Once known as "The Legend Killer," Randy Orton has become a legend in WWE himself over the span of over two decades. From his origins in Ohio Valley Wrestling alongside the likes of John Cena and Batista, to his main roster debut as a member of Evolution, to becoming the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in WWE history at the age of 24, to what he's still doing in the ring now, mixing it up with the likes of the Bloodline, Kevin Owens, and GUNTHER, he's become a top icon in the industry.
Orton may be a well-respected multiple time world champion now, but that wasn't always the case. Back in his early days, Orton was known to cause a ruckus within locker rooms, with stories of defecating in handbags and bullying making the rounds over the years. Following a 60-day suspension over marijuana usage, Orton went to anger management classes for four weeks to tone down his bad behavior and disrespect to others backstage. He told WWE Magazine back in 2006 that it cost him $15,000 and he had to live on campus. He explained he started to realize he was wrong in a lot of situations, and knew he had gotten a reputation of being "being hard to work with and being a d***."
He said back in 2006, that he didn't "flip out" anymore after attending anger management. Despite the work on himself and changed behavior, there are still some wrestlers who can't stand Orton from things he's done in the past. He's also not exactly been a saint throughout his career even after doing the work on himself, ruffling the feathers of some of the newer stars in the WWE over the years.
Kofi Kingston is no stranger to a sudden stop to his pushes in WWE, but one back in 2009 came at the hands of Orton when the pair were facing off in the ring.Kingston was put in a storyline with Orton where he interfered in a match between "The Viper" and John Cena, so Orton targeted him while Kingston's fans were fully behind him. The push came to an end, however, and Kingston was sent back down the card after an in-ring incident with Orton that caused real heat between the pair.
During a match on "WWE Raw" involving Kingston, Cena, and Orton in a triple threat, Kingston was supposed to take Orton's punt kink to the head. Kingston seemingly forgot the script to the match, and when Orton knocked him down, he kept getting back up, presumably thinking Orton was meant to hit him with an RKO. Orton hit the RKO rather than the scripted punt, and audibly yelled "Stupid!" at Kingston multiple times before pinning him for the victory. Orton was visibly upset when his hand was raised by the referee and spat in the ring.Orton caused a scene backstage and complained about Kingston, and thus, Kingston's push was halted and his feud with Orton was abruptly ended.
Kingston never commented on the issue until 10 years later in another feud with Orton over the WWE Championship. Kingston posted on social media that he was not the same kid Orton buried in 2009. Despite the post, there were no reports of heat backstage between the two for this feud, and it's likely the pair have mended fences since their initial issues back in the day.
Orton found himself in hot water in 2011 after he appeared on aa radio show based out of Phoenix, Arizona while he was WWE Champion. One of the hosts of the program mentioned he would want to be a "method actor" if he worked with Kelly Kelly and Orton replied, "I could name a few method actors in WWE. Like, ten guys," implying that the Divas Champion slept around backstage.
Orton apologized to Kelly on Twitter. He said he put his foot in his mouth and he was going to try and make it right. Orton urged fans to trash him all they wanted, but to drop the topic out of respect for Kelly.
"The fact that she has dated a few guys I work with doesn't make her a bad person, and is also none of my or anyone else's business," Orton wrote. "Yesterday I got caught up in a live radio interview and brought Kelly's personal life into it. It was completely uncalled for. Kelly I hope one day you can forgive me."
The comments about Kelly got Orton heat backstage, and those behind-the-scenes in WWE said while Kelly has been romantically linked to numerous wrestlers, many believed Orton shouldn't have made that fact public, as it went against the wholesome imagine that Kelly portrayed on WWE TV. Others believed Kelly to be a genuinely nice person who didn't need to be singled out as promiscuous.A sourced noted that if another wrestler said what Orton did about Kelly, he would be due for a career burial, but he got away without repercussion because he was considered one of the company's "golden boys."
One wrestler who infamously can't stand Orton is Ken Anderson also known as Mr. Kennedy in WWE. Kennedy found initial success in the company, feuding with The Undertaker and even winning Money in the Bank, but his push was abruptly dropped and he was gone from the company shortly thereafter in 2009. His departure came after he hit a botched belly-to-back suplex on Orton, who landed on a shoulder that was troubling him at the time.
Rumors within WWE began swirling that Orton was upset and called for Kennedy to be fired, allegedly claiming Kennedy was an unsafe worker and said his injury was "career-threatening."Anderson also suggested that John Cena, alongside Orton, complained to Vince McMahon about his in-ring work, which prompted him being let go from the company. Orton posted to his own forum back in 2009 that Kennedy was "in denial" and didn't know how to work. He said Kennedy dropped him on his head and he was sore the following week. Orton claimed that Kennedy never apologized to him.
Kennedy took accountability for his own release many years later, in an interview in 2023. He said nobody got him fired, he got himself fired, and the incident with Orton was "just the straw that broke the camel's back," as he said he was on thin ice with McMahon already. Kennedy confirmed he and Orton had buried the hatchet, however, and even had a discussion during a TV taping a few years prior to the interview.
Another infamous backstage rumor regarding Orton is a story of him defecating in the bag of a female star back in his earlier days, around 2003. That woman wasRochelle Loewen, a former WWE Diva Search contestant. Loewen confirmed in an interview in 2020 that Orton had not left a fecal mess in her bag, but rather self-tanning lotion and baby oil. She did say she wouldn't put it past Orton to do what the internet thought Orton had left her. Loewen also claimed that Orton had a "vendetta" against her the entire time she was with the company.
