my rifle and go back to

training, I just said, nope, I'm not going anywhere and,

uh, that was a rough day.

I disobeyed direct order and the-there's serious

consequences when you disobey a direct order.

So they kind of got me on that, and they sentenced me

to 110 days in the brig.

It was like, "Oh my God, this is real life [bleep].

I'm an adult now.

There's consequences for my actions."

And I think I did 38 days because I was good.

You know, 38 days, what's that?

You know, well, for a 18-year-old kid,

that's an eternity.

That first night was rough.

It was a little scary, and, you know, I definitely

didn't make a lot of friends in there, but just counting

the days, counting the days.

So, I finally, I-I get out of the brig.

The battalion commander calls me into his office the

next day and he's like, "Here's your discharge

papers, good luck and whatever you end up doing."

And when he said that to me, I was like,

"What am I gonna end up doing?"

Once I finally made it back home my parents

weren't too happy.

- Wasn't doing much or anything.

I think he worked up at the corner gas station there

for a little while.

- I'm paid under the table $5 an hour.

Right now here I am like working at a gas station

midnights, so I'm like a vampire up all night

sleeping like pretty much all day.

I remember going to sleep and just looking at the

ceiling of the basement and just wondering, like,

"What am I gonna do with my life?

What am I going to become?"

I didn't know what I was gonna do, and I knew I

didn't wanna work in a gas station, you know.

I was meant for something more.

I start watching wrestling again.

I thought, because my father was a professional wrestler,

maybe there's this chance that he could get

my foot in the door.

Was it because I was this aspiring professional

wrestler and, you know, had grown up with the wanting

to do this my whole life?

No, it wasn't.

It was because I didn't know what the hell I was gonna do.

I went to my father and I said, "Dad, what's up with

this pro wrestling thing?

You think I could maybe be a part of it?

Do you have any old numbers?"

That's when my dad made the call.

- So I got a phone call from Randy's dad, Bob Orton.

And Bob is-is like, "I have a kid, you know, and he's a

pain in the ass,

but he really wants to be in the business."

I was intrigued and I said, you know,

"Bob, let me discuss it."

And went into Vince and said, "Vince, there's a

third generation of Orton out there

[chuckles]

that would like to come in."

And he's like, "You do what you think."

and said, "Yes, we'll-we'll take a look at him, Bob."

- I took him to the show here in St. Louis.

They met him and everything.

- I believe it was in October of 1999.

I remember walking backstage for the first time since

I was a little kid, and I remember Edge came up

to my father and he told my dad like, "Oh, man."

You know I'm-- I was a huge fan, I am a huge fan, you

know, and hearing Edge- say that to my dad was like so

cool on so many levels and we still talk about that.

Like every once in a while, it would come up.

And you were like up his in a good sense.

[laughs]

- Like I was-- I-I was like, "Oh, my God."

Like my dad.

- My dad.

- These guys could talk to my dad.

[laughs]

- I went up to meet Bob and tell him that I was a fan.

And he said, "Whoa, meet my son."

With that gravelly voice that he has.

And he says, "This is my son, Randy."

I'm like, "Okay."

Big kid, good-looking kid.

Good to meet you, man.

And just had that intuition that this was going to be more.

- I'll never forget him wishing me luck and saying

that, you know, one day, you know, he hopes to be

in the ring with me.

- I said, good luck, I think.

You know, and-and, uh, I have a feeling

we'll be seeing you soon.

- Got a call a call from Bruce Pritchard himself and

he said, "Okay, we're gonna start paying you

$250 a week.

That 250 a week was so that I could demonstrate the

capacity to save some money and then move down to

Louisville, Kentucky with the money I had saved, get

an apartment, and begin training with OVW.

I think it was May or June of 2000, I finally drive

down there with everything I own in the back trunk and I

show up at this big warehouse.

I don't know if I've got the right place.

It's just like old- like World War II ammunitions

factory and it's just broken down, just a one huge

grizzled, falling-apart building.

I'm like, "Okay, lemme get outta the car."

I'll give it a knock-knock on it.

The one door I see that's on hinges.

And who opens a door, but a 335-pound Dave Bautista.

- Randy shows up all confused not knowing

where to go.

[laughs]

I think he might've been like 20 years old

and he was a little chubby.

I didn't know what to make of him.

- Dave is obviously a larger-than-life guy and me

at 19, compared to a 30-year-old Dave Bautista,

at 19, compared to a 30-year-old Dave Bautista,

you know, not much of a comparison and I immediately

knew I was in the right spot.

And I also immediately was wondering what the [bleep]

am I doing here?

When I first got down to Louisville to report to OVW,

I realized I was down there with some

really crazy athletes.

Of course, John Cena, Dave Bautista, Shelton Benjamin,

Brock Lesner.

We were around a bunch of great talent and I didn't

really know what I was doing.

I was 19, a little soft doughy.

I thought I'd got in over my head.

- We knew he had the genealogy.

He'd grown up around wrestling,

but he was 19 years old.

He didn't look that great physically.

So Randy had to get with the program a while.

- Come on Randy.

- I didn't really feel like I had much to offer other

than the fact that my dad, and grandfather,

and uncle wrestle.

You know, the name recognition is huge,

but then you gotta be able to back that up.

- Randy Orton, a third-generation superstar.

His father was Cowboy Bob Orton Jr., his grandfather,

the legendary Bob Orton Sr.

- My first recollection of meeting Randy was as a

person at practice at Ohio Valley Wrestling.

I thought he was a [bleep]

Who didn't enjoy or like the

dedication to the business of Sports Entertainment.

Really just wanted to collect his pay

and get out the door.

- He didn't have the best attitude.

We caught him one time on tape in OVW.

He got overheard by the announcer's microphones.

"I just-- I hate wrestling.

I'm just here to get my 750 a week."

- Needless to say, I was not liked very much at first,

but uh, I knew I had to earn that respect.

All the drills, I made sure I was there for them.

I went from not being able to throw a dropkick to

throwing the best dropkick down there.

- Randy Orton man who's come on over the last few

weeks, even quicker than we ever thought they might.

