Original subtitles

Being a bad guy kind of comes easy. It's like second nature for me.

Just knowing how to get under people's skin.

There's a way that I get into the zone. And a lot of times it meant bending over

and holding my breath and pushing all the blood into my face.

Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then I got it.

And then I got it. And I can just do what I need to do. And I can pull

emotion I need to pull out of the audience because I feel it. And when you

into my eyes, you can tell that I feel it.

Excuse me, uh, who the hell are you interrupting me?

Ah, that's right.

You're, uh, you're Randy Orton.

He is known as the Viper, the legend killer.

Sometimes he strikes out of nowhere.

Other times, he mercilessly toys with his prey.

The Viper coiled, ready to strike!

I love Randy Orton. Dudes hate Randy Orton. Every guy I've ever dated hates

Randy Orton. I don't know if it's just pure jealousy.

He has the look. He has the body. He has the physique. He has the skill.

He exudes confidence in every step that he takes. He relishes the ability to

inflict damage and human suffering. So he's not just after a championship.

He wants to make his opponents' life miserable.

I hate using the word because I don't really, but conniving. He's smarmy,

He's the kind of bad guy that it's more mental than it

is physical.

There's almost like a sadistic side of it, but it's almost like he might be

crazy for real.

He just has a way of presenting like

crazy or scary.

And it's the way he kind of looks angry, but he's also smiling because he's

enjoying what he's doing when he's usually lighting somebody on fire,

somebody.

With Randy, it's just this constant viper movement of a snake in the grass.

And when you see his eyes lock on you, you feel like you've already been caught

or you've already been bitten.

Randy Orton's enjoying every second of this.

Yes, yes, we have arrived.

You love to hate him. I love to love him, personally.

Standing up, the whole nine, like it's just a person who doesn't look like the

rest of us mere mortals walking on this planet. He executes, he dominates, he

takes out big names left and right.

Mick Foley, Harley Raitt, Goldust, Rowdy Roddy Piper, hell, even the fabulous

Lula. This woman is a legend.

And by the way,

Randy Orton, legend killer.

What? Oh, my God. I don't believe he just did that.

Beyond the villain, Randy Orton, the technician, is awesome.

Randy Orton may be the man around here sooner than we think.

Maybe more than any other superstar of the last 20 years, he just is fluent.

On that DDT off the second row, punches, drop kick.

The punt kick.

The punt!

And, of course, the RKO.

Oh, my God!

Randy Orton with an RKO to the Undertaker!

RKO. Randy, knockout. It looks perfect. The name is perfect. It is literally the

perfect finishing maneuver.

I think the thing about the RKO that's fire is that it's a leap. It also

like a worldwide meme, like people getting RKO'd into pools and stuff like

RKO is one of the greatest finishing maneuvers in the world of sports

entertainment. He even hit Hulk Hogan with an RKO on a car.

It was awesome. The crowd goes crazy. They love an RKF.

Randy Orton is an imposing figure, intensely focused, a superior athlete,

dangerous, and incapable of showing empathy.

The Viper is in the driver's seat right now. You can tell by the smirk on his

face.

But how did he get so malicious?

Is Orton's brand of evil innate?

or learn.

As a kid, you know, I didn't have a lot of confidence.

I was definitely insecure.

I was not the kid that had a bunch of friends.

I kind of just never really found that clique of people that

I could call friends.

Randy was... was pretty quiet and respectful.

He got into some mischief, you know, but all kids do.

You know, nothing where they don't want to throw him in jail or anything, but,

you know, he was just a kid, just a regular kid.

I was such an insecure kid.

I think I was a quiet kid, got picked on, bullied.

Like, it was bad.

I could see Randy getting bullied as a child and then taking all of that in,

it does affect you. And sometimes that just means you're going to grow up and

a bully yourself.

And sometimes it means you can focus all those terrible things that have

happened to you or the bad days that you've had. It makes you jealous and

and that is really hard.

He started working out in the gym in the basement. He was probably 9 or 10 years

old. And then he wrestled all through school.

I was definitely bullied until,

you know, I'd say halfway through my high school career.

And that's only because I shot up, you know, half a foot, and all of a sudden

you know, had muscles and was taller than everybody else.

Part of what happens when you're bullied as a child is you don't have power.

You feel helpless.

You can't fight back. You can't get even. You have to stuff that anger down.

It's almost like a pot of boiling water, and the lid is blowing off, and you

just keep holding it down and holding it down and holding it down. And then one

day you feel ready, and you pull the top off of that pot.

