Randy Orton is one of the most respected people in the WWE locker room, but it took a long time for the Viper to earn this status.
Orton is the latest guest on WWE's Out of Character podcast, hosted by Ryan Satin. Episode 53 was conducted live at the WrestleMania Axxess Superstore last weekend in Dallas, TX.
The former Undisputed Champion discussed a lot of topics, including his personal development, his desire to give back to the business, being a huge Goldberg fan when he was younger, setting records in WWE and much more.
Randy Orton was thrust into WWE's main event picture early into his career. He'd go on to become the youngest World Champion in company history. Orton admits he wasn't mature enough for that level of success and the pitfalls that come with it. As Orton puts it, it was a case of "too much too soon."
"Gosh, years, you know?" he said about earning respect backstage. "And then, I kind of started to get an attitude and I got mixed in with the wrong crowd, I guess you could say. [I] made a couple of bad decisions and that respect I think kind of got put on hold for a while."
Randy Orton was a member of the Evolution faction, along with Triple H, Ric Flair and Batista. That group had a memorable split, which saw the senior members turn on Orton. According to Orton, WWE discussed him and Triple H breaking away from Evolution, but his behavior issues derailed those plans.
"I think there was even an instance where the plan was for me and Triple H to go and do our thing out of Evolution," he continued. "I might have the order of this wrong but I want to say they went with Dave Batista instead because of me. [It was] maybe in '05 of '06 and I just wasn't ready. It was like maybe 2005, 2006, 2007 where I was really having some close calls with just being a dumb kid. Too much too soon. [It was] most definitely too much too soon."
Catch Randy Orton's appearance on the Out of Character podcast:
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