WWE Hall of Famer and former WCW President Eric Bischoff took to an episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, where he talked about a number of topics including how “The Viper” Randy Orton is the purest sports entertainer/pro wrestler in the business in the last 30 years.
Bischoff said, “I think Randy Orton is the purest sports entertainer, professional wrestler, whatever you choose, in the business in the last 30 years. Other than Shawn Michaels, is there anybody smoother than Randy Orton? You go back and watch any of his matches, go back to 2003 or 2005, whenever it was that he debuted in WWE…watch him closely in his matches. His positioning is flawless. His timing is flawless. His execution is flawless. Forget about everything else that’s going on in the ring, and focus on nothing but his facials. What is doing with his face? What is he doing with his eyes? When he’s selling? When he’s on top, when he’s aggressive? He is the purest form of [a] professional wrestler that I think I’ve seen in the last 30 years. He’s flawless. He is the wrestling definition of smooth. I’m so happy to see him back. I hope Randy rides this out for as long as Randy chooses to ride it out. I don’t think he needs the bread, he’s doing it out of passion. I think he’s doing it to end his career on a high note, the way he wants to end it. I have tons of respect for anybody that puts themself in a position to end their careers the way they want to end them. Admirable quality in my book. I’m just hoping for the best for Randy. I hope, however long this run is, whether it’s a month, two months, six months, a year, five years, whatever it is, I hope it ends exactly the way Randy wants it to end, and I hope people recognize Randy for the amazing talent that he is.”
Bischoff also talked about how there is something special about Orton that other WWE stars don’t have and how Orton doesn’t care about the fans talking about top talents like CM Punk.
Bischoff said, “We’ve been hearing about Randy making his comeback and perhaps making a comeback, we didn’t know when, but we knew he was on his way. That could have been held off til Royal Rumble, couldn’t it, and perhaps even built upon over the next few months? Not saying replicate the Triple H thing when he came back in 2002 and show him working out, getting ready. That’s kind of old-school, been there, done that, not as effective. But there are other things that could have been done over the course of the next three months that could have helped build anticipation, since it wasn’t going to be a surprise, let’s build anticipation for it and whether or not it actually happens, and have it happen at Royal Rumble. I think it probably could have been better for Randy individually. But I don’t think anybody’s sad. I don’t know Randy really well. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit over the years. I don’t think he was sitting at home, going, ‘Wow, they were excited me about for 20 minutes, and then not so much.’ That’s not Randy at all. The Randy that I think I know is going, ‘Cool, talk about CM Punk all you want. Wait til you see what happens next week.’ Because Randy will bring it into the ring. Not that CM Punk can’t or won’t. But there’s something special about Randy, and I think at the end of it all, they’ll be talking about Randy.”
You can check out the complete podcast below.
(H/T to Fightful for transcribing the above quotes)