- I remember asking WWE headquarters to send me

tapes of Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Pat Patterson.

Then you go watch these greats of their era doing

what they do and you're able to pick up little things.

The next year, year and a half was a crash course in

Pro Wrestling 101.

- Randy Orton-

barely 20 years old.

He will be a force in this industry.

- Yeah, he picked up on things real quick.

He's got the look, he's got the ability, so I wouldn't

be worried about him making his way.

- I finally got to this point where

I had this confidence.

And with that confidence came this like kind of

arrogance and this cocky nature.

I'm no punk kid.

As a matter of fact, I'm the future of OVW.

- Randy was one of those guys.

I think he knew he was awesome.

He just oozed confidence and he didn't give a [bleep]

- It's insane when you think about the class of superstars

that were in OVW at that time.

Randy Orton, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Dave Bautista,

all desperate to get their chance.

And it really speaks to Randy's natural gifts that,

he was among the first to get the opportunity.

- I received a call a couple of days ago from the

Vice President of Talent Relations of the World

Wrestling --, Jim Ross, who informed me that

effective immediately, Randy Orton will be starting a

full-time schedule on the road with the World

Wrestling --.

- Getting called up to the main roster was everything.

You know, I'll never forget that call.

So now I'm on the road full-time with the WWE, and

we're doing these house shows, we're doing dark

matches before Raw, and before SmackDown.

And a dark match for those of you who don't know, it's

just a- it's a dark match because it's not on TV.

It's just for the house.

And doing dark matches is where I think I developed

the skills I needed for me to eventually get the big

call from Jim Ross to Main Roster Town.

Here. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

That's pretty funny.

I debuted in these on SmackDown in April of 2000

and-- Well, he-he-he just shook his head, like.

- Gen 2.

- I don't know.

- I thought you were gonna say like the month.

- You're like a walking encyclopedia.

Don't front.

Yeah.

- Gen 2.

- Oh, you think?

Yeah.

You know.

April of 2002, I was told that I was gonna actually

debut finally on SmackDown.

- You're a - You're Randy Orton.

- Yes, sir.

- He's getting a tryout match tonight.

- I was ecstatic, but it was also- it was frightening.

- I heard about Randy Orton.

His father was a great, great wrestler, no doubt.

His grandfather too.

- Randy was this green but talented kid coming up.

You didn't get that impression just looking at

him right away.

But then you saw him work and you knew like, okay,

yeah, I understand what everyone's talking about.

- Oh, there's a drop kick for you.

Look out, crossbody.

May have it, a hook of the leg.

- Cradle, he's got him.

- What an upset.

[laughs]

- This is a blue chipper.

This is someone that is gonna be a huge star.

- Shortly after my debut, I went from

SmackDown to Raw.

This was gonna be where I began my momentum to become

whatever it is I was going to become.

I'm wrestling Christian, and I go to throw a dropkick.

And as I throw my hands in the air, I dislocated my

right arm and tore my labrum and my shoulder.

The adrenaline rush was so high that the pain was

secondary and I had to complete this match.

I just kept going, I pushed through the pain.

I was thinking in my head like it's over.

I'm just getting started, I'm having a big injury this

early in my career.

Like, I'm done.

- Here is your winner, Randy Orton.

- In 2002, I had my first serious injury.

I tore my labrum, and I ended up needing an open

Bankart repair on my right shoulder.

They had to cut straight through all the way to the

bone and fix everything.

It was horrible.

All this hard work, all this potential, and it's gone.

But the company was high on me.

- He was so new, and we had just started with Randy

and-and felt that Randy could be on a roll.

We didn't want to have to reintroduce

Randy to the audience.

Let's continue to tell the Randy Orton story, and

develop his personality throughout.

- So then I came out, my arm in a sling to inform the

world that I was gonna be okay.

Now, the doctors tell me that a normal person with

this injury, they'd be out nine to twelve months.

But the fact of the matter is, with my drive, with my

athleticism, with my commitment to all these

people, I will be back in a mere three to four months.

- And the crowd doesn't give two [bleep]

[crowd singing]

- And I promise--

Thank you. Thank you.

Please, thank you.

I wasn't smart enough to the business in that moment to

realize that this was [bleep] great.

- Randy would give us weekly updates on how

he was progressing.

- Hi, Randy Orton here, with another special

injury update.

I have great news to announce.

My shoulder now has 32% mobility.

That's up 2% from last week.

- And he gets a little more irritating, a little more

annoying each and every week.

- My shoulder sling has been chafing me, leaving a

portion of my skin irritated and susceptible

to infection.

- Randy is one of the greatest [bleep] ever to walk

the face of the earth.

And I mean that as a compliment.

He really is.

He had this natural cocky arrogance about him, that

when he did that, then gave the little smile at the end,

if you're sitting at home, you're going, "What a [bleep]."

[chuckles]

You know.

- It was great [bleep] and it's very funny to me that I

didn't realize how great it was when it was happening.

It was cringe, it was corny, it was some of the best [bleep]

I've ever done.

I had a recent injury. It's devastating.

Keep me in your prayers. Okay?

- And then not too long after that, it was brought

to my attention that Triple H had decided along with Ric

Flair, that they were gonna start this group and they

were looking for some young talent.

- You are constantly looking at the things that are

around you in moments in time, and we're getting to a

place where a lot of our top guys were going away, and we

were starting at a little bit of a new generation.

It started to really resonate, you know, of well,

if we took a couple of young guys, you know, maybe I

could put them with me and Ric Flair and put us all

together as a group, made a faction.

I can kind of anchor it.

He's kind of the mentor and the guider, and I wanted

there to be a guy that was sort of,

a Gazier apparent.

Ric and I were pretty much of the same mindset of Randy

Orton, of being a guy just with every single tool that

you could possibly have.

- You know, I-I think Randy,

I've always likened to The Rock.

He was just a natural.

The only question was, how long is it going to take

before he just takes over from everybody?

- It was insane to think that I was gonna go from

where I was, to potentially being in a group with the

best that had ever done it.