And you let the anger go.

And then comes the day when you are big and you are strong and you can unleash

that anger and get the revenge that you feel like you deserve.

Randy Orton is a third -generation superstar.

following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Bob Orton Sr., and father,

Bob Orton.

Considered by many in the wrestling fraternity to be one of the greats.

Well, I was a cowboy, a rough -and -tumble guy that knew how to wrestle.

I was always pretty rugged in the ring, and I didn't take any gruff from

anybody.

A lot of folks tried to give me some, but I put it into that pretty quick.

I was very dislikable.

God, it felt good.

I'm sure his dad didn't teach him that way. I'm sure he didn't. I had a very

good knowledge of wrestling itself from watching my dad.

I learned crowd psychology from dad.

One of the best things people can watch is the superstars.

I agree with that, dad. I'd like to treat everybody in the country that I

An athlete, it's incomparable.

Set for the ride.

Oh, failed him right in the lower abdomen.

Growing up, you know, I knew I had this famous father that was on TV, and I'd go

home, and depending on what territory he was wrestling in or whether or not he

was with WWE at the time, you know, I would watch my father.

And from my earliest memory of watching my dad, it was like just

what my dad did for a living.

just when my dad goes to work sometimes he's in japan for a month before he

comes home it wasn't like this special to do that my dad was this famous

professional wrestler it was work it was what he did to put food on the table

there were times we were on the road 100 days in a row that's just you know what

we did back then when randy was in school i wouldn't get to see him at all

from the time he was

Maybe four or five years old, until the time he was 10 or 11, I probably

got the scene, gosh, this is going to sound horrible, but maybe 10, 12 days a

year.

My mom would kind of just speak on how hard it was on your family, how hard it

was on you, the individual that was traveling the world nonstop with limited

dates off, missing birthdays and holidays all the time.

She saw that, and she didn't want that for me.

Randy chose his own path.

One that led to 13 weeks of hell.

Turning away from his family's legacy, Randy sought a new path for his life.

I definitely didn't want to go to college. In my case, I chose the Marine

I went through, I believe it was 12 or 13 weeks of hell.

USMC boot camp.

Boot camp sucked.

The atmosphere that I was put in had a lot of negative aspects of it that

I'll never go into in public.

I was seeing things that I didn't want to deal with and I didn't sign up for.

So I left.

I went AWOL for about 82 days.

I turned myself in, and I ended up serving. I think I was sentenced 45 days

the Camp Pendleton Base Brig military prison.

He was gung -ho to go to the service.

But I know that because of who he was, I think he had to take a little bit more

gruff than some guys.

And he's always had kind of an attitude, too. I mean, it shows even now when you

watch him. He's got an attitude.

Depending on a person's experience in the military, some people will describe

feeling like they've lost themselves, like they don't have an ability to

their own thoughts.

or feelings or behaviors.

And I really think that that's part of what impacted Randy Orton that

led to him building his character.

After the military, Randy returned home with no direction and no plan for his

future.

Oh, that's when I started thinking about getting him in the business, you know,

the wrestling business.

Randy Orton's dad, Bob Orton Jr., gave me a call in the office one day and

hey. My son's 19. I'd really love to see if I could get him in the developmental

system.

And I said, great.

Let me know. You know, when you're ready, Bob, we're ready for him.

Side unseen.

We sent him to OVW, which was our training facility in Louisville,

And Randy was kind of a tall, skinny kid.

I wish I could, you know, both.

Everybody and say that there was this moment where I knew that a professional

wrestler is what I was destined to be. But I became a professional wrestler

because I didn't know what else I was going to do. And I figured, yeah, let me

give this a shot.

And that's probably one of the reasons why the locker room didn't like me too

much when I showed up to OVW.

Randy joined an OVW roster that was stacked with future WWE Hall of Famers,

including Dave Bautista.

and Brock Lesnar, and he made an immediate impression on them.

Randy Orton pressing the advantage on Johnny Spade!

He hammered Johnny Spade!

I knew that I had my work cut out for me, and that's probably the hardest I've

ever worked in my entire career.

Everyone that encountered Randy during his training period said Randy Orton was

a natural.

From day one.

Randy's natural ability

earned him a spot on the main roster.

But doing too much too soon led to disaster.

I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think Orton is hurt. I think he's hurt bad.

Randy had two shoulder injuries pretty early in his career, and he quickly got

it into his head that physically you have more years if you can tone down the

-ring work and learn to manipulate those cameras in the right way.

