Randy Orton Speaks Out About Today’s WWE Locker Room, How He Came Up With The RKO

(Photo Credit: WWE)

Randy Orton spoke with Logan Paul on the IMPAULSIVE podcast shortly after his return to WWE Survivor Series. Below are some highlights. The complete interview can be found at the bottom of this article.

Orton was asked if he considered himself to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. The question was posed after co-host Mike Majlak mentioned reading a Wikipedia article that referred to Orton as one of the GOATs.

“I’ve got my favorites, everyone’s got their favorites,” Orton said. “I have no doubt there is a healthy amount of people out there that consider for me to be one of the best but then there’s a lot of guys out there that I’m not in their Mount Rushmore.”

Orton was asked if he wanted to break the World Championship record. “Of course. I wannna do everything I can man. Longevity is always the number 1 goal for me and being able to go home and play with my kids and not be in pain. That would be the ultimate goal. As many accomplishments as I can accomplish in WWE, the more the better. I’ve already done so much so far, it’s kind of nice being in a position where I can watch other guys matches and maybe critique and help and answer questions. For the first time in my career, I find myself being a little bit of I guess a mentor to some people.”

Paul asked Orton where he could find people who resembled Randy, John Cena, Batista, and Brock Lesnar:

Orton said, “I think there’s a lot of guys that get it. I almost don’t want to start naming names because I’ll feel bad, I’ll leave out a lot of guys. The list is too long as far as guys we’ve got now that could be great one day.”

Orton stated that you never know who will break out, and he observed how Stone Cold Steve Austin changed his appearance and movement when he was Stunning Steve. He went on to say, “We’ve got a lot of gems in the back and it’s gonna take the right amount of pressure to turn them into a diamond.”

Dominik Mysterio was praised by Paul for stepping out of his shadow and becoming one of the most despised heels on the roster. “Rey took care of me back in the day. I wrestled Dom last Friday night. It was such a pleasure to be out there with him…it was a great feeling. I am so proud of Dom as well.”

When Orton first saw Dominik, he thought he needed another ten years, but now he sees that Dominik has figured things out and “he’s got it.”

Orton was questioned about how he came up with the RKO. He stated that he was inspired to do the RKO after seeing John Laurinaitis do the Ace Crusher and DDP do the Diamond Cutter. Orton stated that he does not pick up men or perform power moves because he blew out his shoulders many years ago. He explained that he didn’t do it because he wanted to protect his shoulders and needed a move that he could use on anyone, whether it was Rey Mysterio or Omos.

You can check out the complete appearance below:


(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)