Only we need one more guy.

We need some muscle.

Who's it gonna be?

Of course, it was Dave Bautista.

- Hey, hey, hey.

What's up man?

- What's up guys.

- Randy and I are very giddy about the idea of us being

paired with him.

This would set us up with two of the greatest

wrestlers that have ever lived.

- Yes. Yes, we have arrived.

I don't know what they saw in me, but I guess they saw

something and I'm so glad they did, because if it

wasn't for Evolution, if it wasn't for Triple H,

and if it wasn't for Ric Flair, you know, I wouldn't be sitting

here right now.

To be able to pick their brains and make myself

better, to be able to just be in the car and

hear them talk.

That was such an experience for me.

- He reminded me of myself.

He was just a young kid.

I said, "Randy, I don't know if I can pull this off, but

I'm gonna live vicariously through you."

- I remember doing these Evolution shoots and they

were a lot of fun.

- Hold it.

- The helicopter, the food, the models,

like it was the coolest.

Ric Flair pulling out his wallet and tipped the

waitress $100.

You know, he tipped the bartender $100.

He tipped everybody $100 bill.

And I remember thinking like, that's cool.

You know?

That's where I wanna be.

- Where are we going Ric?

- Downtown, baby.

- You're now in a group, a faction with the Nature Boy,

Ric Flair.

- We are the best of the best, woo.

- When Evolution gets done working,

they're out partying.

[cheering]

- And Randy Orton is learning firsthand how you

style and profile from the Nature Boy himself.

- But he was young and impressionable, and you

could also see that if he went down the wrong path he

could get screwed up very easily.

- And even though I was young, dumb, and didn't

really know everything I needed to know to thrive in

the business at this point, I think my natural talent

kind of thrust me into the spotlight.

- I love you Randy.

- Because I was in Evolution, it was imperative

that we create somewhat of a character for me, right?

You needed to somehow give me a nickname and a- and a

reason, uh, for being around.

I needed more, I needed some substance.

Randy Orton, Legend Killer.

- What?

Oh.

- Oh, my God.

I don't believe he just did that.

- The Legend Killer character, that came out of

Randy's, like, just natural persona and his natural

arrogance dare I say.

The character can [bleep] all over legends and great, you

know, Hall of Famers in the past.

- And another legend bites the dust.

- Becoming the Legend Killer just helped elevate the

stock of Randy Orton.

- All these guys that I killed the legend of, they

respected my father.

- I know your father real well.

I have a lot of respect for him.

- Guys like Harley Race, I had enough mutual respect in

the relationship that Harley would come in and allow

Cowboy Bob's son to spit right in his face.

- Oh, God.

Randy Orton just spit in the face of Harley Race.

- The Legend Killer gimmick just took off and I would

say that with Mick Foley is where all that culminated

into propelling me to the next level.

- Well, I think I had a big part to do with

the Legend Killer.

It was the loogie, the magic loogie.

He spit in my face and then he kicked me down that

flight of stairs.

I thought I could help Randy take a really important step

up that ladder.

I had a meeting with Mr. McMahon and I said,

"I've got an idea for Randy Orton."

One of the things I remember most about the Backlash

match was meeting up with Randy the night before and

just seeing how wide his eyes were like he realized

this was a huge moment.

It was a huge moment for both of us.

- I was kind of the pretty boy.

I was young and I needed to add some validity

to the character.

I needed the fans to see me get my hands dirty.

Add the fact that this was back in an era where

there's gonna be blood.

There was a lot of blood.

- That was the key to make fans feel like this despised

guy was finally overmatched because the matcher played

to all my strengths and shied away from what we

thought were his strengths.

And then we find out during the course of that match

that he's got the strength of character.

- We are witnessing a human demolition derby.

- Can you believe the endurance of this

Randy Orton?

- The match itself was just crazy.

And then out comes the burlap sack full the 10,000

thumbtacks.

I remember sprinkling those thumbtacks on the ground and

just hearing that crowd I knew that this was gonna be

special and I knew it was gonna [bleep] hurt.

- I don't think anybody thinks when Randy gets ready

for the RKO that he is ending up in those glorious

majestic sharp thumbtacks.

And yet he did and it was beautiful.

- How much pain can this kid be in right now?

- So many of them sticking to my back.

But I remember sitting up and, um, just to get out of

them and like they're just pushing into my ass.

I'm like a pin cushion.

I'm a [bleep] pin cushion.

And I get up out of these things but still sticking in me.

And then he rolls me back to my back and I'm like, aah.

So like that was even worse than landing in them

in the first place.

- He is put to the test in a way that changes people's

opinions about him instantly.

He was a new guy with a whole new perception about

what he was capable of.

- That did it,

- It's over.

- The Legend Killer lives.

- That win is what jumpstarted me to where they

go, okay, this kid isn't a kid anymore.

But I didn't have the maturity.

These are pretty cool.

I think these are awesome.

And I solely feel like this might be what puts you

through college.

Like who knows?

- Yeah, well, that was the first big title, right?

- Yeah, this, uh-

- World Heavyweight Championship SummerSlam.

- Yeah, these-these are probably my most, uh,

precious pair of trunks- That I got.

So in 2004 we're going in a SummerSlam and everything

had been going so well for me.

- Well, Randy Orton become the youngest World

Heavyweight Champion in the history of the WWE.

- One of the youngest most charismatic WWE superstars

is gonna ascend to greatness tonight.

And what a surreal moment.

- RKO out of nowhere.

Randy Orton has done it.

The youngest world champion in history.

- This was the culmination of all this hard work.

I knew that my father and my grandfather would be

watching me and would be proud of me.

I believe Stephanie McMahon gave me her cell phone.

She's like, "Call your dad, call your grandpa. Talk to him."

And I'm so glad that she did.

My-my grandpa, he was only around a few years after.

So just hearing his voice and hearing how proud he was

of me, you know, that's a conversation

I'll never forget.

- You know, dad was just, uh, beaming

[laughs]

Come up that fast and, uh, learn so much in such a

short period of time.

So proud.

- Same with my father.

I called him next.

You know, I never heard my old man get choked up like

he's old school to the bone, but he was choked up

on the phone that night.

So it was a special night.

It's hard to describe the feeling, uh, the

responsibility, the amount of awesomeness that comes

with holding that belt.

I had the title, but I didn't have the maturity.

You know, I definitely was not ready.

You know, I'm really just sitting on top of the world.

I'm making a lot of money for someone my age and you

know, I'm living the dream and am a cocky son of a bitch

Yes.

It's a big money in our pockets, baby.

- And it's like all of a sudden, first you have nothing.

Now you have millions of dollars in your bank account.

You have girls throwing themselves at you, you have

people buying this for you, buying that for you,

offering this and that you have access

to whatever you want.

- There's a lot that can blow your head up if you're

not careful.

- That's great Thank you very much.

- Nice to meet you.

Yeah, sure, sure.

Yeah sweetie.

One second, one second.

You don't have to grab me.

Sorry.

- You're now the face of the company.

You know-you know, go out there and represent us.

Randy wasn't ready for that

[laughs]

- Hell no.

No, he was not ready because it kinda went to his head at

first and that's when the so-called self-proclaimed

[bleep] came out.

- I like your haircut.

[foreign language]

- Now-now tell him I'm just kidding.

Ha ha

- He-he became a monster.

- I'm loved extremely actually.

I found that out last night in the hotel lobby.

Because I'm the best [bleep] boy

- I think he was ready to be the world champion in the ring.

I don't think he was ready to be world champion

outside the ring.

- I'm the- I'm the new big man in town.

- Okay.

- Yes, tell your friends.

Seriously, go.

Seriously, go.

- I think sometimes it puts an undue pressure on guys

when they're young.

You need them to be able to act like they're 30 or 35

when they're 24.

- In retrospect, now I think Randy, uh,

he wasn't mature enough.

He just wasn't ready.

He was still-

you know, he was- he was a kid.

- I think even back then, when I was 24 years old I

knew that I wasn't ready.

Not just because of the experience that I hadn't had

yet at that point in my career, but because,

you know, I was a little immature.

I didn't understand what it was to be the face of the WWE

I'm a baby face.

I'm a baby face.

Smile you little punk.

- When I arrived in WWE, um, Randy's reputation

would-would be one that he wasn't approachable.

And that was the reputation that was the perception.

- Looking for attractive people.

Slim pickings.

- You could call it arrogance, cockiness.

Like he knew he was good.

He definitely knew he was good.

- You know, he didn't give a crap.

If he didn't like something he'd let you know.

- My, uh, reaction at first was that, uh,

I didn't want to do it.

But then I got here and I got to, you know, the studio

looked around and still didn't want to do it.

- Being famous and having girls all over the world

scream for you.

- Go, Randy.

- That admiration is addicting.

- You know, you get all that fame and fortune and you're

that young, you're gonna make some mistakes and he did.

- Everyone likes to party and kind of have a good time

and then he take it one step too far.

- You know, it's funny talking about the stories

him throwing oatmeal in the Cracker Barrel and puring

shitake mushrooms on people's heads being 45 minutes late to

the bus every single morning, you know, ripping a urinal

off right in front of me.

- There were times when on a European tour, whatever, all

of a sudden he was gone.

Much like me back in the day there'd be, you know,

security or police in the- in the lobby about something.

- One time in Mexico he was determined on finding dynamite.

There was a hotel that had a big atrium-

And of course, like three in the morning, I'm in bed

and just boom and the entire hotel is shaking, I'm just

like, I know exactly what it is but he got off on, Catch

Me If You Can a little bit.

- Being around the person and his complete lack of

filter, and him saying what he wants, when he wants, him

also doing what he wants when he wants is a little scary.

- The one thing that worried me the most is how Randy was

with the fans during that time, he was very vicious.

The wrong fan approached him

That's all he needed.

- Don't do it please, Randy be cool with them,

be cool with them.

- I let the fame get to my head.

I let the vanity creep in, I let the narcissism creep in

and I think that as a performer, as an

entertainer, there's a certain amount of both

that you need.

The best out there know how to control it but I didn't.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

Look at me.

- Hey, take easy

- Now say it again

Say it again.

I dare you to say it again.

- Shut up, you're being a really big [bleep] this time

so just stop.

- I thought my [bleep] didn't stink, plain and simple

and um it did.

I liked painkillers early on and I attribute that to the

injuries I sustained in the ring and back then, I was

given prescriptions of 120 Percocets maximum strength,

120 Vicodin maximum strength, 120 Somas muscle

relaxers, I was enabled in that sense because I had the

means and the doctors in the back pocket.

I was able to kind of stave off the consumption until

probably 2005 right around WrestleMania 21.

I remember WrestleMania 21 It was Randy Orton versus

The undertaker and this is probably the most important

match in my career up to this point and

I had a packed weekend.

Saturday night, the day before Wrestlemania was

the Hall of Fame.

The Friday prior to the Hall of Fame, I decided to stay out all

night and party with some of the guys.

I was out all night.

I was [bleep] up.

I didn't sleep.

And Saturday morning was rehearsal

for the match on Sunday.

But, cause I was up all night the night before, I

slept in through the alarm and I missed the entire

Undertaker rehearsal.

You know, I had disappointed a lot of men that morning.

- I was pissed.

I was extremely pissed and disrespected.

But then again, I thought, okay, tomorrow you're

gonna be wrestling.

You're gonna be wrestling The Undertaker tomorrow.

Uh, I don't want nerves, any more nerves than you're

already gonna have.

So I basically, I gave him a pass on that.

- Talk about just feeling like a low point, like

lowest of lows.

But it got lower.

It got lower because that night I inducted my father

into the Hall of Fame.

- Here we go in three, two.

- Standing by, of course, with Randy Orton,

the Legend Killer and dressed like this.

You could be the lady killer.

- Yeah.

You know, I was up, you know, a few nights and get

too much sleep and I can't wait to get up there and

tell whoever's in that audience, whoever's in the

amphitheater, how proud I am to be his son and have my

father Cowboy Bob Orton.

This was a son inducting his father, while third

generation, you know, grandfather

was in the audience.

My grandfather was-was in this business.

Where are you at, grandpa?

Where are you at?

Come on now.

There he is.

My grandfather, Bob Orton Sr.

I have no notes, no speech.

I went up there and I winged it.

And it was probably less than 90 seconds-

I'd like to thank the WWE.

Without the WWE none of this could happen.

- I was out of it.

- I started going to the wrestling matches with my

father when I was a very young man.

[indistinct]

Andre the Giant

I go man this is for me

This is what I'm gonna do and by golly-

- Personally, that was probably one of my biggest

fails, was not giving my father his proper due.

You know, his- you know, what he deserved, uh,

that night.

And, um, you know, that's-that's probably

my biggest regret.

Definitely my biggest regret.

The more amount of time that I get away from that

point in my life, the more I realized that those men,

you know my father, especially the Undertaker, they chose not

to make it a thing, they chose to give me a pass.

You would think that after being given a pass that I

would have come to my senses, snapped the [bleep] out

of it and righted my wrongs, but I didn't.

It's almost as if I took it as if I was untouchable.

Fast forward a year later, 2006 still haven't learned

my lesson, I was having a problem

with substance abuse.

I'm sure I was in pain, I had the injuries, my foot,

my shoulder early on.

Yes, I was in pain but I let these things get a hook into

me and I was addicted to painkillers at a very early age.

I was getting hundreds and hundreds of every type of

pill you could imagine and I was taking them because I

thought I needed them.

I was using them to perform, I was using them to go to

sleep, to wake up.

- Randy, he'd keep that to himself, but the

painkillers, he needed them and I think it got to the

point where even after he didn't he felt like he did.

so I think there for a while he was a little bit of trouble.

- These demons were taking over at that time, you know

and it-it wasn't good.

- We get injured and got to work through it, got to get up.

- We're all wired differently and we all deal

with pressures differently.

It all comes out in different ways.

- For Randy, everything came easy, the thing that I

learned over time with him is that he's a self-destructor.

If there was something that could go wrong, Randy would

force it to go wrong.

You have every gift imaginable to be the biggest

star this business has ever seen and the only one that

can stop you is you and you are hell bent on doing it

and I don't know why?

- There are a lot of people that tried to reach out with

them and help him for whatever reason,

you know, it didn't stick.

- I told him how important he was, how good he was.

Why don't you see what you have?

- There were times that Randy needed to get his

head on straight.

Randy's worst opponent in the history of his WWE

career was himself.

- He's legit, he got the shortest of fuses, it's like

seeing a bomb, a human bomb, and at any point could go off.

- He didn't take [bleep] from no one, whether it was the

office or a fan or a guy who was going to be working with.

- Stupid.

Stupid.

- There was a time that Rock came in to work with Randy

and we did this whole thing about

Little Rock and Little Randy.

- The Rock remembers in the locker room, you're all man

called The Rock over, "Hey, Dwayne, I want you to meet

my son, there's Randy Orton."

I remember that I remember looking at you sitting there

picking the nose wiping it on your shirt.

- I remember Randy being a little pissrd in terms of well

that he made, he made me look stupid, that was dumb,

why would I do that?

In hindsight, you'd love to pull Randy aside and have this

conversation of like, "What's the root of the issue here?"

and I don't think Randy had the wherewithal to have that

conversation, I don't think I did either.

- At that point in my career, I'm still having a

problem with substance abuse and there's many, many times

where I probably shouldn't have woken up the following

morning and I don't say that lightly, like I really mean it.

I'm sure that I was just a couple of pills away from

that being my last night you know, back then.

I was at a show in 2006 and I believe it was close

enough away from my house to where

I was able to drive home.

I wanted to make it home, I didn't want to stop, get a

room, I wanted to sleep in my own bed, so I made sure

that I was able to stay up for the drive.

When I got home, I was wide awake and took a couple

pills you know on an empty stomach thinking it would help

me get some sleep and that didn't work, took a couple

more pills, that didn't work.

It just hit me all at once

and I woke up in the emergency room.

I've had an accidental overdose.

I've had an accidental overdose and I kept it from

the company but word got back you know.

Thinking about it, it shouldn't have been I'm glad

it did but word got back to the company.

So a few days later, I get a call, "Hey, were you just in

an emergency room?"

I go, "Yes, this is what happened.

Boom, boom, boom, but I'm okay.

I'm okay. I'm Fine."

Well, Vince didn't think I was.

I remember Vince McMahon pulling me into his office

and telling me that I was suspended for 60 days and I

remember being in such a weird dark place like I beat

the [bleep] out of myself, but he didn't know how to take

it at first, I'm banging my head against the wall,

punching myself- I'm just ashamed.

I'm embarrassed.

I'm at the lowest of lows.

I go to leave, Vince was like, "No, no, no, no, no,

no, sit your ass down, you're not gonna leave this

room like that. Gather yourself."

I remember like sucking back the tears, you know,

and I'm angry, you know.

You know, I've always been an emotional guy where my

part of my sleeve, you know.

I'm not mad at anybody, I'm mad at myself.

I'm mad at myself that I was so [bleep] dumb to jeopardize all

these opportunities that I've been given.

- Randy needs help and he needs to go to rehab and he

needs to straighten his life out if, again, you're, you

keep looking for the future and at Randy's age, you nip

it in the bud and hopefully that future's going to be

long and prosperous.

- I didn't necessarily act out because I was an [bleep],

I acted out because I didn't know who I was yet and that

I had been thrust into the spotlight so early where I

hadn't led enough of life and been schooled on what it

means to be a man yet but it was a reality check.

I knew that I had to listen to my boss and-and get the

help that I needed.

I was very close to being fired.

He sent me to rehab and I was given a 96-hour

assessment as to what my problem was.

And after lying and turning on the charm or whatever,

none of the doctors thought that I had a problem with drugs.

