Randy Orton | |
---|---|
Birth name | Randal Keith Orton |
Born | Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. | April 1, 1980
Spouse(s) | Samantha Speno
(m. 2007; div. 2013)Kimberly Kessler
(m. 2015) |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Bob Orton Jr. (father) Barry Orton (uncle) Bob Orton (grandfather) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[1] |
Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
Billed from | St. Louis, Missouri[1] |
Trained by | Bob Orton Jr. Fit Finlay Mid Missouri Wrestling Alliance Ohio Valley Wrestling[2] |
Debut | March 18, 2000[3] |
Military service | |
Service/ | United States Marine Corps |
Years of service | 1998–1999 |
Rank | Private First Class |
Unit | 1st Battalion, 4th Marines |
Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time,[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Orton has the tied-third most world championship reigns in history, and a career spanning over 20 years.
Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton, father Bob Orton Jr., and uncle Barry Orton were all wrestlers.[12][13] Before being signed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), he trained in and wrestled for the Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association and Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling. He was then signed by the WWF and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he held the OVW Hardcore Championship twice.[14] He became a member of the stable Evolution shortly after his WWE debut, which quickly led to an Intercontinental Championship reign, his first championship with the company.[15] He also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting and then physically attacking WWE Hall of Famers and wrestling veterans.[1]
At the age of 24, Orton became the youngest world champion in WWE history after he won the World Heavyweight Championship.[16][17] With this win, he was kicked 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, they held the World Tag Team Championship.[18] After Rated-RKO disbanded in mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night, becoming the second youngest two-time WWE Champion at the age of 27.[19][20] In 2008, he formed The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr., and served as its leader until the group's disbandment in 2010. Orton was the winner of the 2013 Money in the Bank ladder match, and after successfully cashing his contract in, he aligned with The Authority until 2015, during which he was named the "face of the WWE". In 2016, he joined The Wyatt Family, winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championship with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper before turning on them in 2017. He won his first United States Championship in 2018, becoming the 18th overall Grand Slam Champion after already having been the 17th Triple Crown Champion.
Orton's rivalry with John Cena is one of the longest rivalries in WWE history and ranked among its greatest.[21] Orton has held the WWE Championship[a] 10 times and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship four times. He was the final holder of the World Heavyweight Championship, which he unified with the WWE Championship to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in 2013.[22] Orton is recognized by WWE as having the third-most world championship victories in history at 14, behind John Cena and Ric Flair (both 16) and tied with Triple H (also 14). All totaled, he has won 20 championships in WWE.
Orton is also a two-time Royal Rumble match winner (2009[23] and 2017) and has headlined multiple WWE pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania 25[24] and WrestleMania XXX.[25] Following his match at the 2021 Survivor Series, he broke Kane's record for wrestling the most PPV matches in WWE history.[26]
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