Sports Cafe: Randy Orton

Randal Keith "Randy" Orton(born April 1, 1980)is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE wrestling on its SmackDown brand.Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr., father "Cowboy" Bob Orton, as well as his uncle Barry O, all competed in the professional wrestling industry.Before being promoted to the main WWE roster, Orton trained in and wrestled for Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling for a month. He was then sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where Orton held the OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions.After signing with WWE, Orton became a member of the stable Evolution, which quickly led to a WWE Intercontinental Championship reign, his first title with the company.Orton also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting Hall of Famers and physically attacking veterans of the industry outside of appropriate restrictions.At age 24, Orton became the youngest person ever to hold the World Heavyweight Championship.With this win, Orton departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, Orton and Edge held the World Tag Team Championship.After the team disbanded, during mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night.Orton formed the group The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in 2008, however, they would disband in 2010 with Orton returning to singles competition. Overall, Orton is an eight-time world champion, having won the World Heavyweight Championship twice and the WWE Championship six times. He is also the winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble match.Orton made his wrestling debut in 2000 at the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling (MMWA-SICW) in St. Louis, Missouri, an offshoot of the historic St. Louis Wrestling Club headed by Sam Muchnick.There, he was trained by both the promotion and his father, "Cowboy" Bob Orton. He wrestled for the promotion for one month,where he performed with wrestlers such as Ace Strange and Mark Bland.Orton also refereed a few matches with World Organized Wrestling, a promotion where his uncle Barry Orton worked.In 2001, Orton signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was sent to its developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky, where he continued his training. During his time in OVW, Orton wrestled the likes of Rico Constantino and The Prototype and teamed with Bobby Eaton during a tag team title tournament. He won the OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions by defeating Mr. Black on February 14, 2001, and Flash Flanagan on May 5, 2001

The following night, after Orton successfully defended the championship against Benoit in a rematch, Evolution threw Orton a mock celebration, only to reveal that they were not pleased with his new victory. While Batista had Orton propped on his shoulders in elation, Triple H gave him a pleased thumbs up and then abruptly changed it to a thumbs-down, which was followed by Batista's dropping Orton to the mat. Ric Flair and Batista attacked Orton in the ring as Triple H revealed his jealousy for Orton's title. He ordered Orton to hand over the championship, but he refused, spitting in Triple H's face and hitting him with the title belt.Orton's break-up with Evolution began a new storyline for him as a crowd favorite when he continued to feud with his former stablemates.A month later, Orton lost his championship to Triple H at Unforgiven.Seeking revenge, Orton lashed out at Evolution members, catching them by surprise during a show by giving them a large cake as a make-up gift, which he came out of to beat and humiliate the group.At Taboo Tuesday, Orton defeated Ric Flair in a Steel Cage match. After this, Orton experienced another push, becoming General Manager of the Raw brand for a week following a match stipulation at Survivor Series where he picked up the win for his team by last pinning Triple H in a 4 on 4 Survivor Series match.He continued to feud with Triple H, using his authority to place his opponents at severe disadvantages during title defenses. Orton was granted another chance at the championship in January 2005, but lost a six-man championship Elimination Chamber match to Triple H at New Year's Revolution. On the January 10 episode of Raw, Orton defeated Batista to earn a match against Triple H at the Royal Rumble for the World Heavyweight title. At the Royal Rumble, Triple H defeated Orton to retain the World title.Following Armageddon, Orton entered the 2006 Royal Rumble match as the thirtieth and final wrestler, but he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Mysterio won the match and a title shot, and Orton urged him to put the title shot at stake in a match at No Way Out. In the weeks preceding No Way Out, Orton made disparaging remarks about Eddie Guerrero, Mysterio's friend who had died a few months previously, in an attempt to gain villain heat.Many fans felt the comments were unwarranted and highly distasteful so soon after Guerrero's death in November 2005.Orton won at No Way Out, earning Mysterio's title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22.General Manager Theodore Long re-added Mysterio to the WrestleMania 22 title match, however, making it a Triple Threat match between Orton, Mysterio, and then-champion, Kurt Angle. On April 2, at WrestleMania 22, Orton was pinned by Mysterio, making Mysterio the World Heavyweight Champion and ending their on-screen rivalry.On the July 23 episode of Raw, Orton was named as the number one contender at SummerSlam for John Cena's WWE Championship.Weeks before their scheduled bout at SummerSlam, Orton attacked Cena on three separate occasions by performing RKOs on him.At SummerSlam, Orton lost the title match to Cena, who pinned Orton after executing an FU. The following night on Raw, Orton demanded a rematch for the title, but his request was declined by Raw General Manager William Regal. Orton then took his demands to Mr. McMahon, who also refused to give Orton a rematch unless he proved himself. That night, Orton interfered in Cena's match by assaulting Cena and kicking Cena's father, who was at ringside, in the head.Orton was granted his title rematch against Cena at Unforgiven and won by disqualification when Cena refused to stop punching Orton in the corner;however, Cena retained the WWE title because a title cannot change hands by disqualification. After the match, Cena's father, who was again at ringside, kicked Orton in the head.At No Mercy, Orton was awarded the WWE Championship by Mr. McMahon after Cena was stripped of the title due to an injury the previous week, which also ended the Orton-Cena storyline prematurely. Orton then lost the title to Triple H in the opening match of the show, making Orton's reign the fourth shortest in WWE history.Later in the night, Orton defeated Triple H in a Last Man Standing match to regain the title, thus becoming a two-time WWE Champion in one night.After defending his title against Sheamus at Hell in a Cell,Orton feuded with Wade Barrett, who attempted to use John Cena to help capture Orton's championship. After successfully defending his title against Barrett at Bragging Rights and Survivor Series,Orton defeated Barrett again on the November 22 episode of Raw, only to lose his title immediately afterwards to The Miz, who cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase.Orton failed to recapture the title after losing a Tables match to The Miz at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view and again in a singles match at the Royal Rumble in January 2011 after interference from CM Punk.On the January 31 edition of Raw, Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris teamed up against Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov for the WWE Tag Team Championship in which they lost. After the match, Randy Orton entered the ring and punted Husky Harris in the skull, (kayfabe) injuring Harris. The following month at the Elimination Chamber event Orton participated in the Raw Elimination Chamber match but was unsuccessful in winning.Randy Orton would then, over the ongoing weeks, punt all members of the New Nexus, despite interference by CM Punk, removing each, one by one, from active competition. At WrestleMania XXVII, Randy Orton defeated CM Punk, but was unable to punt him in the skull, thus leaving CM Punk as the only active member of the New Nexus. McGillicutty, Otunga and Ryan returned on the April 11 edition of Raw and again cost Orton another shot at the WWE Championship and bringing New Nexus back to full strength. On the April 25 edition of Raw, at the WWE draft, Orton was drafted to SmackDown and beat Punk at Extreme Rules thus ending his feud with New Nexus.In November 2005, Orton announced his engagement to his girlfriend Samantha Speno.They married on September 21, 2007. In December 2007, Orton announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child, a daughter. Orton and his wife welcomed Alanna Marie Orton on July 12, 2008.He had a tattoo on his left arm that read "USMC" for United States Marine Corps but covered it up after receiving a bad conduct discharge from the service. He was sent home after serving thirty-eight days in military prison at Camp Pendleton in California.Orton suffers from hypermobile shoulders. After being medically cleared to wrestle and after he broke his collarbone in a Last Man Standing match at One Night Stand against Triple H, Orton re-injured his collarbone in a motorcycle accident.