Maybe they weren't good doctors, but they did see

that I had, uh, some anger management issues, that I

had some narcissistic personality issues, that I

had problems with authority, and so I did a three-week

stint which was for anger management.

- So obviously, you know, you hear about it and look

there were, um, yes, there were times that I--

You know, you do what you can to share your stories, people

tried to do it with me as well.

Everybody has to travel that road at their own course.

- Shawn was on that same road.

Shawn was a young guy, had a lot of success, had a lot of

demons, dealt with it in the way that he did.

- But folks were ready.

- When I first met Shawn Michaels,

we kind of butted heads.

- And there was a couple times where he had to,

you know, give me the what for and tell me to stop [bleep] up.

Thank you, thank you.

- Everybody has periods of growth and levels

where they evolve.

Like we used to ride together for a little bit.

I got to know Randy for more than the shell

of what you see.

But underneath is a human being.

- You've got to have those people that you know you can

turn to, you can lean on

whether it's advice, whether it's just a vent,

my-my biggest concern was it "Man, don't just, don't

throw this away, cause you-you can be

one of the best at this."

And uh, there were some years there where I wasn't

sure it was gonna happen.

- I remember a few times where I wouldn't have been

able to get myself to my room.

Edge was there.

And, you know, if he wouldn't have been there,

and I would have been left, you know, passed out in the

lobby, you know, who knows where I would be right now.

It was a struggle.

And at the time I was riding with uh, Santino.

- I'm pretty spiritual in the sense, you know,

I just really grateful for them for being alive.

And-and life and he got one shot.

- One time, I remember driving along the ocean, and

I had gotten my hands on some painkillers, and I had

been clean a few months.

And I remember he made me throw him out the window.

- Umaga, Test, Lance Cade, this is our generation,

these guys all died.

They kind of makes you think, "God, am I-am I

headed in that direction?"

These are your friends dying, you have to, you

know, you gotta make some changes.

- I didn't know what it was gonna take to get me to

where I needed to be up here.

You know, and physically, to be able to not only keep my

job, but to keep my [bleep] life.

And there was my little girl, my uh, daughter from

my first marriage, Alana

who in the summer of 2008 was born.

Just knowing she was on the way gave me the strength to

do what I needed to do because I didn't want to not

remember changing diapers and then her first word and

watching her crawl and eventually walk.

I wanted to be there for all of that.

And if I was on painkillers, I wouldn't have been able to

be there for all of that.

- Well guy now you got uh, a little baby there you gotta

take care of, you gotta watch her grow up, make sure

you don't make any mistakes.

So you gotta straighten up.

- That hits you in a way that I think is the only

thing that gets you to that point to where,

"I've got no excuses."

You know what I mean, "From this point on, I've really

got no excuses.

Everything else it's gonna be a cop-out.

Gonna be cowardly, it's gonna be BS."

And the reality of it hits you in the face.

And thankfully, it changes you for the rest of your

life and you don't ever go back.

- The whole locker room was actually really taken by how

much he just opened up about being a dad.

It's like he found this new love that he's never

experienced before and it was just so pure.

He-he was smitten.

- I wasn't using and I was able to think with a clear

head, and I had been under the tutelage of some of the

greatest performers in our industry, and I realized

that to get ahead, I could kind of be like these method

actors and almost pull from real life experiences, and

that's exactly what I did.

- Randy makes the most out of what he's given, and I

think that a lot of that has been able to play on the

human being, overcoming his demons, and being able to

take some of those journeys that Randy's been on in his

life outside of the ring, bring it into the ring and

adapt it and tell stories.

- I was able to use that real life anger as a kind of

a catalyst to start this new character, this Randy Orton

that just went off the hinge.

- Whatever's going on with him, whatever is being

stirred up.

Why not save it, for when we're on the screen?

- Oh, here we go.

- Yeah, this is where things change for Randy Orton.

- He just poured everything out.

I mean, if that was Randy's formula, I'm getting better.

Well, he nailed it.

- Orton is getting to that place, that gear that only

Randy Orton has.

- Randy Orton seems possessed.

- I think being in the ring, it can easily be a catharsis

for all of us in many ways.

- In a way, that's almost the healthiest thing is to

take your pain, take your emotions, and just unleash

them onto the audience.

- If you accept that part of yourself and you accept that

you're not perfect, that we're all sinners, you start

picking through that [bleep].

There's a lot of things that I can use for motivation.

I'm so grateful that I was able to have the

guidance back then to be able to find that I could

tap into that reality and use that to better myself

in the room.

- History was made tonight we have one champion, one

undisputed face of WWE.

Randy Orton is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

- He had everything going for him man

I mean like he had this incredible life, big

mansion, superstar, but one thing was missing.

- More times than not.

Like each week I can find the time to come do

stuff like this.

There was so many years that I missed birthdays and-and

holidays and things like that, but now here I am, I'm

doing stuff that-that-that other men, other husbands,

other fathers get to do.

And I've always been kind of jealous of enjoying the best

of both worlds.

- My kids would let me know when he was on TV.

They're like, "Mom, he's on, mom."

And I would come running inside and check him out.

I started watching and I was like, "Ooh, wait a minute.

Mommy likes him."

I just thought he was cute.

I liked his tattoos.

And I used to tell everybody for probably like two years

that if I ever met him, we would make out and he would

fall in love with me.

I was convinced.

- When I first met my wife, it was, uh, June 2nd, 2013.

We had a house show in Poughkeepsie, New York.

- We got tickets and we were like eighth row.

- I, of course, had no idea who she was, but when I saw

her I was drawn to her.

- He keeps looking like our way.

So when the match was over, I run to the barricade and

he's walking out and he's going to everybody else but

me, but he's looking at me the whole time.

- I weasel my way towards her, but I gotta

be cool about it, right?

And, uh,

[chuckles]

try to get to know her.

- Finally, he comes to me and he goes,

"What's your name?"

And I'm like, "Kim."

And he's like, "Huh, I gotta get to know all of this Kim."

- She met me later that night.

We went to a diner and just sat there and, you know,

in the wee hours in the morning,

got to know each other.

- I thought like he was the guy that he plays on TV.

So I was pleasantly surprised that he was just a

romantic sweet person.

He like pushes my hair behind my head and he-he

asked me, he's like, "Would you mind if I kissed you?"

And of course, I kissed him.

- And the rest, is history.

- Yeah, it calmed him down and he found love, you know,

true love.

And that's-that's a great thing.

- Everyone would come to me and go,

"Oh my God, thank you.

He's like a different person since he's met you."

- I don't want to discredit Randy, but I'm gonna go

ahead and say, I think Kim is almost solely to blame

for him getting his life together.

- I actually love this new Randy that we get to see.

I remember when Kim got him dancing and he had no idea

she was recording from the inside of the house.

- We had both been married prior and we had been

through the whole wedding thing and preparing for the

wedding and- like we were like, you know,

let's not do that [bleep] again.

Let's go to Vegas.

Let's do the drive-thru marriage thing and let's

just make it official, right?

Well, months go by.

Next thing you know I'm flying out 100 people to

Vegas for a wedding wedding.

I'm so glad we did it because the kids were so

young then and to go look back and see them walking

down the aisle holding hands, it was beautiful.

I'm very blessed to have met Kim and to get to share her

boys with her and call them my own.

- So I had three boys he had a girl but we were like, oh,

you know what, it would be nice to have one of our own.

- When Brooklyn was born, it was a pivotal point in my

life because I realized like, well, the family is

the most important thing that I have.

That has to be the first priority.

- I knew he was gonna be like the best dad to her.

- I remember it was Randy's daughter's birthday.

And he says, can I ask you a favor?

Could we get the guys to sing Happy Birthday

to my daughter?

- Happy Birthday to you.

- I'm blessed to be where I'm at and to have all these

people in my life that I care about and that care

about me because I wouldn't have thought when I was

younger that I would have this many people

around me this close.

Like I wouldn't have thought that I was worth it that I

would have mattered enough to, you know,

have this much responsibility.

- If I helped him loosen up a little bit, then wonderful.

But, you know, they're just getting to see

the guy I love.

- My family has reinvigorated my love for

being out in that ring.

All that is so worth it in the grand scheme of things.

- He says to me, I love when you're sitting in the- in

the front row because I put a little extra into it.

I show off for you.

- Before I wrestled Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania we

went to the stadium and it was just me, Kim and the

kids and we had the ring to ourself.

They are definitely getting used to the fact that they

get special treatment at these wrestling events and

that means a lot to me.

- He wants the best for everyone around him.

If it's his wrestling fans when he's working

he wants them happy.

And when he's home, he wants us happy.

As long as the people around him are happy I think he's good.

- Shoot, I think he's done a heck of a job with his life and

he's become a man there's no doubt about that.

- 20 years flew by in a flash.

It's been a hell of a journey, a lot of ups,

a lot of downs.

- It's amazing.

If you really think about all the stories you'll hear

about Randy throughout people telling his journey

about who he was to end up getting to where he is now.

The path we take to avoid our destiny is often the one

that leads us directly to it.

I think Randy senses, he is now in a position where he

can leave the industry better than he found it.

- I'd say paying it forward, giving back to the business

is helping out the guys that need the help.

When I was coming up, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels,

Triple H, Ric Flair, all these guys, they made sure

to instill in me as many good habits as they could.

Here I am 20 years later and a lot of things

come full circle.

- Thank you,

- Thank you

- Thank you.

- He's really taken on the responsibility of helping

out the younger generation.

- For an individual who has

been so adamantly against rules and structure and

management, the irony is that he's become

such a great leader.

- He knows it's his time to help get that next

generation ready to be a next Randy Orton.

- Yeah, he's a locker room leader now.

He-he didn't have to be either, but he took on that

role because he cares about this business and he doesn't

get the credit, he'll never get the credit until

now hopefully.

- My wife's like, are you getting matching gear?

- I think it matches.

- It works, yeah.

If we came out and I was wearing pink and blue and

green, that would be too much, I feel like this works.

- Yeah.

I love it.

I'm just glad you're wearing snakes skin, that's amazing.

I'm very happy about it.

- This is real team stuff.

- We're a team.

- Know that you just went above and beyond, Randy,

you already-you already know, you make me so happy.

- When I first met Randy, you know, I thought he was

cool, you know, laid back kinda guy kinda like me.

Some people liked him a lot, some people kinda kept their

distance, but, uh, you, he was-he was Randy.

- Just passing, bro.

- I remember meeting Matt Riddle and I'm like,

what's up, you know.

And that son of a bitch just looked at me and kept

going and I was like, what the [bleep], where am I?

- I guess I should have said hi to Randy and I didn't go

up and shake his hand and I kinda just gave

him like a nod you know.

because I thought he was busy

and I was kind of busy and Randy took that as disrespect.

A while ago he was like, "Yeah, when you did that, I

was like, "How can I get this guy fired?"

"And I was like, "Oh, Randy, that's pretty harsh, bro."

- Whatever.

Matt Riddle.

Then I hear, "Hey, we're thinking about starting a

tag team with you two."

I was not too happy about it.

- Randy didn't want to have anything to do with Riddle

in the beginning.

And then once Randy got around, Matt started talking

to him and they became friends.

It was just synergy.

- Does that mean you like me?

- No.

- Oh, Randy.

- I slowly begin to realize, like, this is like one of

the most likable human beings on earth.

- This bond is clearly getting stronger between

Randy Orton and Riddle.

- We actually have quite a bit in common.

- We've been through a lot of the same things

throughout our lives.

I was in the WWE from my 20s, but I was in the UFC

from my early 20s.

So just having two lives that are kind of always been

in the spotlight.

And, uh, just dealing with, you know, divorces, the

road, wear and tear on your body.

I feel like Randy- Randy was like my therapist on the road.

I think that's what really brought us together.

- RKO.

And we have new champions.

- Yeah, Riddle and I, we clicked.

And the matches we were having, it was great.

It was great because I was starting to suffer from just

the wear and tear of decade upon decade of being

in this industry.

