WWE superstar Randy Orton recently appeared on the Busted Open Satellite Radio show hosted by Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman, which you can check out on Sirius 92, XM 208 and on the Sports Zone app. Below are some interview highlights:
Daniel Bryan’s presence in WWE:
“Yeah he can do some stuff, can’t he? When he blows that come back, as we say, he gets the people going. You know, he’s got a little, he goes crazy with the Ultimate Warrior thing, it’s like he is always morphing into like Bryan Hogan, instead of Bryan Daniel-or Daniel Bryan, or whatever his name is now. I remember, one time my dad, like I just had a match and I came home and I’m talking about how Bryan Danielson, you know hit me in the back of the head with a title, and I feel like I got a concussion. And my dad the next day was like, ‘you know I was really worried about you cause you kept calling him Bryan Danielson.’ And I’m like, well that was his name, that’s how we know him, I call him that. The WWE likes to change things up, don’t they?”
A John Cena story:
“I tagged with him, last week or the week before, on a Raw Supershow, or a live event Supershow, both rosters were there. And we’re out there in the ring. And it’s me, Cena, and somebody. Maybe Kofi or Sheamus, against Big Show, Mark Henry, and somebody else, I forget. And Cena says, ‘Can you do a dropkick tonight?’ And I go, uhh, yeah. Can you? And he goes; and we’re in the ring! Like, we’re about to—the bells about to ring. And he’s starting, and he goes, ‘Alright, I’m gonna tag you in in a second. Let’s do a double drop kick.’ Now I’m thinking in my head, ‘This motherf-cker don’t need to be doing no dropkicks.’ That’s what I’m thinking. So he tags me in, ducks a punch from Show, Show turns around. Before I can even step through the ropes, Cena is up in the air dropkicking Show. And I’m like, looking at him, I thought you said a double dropkick? So, next time he calls anything, I’m gonna think twice. Because I ended up jumping up in the air, while Shows already on the ground, and just landing on my head. So it was a double dropkick where he (Cena) went and I then I slip- Oh-Oh-I tried to get—nope. So everyone in the back, I come back and they were like, (clapping) ‘Great dropkick.’ I watched it back, and it looks like I just jumped up in the air as high as I can and then land. Nothing happened; I just jumped up and fell. It was brutal. Thank you, John Cena.”
Cena’s Five Moves of Doom:
“No. Hold on. I only got about four moves. So don’t throw stones, now. But yeah. He shouldn’t be doing dropkicks. Nah, I tell him all the time actually. But, dammit. He tries.”
On his babyface character:
“Yeah. It’s always fun when the crowd reacts like that. And you know what? We will be in some country over in Europe sometimes, and they’re not like that at all. But you gotta just, each crowd is different. And you gotta know that. You can do the same exact thing, or have the same finish in one town, that’s over huge. And the next town, it’s like a fart in church.
The more over I can get as a babyface, when I turn, the bigger the heel I’ll be. So if they wanna keep me a babyface, I’ll just keep doing my thing. And keep my five or six or four, whatever it is, moves. Keep them crisp and see what happens. But right now, being the good guy, it’s cool. Because they’re digging it.”
On his current spot in WWE:
“It could be frustrating, but I just don’t let it be. There was a time in my career where I would let it get me frustrated, but now it’s like I get paid well to do what I love. They tell me to do this, they tell me to jump, I’ll jump. And I’m gonna jump as high as I can because I know that all my fans out there, all those 2.5 million people that follow me on Twitter, they want to see me give a hundred and ten percent. So I’m gonna do what WWE tells me to do out there, I’m gonna work with who they want me to work with. I’ll give my suggestions when I feel they might be used wisely but I’m just gonna give it my all. And that’s kind of the unspoken motto backstage. Just give it a hundred and ten percent. And our guys do.”
Is being a multi-generational star a blessing and a curse:
“Yes and no. I think it might depend on who your old man was too? Mine is a hall of famer. So is Cody’s, so is Ted’s, so is Curtis’s. I wanna say Michael McGillicutty, but that’s blasphemy, that’s awful. Yeah I’m happy for him by the way; he got the Curtis Axel moniker, in respect of his father, and his grandfather, Larry the Axe. That’s cool. So I’m happy for him, that was a long time coming. But yeah, I don’t think Curtis Axel, his father being Mr. Perfect, hurts him. I think it helps him. Immediately, you know who he is. Even if you don’t know who he is, you know where he came from. And you know you loved where he came from. You remember his dad if you are any kind of wrestling fan. So you’re gonna wanna be interested in what this kid has to offer. Whether or not he is able to provide the entertainment factor is another story. That’s up to him.”
How does the current class of WWE superstars compare to his class of new talent:
“I could say yes, I could say yes it is. The class that I was in with Lesnar and those guys, there’s no Lesnars or Batistas walking around there right now. Big E, he’s a strong dude. Ryback’s a strong dude. But if you put Batista next to those guys, he was 6’6, 320 lbs. Those guys are pushing 6’1-6’2. But Batista was wide. He was a big old dude. Those guys could beat him in a bench press contest but I’d rather look like Dave. If I was gonna intimidate somebody? Give me the Batista build, any day.”
