Early Wrestling Career
Randy Orton was born on April 1, 1980, in Knoxville Tennessee. He’s the son of professional wrestler “Cowboy” Bob Orton. When Orton was growing up, his family tried to convince him to stay away from the wrestling business. Their advice worked temporarily as Orton pursued a career with the US Marines. However, disobedience against commanding officers and bad conduct resulted in an early end to Randy’s time in the military.
In 2000, Randy signed a deal with WWE and was sent to its developmental territory, OVW. This contract would begin Randy’s rapid rise to stardom in the wrestling business.
Evolution
For the first few months on the WWE main roster, Randy worked as a babyface. However, that came to an abrupt end when he joined Evolution, a stable comprised of Ric Flair, Triple H, and Batista. Evolution quickly became one of the most dominant factions that WWE had ever seen.
Orton’s time in Evolution helped catapult him to the top of the mountain in WWE. He made a name for himself as the Legend Killer and boasted that he was the future of professional wrestling. Much to the crowd’s dismay, Randy was right.
At SummerSlam 2004, Randy defeated Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship, consequently becoming the youngest world champion in WWE history at just 24 years old.
The Rise Of The Legend Killer
Shortly after becoming World Heavyweight Champion, Randy was ousted from Evolution and started a feud with his former teammates. This meant that Randy, for a brief moment, was a babyface in WWE. It wouldn’t last very long.
In February 2005, Randy started picking a fight with one of the greatest legends in WWE history, The Undertaker. Their feud culminated at WrestleMania 21 in what was arguably the most anticipated match of the year. Orton received his comeuppance and was defeated by the Deadman.
For the next few years, Randy would feud with some of WWE’s most popular babyfaces, namely John Cena and Kofi Kingston. He would also form various alliances; in 2006, Randy joined forces with Edge to form the tag team Rated-RKO, and in 2008, he joined The Legacy alongside Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase.
Orton And The Authority
At SummerSlam 2013, Randy became the most despised heel in WWE after cashing in his MITB contract and taking Daniel Bryan’s WWE Championship. Vince McMahon and Triple H then proclaimed Randy Orton to be the “face of the company.” This was in direct defiance of fans’ wishes, as fans at the time were devoted to Daniel Bryan.
During his alliance with The Authority, Orton also reunited with his former Evolution teammate, Batista (though both of them were reluctant to do so). The Authority took on several fan favorites in WWE, including The Shield, Chris Jericho, and John Cena.
Randy was expelled from The Authority in November 2014 after getting into a fight with the faction’s newest member, Seth Rollins.
The Veteran Viper
Nowadays, Randy Orton is much more mellow than he was a decade ago. The same fans who once detested Orton have found respect for him and appreciate all that he’s done for WWE. He’s one of the most decorated athletes in wrestling history, with 10 WWE Championship reigns under his belt, along with 4 World Heavyweight Championship reigns and numerous other accolades.
In 2021, Randy Orton formed a tag team alongside Matt Riddle dubbed RK-Bro. The two of them became Raw Tag Team Champions together at that year’s SummerSlam.