I was injured, and by every right, like everyone else, should have went home for

six weeks, six months, whatever, and let the shoulder heal. But instead...

They had me come back every week for TV in a sling and do an update. They called

it the RNN update.

What is this now? We got breaking news.

Oh, God. 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.

He would have these RNN segments where he would come out, talk about his

shoulder injury, and while you're watching these, you would think, who the

cares, right? He manages to get under your skin.

With my drive, with my athleticism, my commitment to all these people, I will

back in a mere three to four months.

The RNN updates were classic Orton.

proving he was a natural at irritating anyone and everyone.

Nearly half a year after injuring his shoulder, Randy returned to action.

But his disruptive behavior would keep his career from taking off.

Well,

I think Randy, he wasn't mature enough.

How long are they going to sit here? Seriously?

You know, go out there and represent us.

Randy wasn't ready for that.

You know, he was a kid.

Orton's career was suddenly floundering.

Until Triple H stepped in.

Randy Orton.

The business is in his blood. Third generation superstar.

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

Randy Orton is the coal.

that will be squeezed into the next diamond.

Horton joined Evolution, a new faction comprised of generational talent.

Evolution consisted of the animal and powerhouse Dave Batista, the dirtiest

player in the game and 16 -time world champion Ric Flair, and himself crowned

King of Kings, Triple H.

I am so blessed that those two men saw something in me.

I'll never forget that. That is evolution, and I don't care who you are.

isn't a damn person that can stop us.

He went from being this young guy with a lot of potential, the legend in the

making, establishing all of his credibility with evolution by aligning

with Triple H and Ric Flair.

Because I was in evolution, because I was in the main event storyline, when I

was firing on all cylinders, they knew it was time. All right, what are we

to do?

What are we going to do to push this kid to the next level?

Oh, look at this!

Evolution was instrumental in helping Randy harness his potential.

But the WWE universe still saw Orton as protected within Evolution.

I'm a legend!

A pretty boy's smart -mouthed third -generation superstar who would never

it on his own.

especially against the likes of a hardcore legend.

You rely on that talent and you rely on that ability and you rely on what

brought you to the dance. And do you know what brought you to the dance,

Evolution.

I went into 2004.

Needing somebody to bring me from here to here. That somebody was Mick Foley.

The hardcore legend Mick Foley was the opposite of Randy Orton in every

conceivable way. He had a reputation for sacrificing himself in order to cause

maximum pain to his opponents.

Mick chose to come out of retirement to teach Orton a lesson.

Randy Orton, are you... You're feeling disrespected by the fans?

Potential is a vague term, but you see something in someone and you

know that they have just scratched the surface of what they're capable of. And

that's what I sensed when I saw Randy on television. And then I was, I guess, a

believer in myself enough that I thought I could be that one big rivalry that

boosts that character.

There's not a lot of guys out there that are going to be okay with a grown man

spitting in his face.

I had a crisis of confidence, and I hadn't had a match in four years.

And then I had this amazing opportunity to do a singles match with Randy.

I wanted it to be a transformative match for him, but I also wanted it to be a

match that I could be proud of in case I never wrestled again.

And on that night in Edmonton, Alberta, we come

up with a match that stands the test of time.

Foley dumped me in a pile of thumbtacks.

And this is not for the weak at heart, I'll tell you that. I dare say, as good

as Randy is, he was in shock.

Had the confidence to take his character in places where most won't go.

That hardcore match I had was the toughest match I had had at that point

career.

And that showed the fans, this kid isn't a kid anymore.

Landy thrived in an atmosphere.

where a lot of people thought he was too handsome to thrive in.

That was a huge moment for me because that showed that I could hang with a

legend like Mick.

But not only hang, that I could beat him.

Randy Orton has made his

mark. People in one night.

changed the way they saw that character. It certified his toughness.

He defeated the hardcore legend.

Once Orton got the taste of destroying the hardcore legend, he wanted more.

Orton went on a diabolical rampage, destroying any legend he could get his

on.

there were so many different legendary superstars that you looked up to and you

watched him putting them out for good, legit legend killing.

I think when I was younger, I just thought about me.

I'm main eventing shows and I'm beating, you know, multiple world champions and

setting records and making historical moments.

world champion in WWE history.

Green did get an awful lot of stardom very quickly because he was green.

And he wasn't ready for the stardom that he got.

It was too much too soon.