My, uh, lower back was giving me a lot of trouble.

I was able to wrestle because Matt Riddle was out

there taking all the punishment, and I would just

tag in to the end of tag match, and I'd come in, do a

couple things, show 'em some Randy Orton, you know,

character, hit an RKO, maybe.

- That last year- year and a half, that I was able to

continue to work with my injury was because of Riddle.

So I- I owe him big time.

[background conversation]

- What I have to do is just be careful.

So I really-- So I just keep an eye on him.

You just kind of don't know.

Like I want to be around him in 10 years.

- It's tough because we know that our business

is very dangerous.

We put our bodies on the line each and every time we

go out there, and sometimes over time injuries happen

and they get worse and worse and worse.

- I knew he was hurt.

I knew he was going through a lot.

I knew he was getting shots and just doing everything

to get by every day.

It wasn't a overnight thing.

- With Randy Orton's injury, when you get to the back and

the neck, that's when it starts getting, oh, I need

to start thinking about my health and me being able to

play with my children.

And you know, you start thinking, okay,

how can I do this?

- I had a couple top notch neurosurgeons tell me,

- I had a couple top notch neurosurgeons tell me,

hang up the boots.

Comfort for the rest of your life.

Being able to play with your grandkids.

That's what you need to be worrying about right now.

Not performing for the WWE.

And that was a-- that was tough.

That was tough to hear.

I've been in a lot of pain and it's hard to bitch and

moan when you're in a locker room full of big, bad, tough

SOBs that are in pain.

It's hard to complain to them about the pain you're

in cause everybody's in pain.

So it's funny with the guys in the back, and this

is-this is more like old school terminology.

You'll hear Flair and guys like that, talk about

the bump card.

You know, you only got so many bumps

on your bump card.

Every bump in that ring, it takes a little something

outta you physically.

The very first time I remember my back giving me

an issue was around 2010.

I had a match with Wade Barrett and I RKO'd

Barrett on the top of a car.

The middle of that roof gave, but the exterior, the

sides of that roof didn't.

So my hips fell into the roof, but there was part of

that roof that didn't give and it just caused some pain

in my lower back.

And from that point on, you know, for the next 10 years

I was in pain and it got worse and worse and worse to

the point where those, that last year with Riddle,

I was doing everything that I could to walk out there and

not wince with every step I took.

- Randy was having tons and tons of back pain.

But the concerning part was he was also starting to have

some low extremity symptoms.

Symptoms, numbness, tingling, pain, weakness.

He was having difficulty standing and just

experiencing, you know, daily life activities

at this point.

So that's why he ended up coming to us.

This is an MRI and this is his lumbar spine.

He's facing this way here.

Here's his tailbone.

If you look at the amount of fluid here, that's very

different than when you get down here and you can see

the slippage as well.

You can see this bone is forward on top of this bone.

So he has what we call stenosis.

So Randy was walking around on an unstable spine.

There's no guarantees here.

There's no guarantees that

this fuses up nicely and everything goes wonderfully,

and that Randy gets back into the ring.

Obviously, as you can see here, these are the implants

that we put in.

Most importantly, though, is how you're doing.

- I feel fantastic.

I feel fantastic.

I-I don't think- I don't think most people understand

that for the past 10 or 12 years, I've been walking

around in pain.

I've been, uh, performing in the ring in pain.

Um, only the other guy that I'd be in the ring with

would-would have any idea that I was hurting.

It was hard.

And, um-- which is so much more than just me

and my spine.

It's me, it's my life.

I'm so happy that I've got my life back with my family

at home, rolling around the living room floor

with my kids.

You know, playing with the dogs in the backyard.

You know, like I'm able to do all that stuff, no joke,

without being in pain.

So, as far as like, you know, whether or not I'm

gonna be able to wrestle again.

I ain't even worried about that.

I'm enjoying life right now for the first time in a long

time, pain-free.

So the wrestling, putting a hold on, and I'm just

enjoying life right now.

And that's mostly thanks to Dr. Kanter and his team here.

- I do think that if nothing else, he'd want to

get back for one, just to be able to-to close it.

Because, speaking from experience, when you can't

close it rattles around in there.

Just it-it stays with you.

- The legacy of Randy Orton is really simple.

He's a performer who stood the test of time and

deserves to be in the discussion for the greatest

wrestler of his generation.

- Randy Orton has been a top star for 20 years.

- He's like the ultimate wrestler.

I mean, he's perfect.

You know his look, his size, his work, his timing,

his interviews, everything's perfect.

- Third generation superstar.

The man has every gift that a man can be given.

- I don't know how many legacies come in and far

exceed the one before them.

I mean that, no disrespect to his father, but Randy, in

a short amount of time, stepped out of that shadow.

Everything.

He just created something all himself.

And the fact that Orton was his last name just happened

to be a happy coincidence.

- All the potential in the world was always within

Randy Orton.

- Randy Orton is the coal that will be squeezed into

the next diamond.

- His legacy is that of being one of the brightest

diamonds ever in Sports Entertainment.

And it was a hell of a battle to get there.

- To know where he was and where he came from and

fought his demons and come back better and stronger, I

think that says a lot about who Randy Orton is.

- A justifiable standing ovation.

- He deserves and earned and commands respect from

everybody whether it's the crew, the fans and the

superstars as a first ballot Hall of Famer and one of the

greatest to ever step foot in a WWE ring.

[crowd chants "RKO"]

- You know as my, as my career goes on and I think

about the legacy that I will leave one day eventually you

know, I don't know quite yet.

I still got a couple years to go but as far as like

what I want my peers to say about me is that you know,

I was a hell of a hand.

That's all I need to be happy is knowing that the

guys in the locker room respected me and considered

me one of the best to ever lace up a pair of boots.

That being said this is like the first time in two

decades where I have been able to stop

and smell the roses.

And I was able to be a father.

I was able to be a husband and I was able

to be a son as well.

[laughter]

My dad and I have gotten even more close.

We were actually able to have that catch

[laughs]

that we never really seemed to get to have

back when I was a kid.