In 2009, Randy Orton was arguably at his most evil, and one of his most infamous moments saw him handcuff Triple H and DDT Stephanie McMahon during an episode of Raw. While Orton appeared confident, even sealing his twisted act with a kiss on McMahon, he was actually a bag of nerves.
At 324 million views and counting, the segment is one of WWE’s most-watched videos on YouTube. When the topic came up during McMahon’s ‘What’s Your Story’ podcast, Orton opened up on how he felt at the time.
“I was in my twenties, and I was so nervous. And so, not really realizing how cool of a moment it would have eventually been.”
The segment remains legendary to this day, despite Orton’s nerves. On the podcast, he shared that he was hoping at the time that the segment would go too long, forcing WWE to pull it from the broadcast. Talking about the ‘Iss-K’ as he felt uncomfortable recalling the kiss, Orton said the whole thing was “super awkward” for him.
Orton may have stood tall on the night, but Triple H got his payback, beating the Viper at WrestleMania 25 to retain the WWE Championship. While Orton and the Game have been both allies and enemies since then, kissing Stephanie is an act Randy is happy to leave in the past.