WWE superstars love to say that their character on camera is kind of like

real personality just turned all the way up to 10.

You have been injured in your clavicle, your arms, everywhere.

You sound like pretty fragile.

Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me!

Now say it again!

Say it again! I dare you to say it again!

Call me fragile! I will headbutt your teeth through your skull!

Do you hear me?

Look, Randy had every tool in the world.

I've told him that a million times. Every tool in the world. The only one

going to derail you is you.

And you're hell -bent on it.

Do you have a big TV?

Randy, 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 was famous.

Like... World known. And to be that young and to be that recognizable, like,

it's a lot of pressure.

Pretty much, to sum it up, I wasn't really on. I let the fame get to my

I don't think I recognized that I was as big of a prick as I was.

The fame thing, I think, it's an interesting two -headed monster.

It is glorious.

It gets you perk. It gets you recognition, money.

It's an attention that I do think a lot of people crave.

But on the other hand, it's got to be jarring.

Because it's not like these are overnight success stories for the most

These people have been working so hard for so long and they're just waiting on

that break.

And when that break comes, that's not easy.

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

You just have access to everything.

And it's like all of a sudden. First year, I have nothing.

and you're struggling to make your way in life, now you have access to whatever

you want.

I don't know how a 20 -year -old kid would deal with that pressure.

Randy, in his younger days, was very rebellious. Randy was the

epitome of the rebellious youth.

No matter what Randy did, there was a sense of just trouble.

There was a sense of darkness.

April 2nd, 2005 was a very special day for the Orton family.

Cowboy Bob Orton was being enshrined into the WWE Hall of Fame, and Randy

have the honor of inducting his father.

The night before, I decided to stay up all night with a couple guys that I knew

I shouldn't have been hanging around with, and we got into some stuff that

us up all night.

When I inducted my father into the Hall of Fame, I was

out of it. This business, my grandfather was in this business. Where you at,

Grandpa? Where you at? Come on now.

Bob Horton Sr.

I hadn't come up with a speech.

I winged it.

I spoke from the heart, but...

I didn't do my father justice.

Ladies and gentlemen, the man that I love, my father, cowboy, Bob Wharton.

That look of disappointment on my father's face.

If I have any regrets as far as my career goes, that's probably,

that's probably it.

It made me act out even more.

I think that a lot of times when you create this character, like, it's this

line of when you tread, like, too far, often you lose sense of what's real or

what's not.

The person that goes the deepest into the character sometimes is the most

interesting to watch, you know? And when it's safely done, there's genius to

that, you know?

But it can be harmful because...

If you really want to convince people, sometimes you have to really live that.

By the end of 2005, the line between Randy Orton the superstar and Randy

the person was basically gone.

Here we are a year later having a problem with substance abuse.

And I got into some trouble. I drove home from a show in Peoria,

Illinois to St. Louis back to my house.

And I'm just white knuckling the wheel.

I get home.

Now it's early wee hours of the morning. And I want to crash. So what do you do?

Well, I take my pills.

This will put me to sleep.

And I was right.

Because I woke up in the ER.

I woke up in the ER and I had an accidental overdose.

I remember realizing that I'm mad at myself that I was so dumb to

jeopardize all these opportunities that I've been given. I didn't necessarily

act out because I was.

I acted out because I didn't know who I was yet and that I had been thrust into

the spotlight so early on to where I hadn't led enough of a life and been

schooled on what it means to be a man yet. I was in the circus at an early

traveling town to town.

The world was my playground, but it was a reality check.

After the hospital, I was close. I was very close to...

You know, being fired from the WWE.

I realized I had to stop around and I had to get my ass in the line.

I ended up going to rehab.

I cleaned myself up.

And I got in the ring again.

After overcoming the demon of addiction, Randy was still able to tap into that

part of his personality that dragged him into the darkness.

In the ring.

Orton was more evil than ever. I think he thought he had to be this person or

this, you know, the viper and act a certain way and kind of give off that

like he got all his together. Nobody got all this together.

In order to get into a character and have a healthy relationship to that

character, you have to manage that character.

You have to know who you are and what's important to you so that the character

doesn't ultimately manage you.

I was narcissistic. I wasn't.

And I still have all those attributes now.

Only I know that I have them. I'm aware of them. I'm able

to use them at work for good.

I find that mindset. I know the story and I go out there and I do my best to

tell it.

Back when we were doing the intermittent explosive disorder storyline, that's a

disorder that my character had, which was basically throwing temper tantrums,

violent temper tantrums at that.

