It's My Life: The Randy Orton Story
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the WWE (Vince and the individual superstars own themselves) and I do not intend on making any profit from this or other stories that I publish on I also don't own the song It's My Life from Bon Jovi off their Crush Album.
What you are about to read is the life story of one of the WWE's best-looking superstars to date and one who has made quite a career out of defeating legends which has led him to be christened "The Legend Killer". That man is Randy Keith Orton, son of legendary Cowboy Bob and Elaine Orton.
He was born on April 1, 1980 and was the oldest of three siblings. He has a younger brother and sister Nathan and Becky Orton. Some things to mention are that he is a good friend of fellow WWE superstar John Cena and is going out with Stacy Keibler.
Before he became a great wrestler, he began as a soldier in the US Marine Corps after graduating from Hazelwood Central High School. His time in the armed forces did not last long for he was dishonorably discharged a year later after going AWOL on two occasions, the first time for 82 days, and disobeying an order from a commanding officer.
He began his professional wrestling career after receiving training from his father Cowboy Bob Orton in the year 2000 with the MMWA-SICW in his hometown of St. Louis. It was only a matter of time before the WWE noticed his talent as a wrestler and so he signed a developmental deal with the WWE and was sent to OVW for training.
His on-screen debut was on SmackDown! in 2002 as a face but that didn't make much impact until he came over to RAW and became a heel over a period of three months during which the famous cocky personality developed. It was Evolution that truly made him what he was today when Triple HHH, Dave Batista, and Ric Flair added Randy into their ranks after Randy helped them beat up Scott Steiner on January 20, 2003. Then for one long year it was literal hell on earth for RAW when Evolution dominated the entire roster with bullying tactics among other things.
Also during this time he developed a gimmick which became known as "The Legend Killer" which was a gimmick in which he acted in contempt of legends and sought to defeat them or "kill them" like how a dragon slayer would kill dragons like he would defeat legends. The list of legends he has beaten is a long one indeed and the legends he has defeated will no doubt go larger over time. The list of legends he has either defeated or humiliated is as follows:
Sgt. Slaughter, Mae Young, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, Triple HHH, Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Cactus Jack, The Fabulous Moolah, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jerry " The King Lawler", Chris Benoit, Harley Race, Eric Bischoff, and Kamala.
Because of his success as a superstar it would only be a matter of time before he either became World Heavyweight champion or challenged for it. Randy got the chance on July 26, 2004 on RAW to challenge for the title but he had to win a 20-man battle royal to get the number-one contender ship. At SummerSlam 2004 he defeated Chris Benoit to become the youngest World Heavyweight Champion at the age of 24. It is then that Evolution's egotistical leader Triple HHH kicked Randy Orton out of Evolution for he believed that the title belonged to him. It was then that Randy temporarily dropped the Legend Killer gimmick and became a good guy so that he could feud with Triple HHH. To say the least Randy Orton was not the best Heavyweight champion for it quickly returned to Triple HHH's hands at Unforgiven 2004.
Randy Orton also got the chance to be a temporary General Manager of RAW following his team of himself, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, and Maven for one night only. It was during this time that the World Heavyweight Championship was vacated and so Orton was chosen to face Chris Benoit, Triple HHH, Edge, Batista, and Chris Jericho in an Elimination Chamber match at New Year's Revolution in January 2005. Triple HHH of course won the match thanks to Batista and so this kept the feud between Orton and Triple HHH going a little bit longer.
The return of the Legend Killer was inevitable and as Batista was getting the push to become World Heavyweight Champion, Randy began to have a relationship with Stacy Keibler and had a brief feud with Christian. The Legend Killer came back with a fiery vengeance when he challenged the Dead Man to a match at WrestleMania XXI out of respect.
The Taker-Randy feud began in the weeks before WrestleMania XXI and was marked by Jake "The Snake Roberts" telling Randy that he should not be fighting someone as powerful and legendary as the Undertaker but Randy chose to disregard that warning by using the RKO on Jake Roberts. Unlike in real-life, Randy Orton did not RKO his girlfriend Stacy Keibler for lack of confidence in defeating Taker and instead Stacy and Randy only evolved as a good couple.
The building up of the Taker-Randy feud was build-up similarly to real-life but no freak outs or slapping occurred from either combatant but rather true sportsmanship and dignity were showed from both men who both trained hard and long to prepare for their big match at WrestleMania XXI.
When WrestleMania XXI came around finally, Randy Orton and Undertaker were finally ready to prove once and for all who was the better man. The battle between these great athletes was intense and no clear winner was apparent at first but a winner would have to be determined some how. Randy decided to not have his dad Cowboy Bob interfere for he wanted to defeat the Deadman in fair and honorable combat in the ring. To say the least the Undertaker retained his undefeated streak with a 13-0 win-loss record with the Tombstone Piledriver. Randy and Taker shook hands and applauded each other after the match was over to show how much each man respected the other for his ability as an in-ring competitor.
Also during this time another good friend of Randy's Dave Batista became World Heavyweight Champion and so Randy out of respect for his friend decided to challenge Dave to a match on the RAW after WrestleMania. Dave accepted and so the match was on. Randy did not of course win the fight but he tried as hard as he could and Dave shook hands with him after the match.
Randy unfortunately did not take a time out from WWE without some sort of injury and guess what? He did have a shoulder injury that sidelined him for a period of several months and in that time he and Stacy Keibler got the time they had so long desired to finally be together as a couple. It was her love for him that motivated to Randy to make his surprise reappearance on June 16, 2005 to instead of attacking Undertaker like he did in real-life, he attacked JBL instead and out of respect for Taker he helped the Deadman defeat JBL in the no disqualification match. Randy then announced that he was the final draft pick to SmackDown! and he and the Undertaker would be reforming a new Ministry of Darkness along with Chris Benoit, Booker T, Dave Batista, and Rey Mysterio.
This is piece of dialogue you see here is Randy remembering the first time he and Stacy ever said they loved each other.
"Stacy, I have never been with a woman who feel the same way I do. Girls look at me and they see an cocky, arrogant person but you see me as a kind, loving person," Randy said as he took her in his arms.
Stacy laid her head against his shoulder. "That's because they don't know the real you. They don't know the man whom I had fallen in love with."
"I love you, Stace." Randy leaned down and kissed her passionately.
"I love you too, Legend Killer," Stacy replied, giggling.
The End: