Curiocity: Q&A With WWE Superstar Randy Orton
Retaliation after taking a loogie to the face cost him the World Heavyweight Championship, but Randy Orton said that's not how this story ends. The WWE Superstar will take on long-time nemesis Christian in a Street Fight tonight at the Target Center -- a fight he's hoping will win him back his coveted prize.
Before Randy faces his foe, he was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk about everything from his big fight, the journey that got him here and what might be on the horizon.
Q: Well, welcome to the sauna that is Minnesota. Have you been here before?
A: I have and usually in the winter so this is a different experience for me.
Q: Obviously you have a big fight tonight, how are you feeling right now? Are you ready?
A: I am ready. This past Sunday, we had a pay-per-view in Chicago, Money in the Bank, and I was the Heavyweight Champion going into the pay-per-view. I lost my title Sunday, I was disqualified because I was fighting Christian and he knew that if I got disqualified that he would've won the title. It was a stipulation of the match. Normally, if the Champ gets disqualified, he retains. But in this match, that wasn't the case. I got disqualified because he spit in my face and I just couldn't hold back. So I beat his ass and one thing led to another, referee called it and he won the title. So it wasn't a clean win by any means. So I'm a little upset right now -- or pissed off you could say. So tonight, we are in Minneapolis and I got a rematch with Christian. It's a street fight this time, no stipulations. You can't get DQ'd in a street fight, anything goes. So I'm hoping to get my title back here, in the great state of Minnesota.
Q: Do you have any pre-fight rituals? What do you do to get ready for a big fight?
A: Sure, sure. You know, what we do is very physical, mentally demanding as well. But I definitely take care of my body and stretch and warm up before a fight. It's funny because you can hear the crowd backstage and they get pumped up and sometimes you don't have enough time, the way the day goes, you don't have enough time to get warmed up. The next thing you know, you have five minutes until you're out. But right when you're in the holding area, right before you walk down that ramp, your entrance music plays. You can hear those people and you can hear that energy. Tonight will be no different. The energy level will be so high that if I go into this match cold, it won't matter. As soon as I hear those people, it will be like you're in the zone. Your body might as well be warmed up because you're ready, you have that adrenaline rush. I do have a ritual but it's kind of like, you don't know what you're going to do that night. ... Depends on what they throw at me, I just react accordingly.
Q: I see a few bruises, bandaids and scrapes on you right now. What would you say has been your worst injury?
A: I have a lot of them. Concussions are scary. I had one just a month ago in Madrid, Spain. It was my sixth over 10 years. I haven't had a lot back-to-back, so that's good. Concussions are scary, though. I've had major surgeries on both shoulders. I broke my clavicle twice. My worst injury, most painful? I dislocated my big toe and broke my three middle toes and my big toe on this foot was at a 90-degree angle. It was like on top of my foot. We were in Pennsylvania in a smaller country kind of place and the medics there didn't have stuff for pain that normally you'd be given right away. I think I went like three hours before I was given anything other than just Advil. It was brutal. Pain wise, that was the worse. The hardest to come back from would've been the shoulders. ... I've learned how to prepare better, get physical therapists, massage therapists, chiropractors and trainers work with me so my body's able to better withstand what I'm doing to it on almost a nightly basis. I've adapted.
Q: So you were exposed to this business at a very early age. (Orton's father is WWE Hall of Famer "Cowboy" Bob Orton, his uncle Barry is "Barry O" Orton and his grandfather is "The Big O," the late Bob Orton, Sr.) At what age did you know this is what you wanted to do?
A: Well that's funny. The happy, fun answer is, when I was a kid crawling around I wanted to be in it. But I looked up to my dad and never aspired to do what he did because it was never talked about, it was never something like ... it was hard to explain but I never thought of myself as capable. I had very bad acne growing up, I had braces for six years, from the fifth to the 11th grade. I didn't look in the mirror and feel like someone who should be on TV. You know what I mean? No girlfriends. I wasn't some stud athlete at school that was destined to be a professional wrestler. I was just an insecure little guy that didn't want to go to school because I had zits on my upper lip. I went into the military, which didn't work out and then after that, it was like, 'Dad, do you think I have a shot here?' I started working out, he got my foot in the door, I took it from there and I had a lot to prove because my father, uncle and grandfather had all wrestled. And at the time I was the only other third generation wrestler besides "The Rock." So I had a lot to live up to. Especially starting at 19, where I had never been in the ring before. ... Eventually, I made my television debut in April of '02, went on and captured titles here and there, won the World Rumble, Main Event at Wrestle Mania and the rest is really history.
Q: It's really hard to imagine you as a pimply, unpopular, insecure kid. And I know the WWE has a program to fight against bullying and promote positive social environments. Were you bullied as a kid? Is that program something that's important to you?
A: I was. I'm able to talk to kids nowadays that are bullied. When I do autograph signings, or meet and greets or Make-A-Wish type of things, where I'm able to talk to these kids, one-on-one sometimes, and like I've had kids get teary-eyed and tell me about it. I'll bring something up, like how's school? What sports do you play? And they'll kind of look down. And I'll get it out of them or their parents will tell me about it and hearing about that kind of thing really breaks my heart. I'm a dad, I have a 3-year-old daughter. I'm sure other parents and anyone out there who has any common sense despises the thought of anyone being bullied. But it's something that's out there and something that needs to be dealt with. But it's hard because there are so many different scenarios that can be classified as bullying. Sometimes you might need the cops involved.
There was one kid who had to move to a different school to get away from it, and it followed them there. And it's like, how do you give advice to parents about something like that? All I can say is how it made me strong and you gotta just stick in there, maybe don't run away from the problem. It's just about how you deal with it. There's not just one way to deal with it. My dad was gone a lot growing up so my mom would always say, be the bigger man, walk away. But that doesn't always work. You get your butt kicked. Then you don't go to school the next day because you have a black eye and when you finally do go to school, they all know why you didn't go, because you got your ass beat. And then it becomes 10-fold. That's what happened to me. And dad wasn't around then, his advice: Punch him in the nose. But it's like, if some little boys picking on my daughter, you know, I might have to tell her where to kick them to get them to stop. That's just the way it is. Maybe that's wrong, but at the same time, there's only so much I can say.
The fact that the WWE is so involved in anti-bullying, it's really an honor to be involved with them. And being in a WWE film, "That's What I Am," it had a really good message.
Q: Do you see more films in your future?
A: My schedule with WWE is all year, unless there's an injury. To do anything like that really takes a lot of time, unless it's one scene, you know, you gotta be flying back and forth. John Cena filmed something in Australia and it was like, he would fly from Australia to the states, back and forth every week to do our show, do the movie, do our show. He's married but he doesn't have a kid. I can't be away from my kid for three or four months. Does that mean I don't see myself being in more movies or taking the acting thing more seriously? No, I do see that. Now? Maybe not. I think there are other priorities in my life, like being a father and a husband, that are way ahead of that. I'm really feeling good with my role in the WWE right now. The acting thing is fun but we'll kind of play it by ear. Definitely not ruling it out. I love movies, would love to be an action hero. How cool would that be?
Tickets are still available for WWE Smackdown at 6:30 p.m. tonight at the Target Center. ("There's air conditioning, might be a selling point," Orton says.) Orton will face Christian for a chance to win his title back. Fans can also watch Intercontinental Champion Ezekiel Jackson, Mark Henry, Sheamus, Kane, Cody Rhodes/Ted DiBiase, Daniel Bryan and many more live. For tickets or more information, click here.