I had all this.

All these experiences up here that I'd kind of blocked out because they were

experiences, because they were embarrassing.

But the more mature that I got in the business, I was able to use those

experiences and tie them into my character.

And I've learned

there's no better drug in the world.

than being in that ring and everything going right.

I love this. And that feeling, there's nothing like it. There's magic there.

In December 2020,

Randy Orton proved there was no limit to the level of evil that he was willing

to inflict upon his opponent.

The fiend is in the building.

Is Orton truly prepared for what's about to happen?

When I was wrestling the fiend, I knew that I had to believe that this

individual was capable of harnessing evil, demonic powers.

I considered him enough of a threat that I was legitimately fearing the fiend.

Randy's range is incredible.

I mean, I think he can do anything he wants. It's not him just being like

He's smiling where you think, oh, he's happy. He's a good guy. No, he's smiling

because he's, like, destroyed somebody's life.

Turn it around.

He's a player.

And that's why he's such a good bad guy, because anybody can beat anybody up.

But how do you want them to feel about you beating this person up?

Now it's the feed who is finding out how sadistic and barbaric Randy Orton can

be.

This is not the same as going to the movies. This isn't going to a play or a

musical. It's something unique unto itself.

And when you go to a WWE show and you watch a villain perform, even if you

the villain because they're so bad and they're doing things that are so immoral

and wrong, if they do it in a way that's captivating, there's sort of no way

to stop yourself from pulling for that person to a certain degree. You want

on your TV.

If you get those people to believe that you believe in yourself,

The battle's won, and you're just there to enjoy the spoils.

Hello!

My God!

Randy Orton became one of the most menacing and believable villains in WWE

history by expressing his real -life mistakes in pain.

and then taking it out on his opponents in the ring.

He's learned from his mistakes, and

he's learned from other folks, and he carries himself with glass, and, you

that stuff sinks in.

You know, it's just a shame it doesn't sink in when you're in your 20s.

He had to walk around with that strut, like, I'm that guy, and he doesn't do

that anymore. You know, he's like, I'm this guy, and take it or leave it.

He's a bad guy, but he's also the guy everybody loves.

Kids, dads, moms.

I'm getting to the point in my career where I have done absolutely everything

that there is to do.

The only things that I haven't done are things that they haven't invented yet.

But sure, once they invent them, once they come up with these new ideas, these

new achievements, I will achieve them.

And I will have done more than anybody else in the history of this business,

there's a reason for that.

Consistency.

He's head and shoulders above everyone, I think. You know, not just in stature,

but in ability, too.

There's some guys that are pretty gosh darn good, but he's got it all.

He's the whole package.

I think Randy Orton, from day one, everything about him, screamed the world

champion.

Randy was a god.

And he didn't shy away from it. I think he owned it, and I think in his head he

is that guy.

But he really is.

If you could get past his outbursts.

The audience appreciates Randy Orton more and more every single day.

As evil as Randy can be.

Randy is so talented that no matter what you do, the audience will always

appreciate how evil he is.

Randy Orton.

Randy Orton is the coolest.

See, I got the best view because I'm on the scooter and I kind of trail behind

him. He'll just look at a crowd and I'm like, Randy, you know.

I have to work a little harder. I'm like, yeah.

You know, Randy's just.

Kind of gives them, like, the Zoolander, Magman face.

Here are your winners, the key mob, Randy Orton and Riddle.

I think a lot of people forget that when you're dedicating yourself, your life,

your years, your youth, it takes a lifetime to become the legend killer.

that's what Randy is. He's the apex predator, the viper, the legend killer.

He's Randy Orton, bro.

My entrance song, it's voices. And people will ask me, you know, what do

voices tell you? I just kind of roll my eyes because, you know, it's an entrance

song, right?

I've had this song for over a decade. And the more I hear it, the more it kind

of dawns on me that maybe I was hearing voices. Maybe those voices early on.

were telling me I wasn't good enough.

And I'm talking when I was a kid.

Those voices early on were telling me that I didn't have any reason to be

confident.

Those voices were telling me that I could never, ever follow in my father's

footsteps. Those voices were my own self -doubt. Those voices were the

naysayers. Those voices were me doubting myself.

Now, I feel

If someone were to ask me, what are the voices telling you?

I think the answer would be that I'm content.

That I'm happy with who I am.

Not as the performer or the entertainer or the character, Randy Orton, but as

Randy Orton, he's happy.