- Height: 6'5''
- Weight: 235 lbs.
- From: St. Louis, Mo.
- Signature Move: RKO
- First WWE Game: WWE Smackdown Shut Your Mouth
- Career Highlights: WWE Champion; World Heavyweight Champion; Intercontinental Champion; World Tag Team Champion; 2009 Royal Rumble Match winner
From the moment he was hatched, The Viper walked among the ring's most revered figures, even calling one of them “dad.” His father is WWE Hall of Famer “Cowboy" Bob Orton, his uncle Barry “Barry O” Orton and his grandfather, the late "The Big O,” Bob Orton Sr., all fierce and rugged grapplers of their generations.
Most kids remember their first ball game or school play; Randy's childhood memories include sitting in the kitchen of his family's St. Louis home with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, and repairing a broken banister leaned on by Andre the Giant. He wasn't even five years-old when he watched his father knock out "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff in the main event at the inaugural WrestleMania.
The voices coiling through Orton’s head today have not misguided him. And neither did Triple H and Ric Flair, who groomed Orton early on, welcoming him into their elite faction, Evolution. Under their tutelage, the 24-year-old Orton became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history at SummerSlam 2004. However, the next night on Raw, an envious Triple H, who coveted Orton’s Championship, attacked his stable mate and jettisoned him from the faction.
The treachery was shocking, but also critical to Randy’s own evolution. In the years that followed, he perfected his “Legend Killing” RKO—a signature move named after his own initials and the maneuver's knockout vigor. How feared is it? Just ask the men who’ve succumbed to a lightning-quick RKO strike from literally every possible angle or position: Mick Foley, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
As dangerous as he is solo, Orton was arguably even more so lethal when paired with Edge as half of Rated-RKO in 2004, and with The Legacy’s Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase throughout the “Age of Orton” in 2009. More recently, The Viper’s chosen to partner with internal voices stirred by Intermittent Explosive Disorder, a disease marked by extreme outbursts of rage. Though Orton is now presumably IED-free, the effects of his skull-rattling punts to the head linger for its many recipients, including Batista, Dusty Rhodes, half the McMahons and even John Cena’s father, to name a few.