She said she thought it was because she initially didn't know his name, because she wasn't a big fan of wrestling before she worked for WWE. Loewen said that she told Orton she thought he looked familiar and asked if he was from Canada. According to the former Diva, he looked her up and down before telling her he hated Canada and he hated her.
Loewen claimed that after she finished filming for the day, she came back to find her things destroyed.Loewen claimed Orton acted that way because he was infatuated with her, but he also had nothing to do with the Diva Search competition.
When Orton was in Evolution alongside Batista, the pair rubbed a legendary tag team the wrong way during a match. As explained in the WWE "Ruthless Aggression" series about that era of wrestling, when Evolution faced off against The Dudley Boyz in the ring, everyone walked out of the dark match with injuries and beliefs that everyone had worked stiff against each other.Batista suffered a triceps injury so serious that WWE considered replacing him in the stable and Orton's ankle injury caused him to miss four months of action.
The bad blood between Orton and Bubba Ray Dudley, also known as Bully Ray, lasted for years after the match. In 2008, Orton said he never liked the tag team starand called him the "most out of shape, fat, non-work-ethic-having person" he knew.Batista believed that Bully Ray wasn't a fan of him or Orton because he was "jealous to begin with" and he was always a "d***" to the younger stars when Evolution first formed.
In November 2024, Bully Ray said that he and Orton had squashed all of their issues from the previous era of WWE. He said neither one wants to speak a bad word about the other ever again and they were "hugging and kissing" when they saw each other. He admitted, however, to having called Orton a "miserable prick" back in the day.
CM Punk can reportedly be notoriously difficult to get along with backstage so it's no surprise that he and Orton weren't the biggest fans of each other during Punk's first run in WWE.In April 2024, the men sat down for an episode of "WWE Playback" where they reacted to their WrestleMania 27 match from 2011. Orton said he didn't see eye-to-eye with Punk and he felt his own insecurities affected their relationship. He said he didn't specifically "hate" Punk, but felt insecure around him due to "The Second City Saint's" "backstage gimmick."
Punk admitted he also felt some animosity toward "The Viper," but said they butted heads so often during his first run with the company because they were so alike. He admitted they didn't get along, but said because of that, they created magic in the ring together.
A few years later, Orton returned from injury at Survivor Series: WarGames in 2023 and led his babyface team to victory. That was also the night Punk returned to WWE after almost a decade away, having been fired from AEW months prior. Fans of Orton thought Punk's shocking surprise return at the end of the event overshadowed Orton's return from his major back injury. Orton said on WWE's "The Bump" he was initially annoyed, because WWE let fans know he would be coming back ahead of the surprise of Punk. He said he could tell he had matured a lot over the years, because part of him wanted to be "irate" before he realized they both got a great reaction from the crowd. Orton said on a personal level, he was glad Punk was back, and there seems to be no heat between the two over their dueling returns.
One WWE Hall of Famer who Orton had heat with back in the 2010s was Road Dogg, who graduated from D-Generation X member to hold multiple executive positions within WWE, and is now the co-lead writer of "WWE SmackDown," the brand where Orton competes.Road Dogg talked about their heat on a 2022 episode of his "Oh... You Didn't Know" podcast. He and Billy Gunn teamed up with "The Viper" during the WrestleMania Revenge Tour in 2013, and his behind-the-scenes issues with Orton, which stemmed from a perceived lack of respect, affected their matches.
He described an incident where it was just Orton, himself, and Gunn on a bus, with Orton last one on. Road Dogg said he was annoyed that they were waiting on Orton, who he believed should get off the bus first, since he and Gunn were the veterans. He explained it was his ego and pride, but acknowledged Orton is also an "alpha" with ego and pride as well, as he was one of the top guys at the time.
Road Dogg said they butted heads on the tour, but looking back, said it was him being egotistical and thinking the younger star should bow down. He said he realized he, as the old-timer, needed to bend a little. Hesaid he and Orton had a much-needed conversation to resolve the heat between them, and the two have developed a solid working relationship since their 2013 issues.
Orton may have undergone anger management, but didn't completely stop some of his sassy comments, especially on social media. Back in 2020, Orton and former NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa got into a war of words on X (then known as Twitter)after a Takeover: In Your House event.Orton took to social media to joke about leg slaps, forever a hot topic regarding professional wrestling on social media. It refers to when a wrestler slaps their leg to make a move sound like it really connects to their opponent, like the loud "crack" when a super kick connects to someone's chin.
Orton posted that he heard that Takeover: In Your Hours was great and he was "slappin' his leg" for the "NXT" stars. He signed the post "sincerely, #legslap."Ciampa fired back the following day at Orton and wrote that his daughter had been having trouble sleeping, but he found a remedy in Orton's matches. "Better than NyQuil," Ciampa posted. "Sincerely, #AnEntireLockerRoomWhoBustedTheirAsses."Orton wasn't finished with Ciampa and posted about seemingly hurting the feelings of the "self-appointed locker room leader of a wrestling school" and asked when time leg slap classes started. He even took a shot at a fan who responded and called them a "f****** mark." Ciampa didn't respond to the leg slap class post and chose to let things go.
Ciampa moved to the main roster from "NXT" in April 2022. Since there, then have been no reported issues between himself and Orton over the years, and the leg slap lives on in both WWE developmental and on the main roster.
While Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Orton never got into a backstage altercation or war or words publicly, Orton upset The Rock after "The Viper" shared his thoughts on "The Great One's" returnahead of his "Once in a Lifetime" match with John Cena with ESPN.When Rock came back to television in 2011, Orton wasn't too keen on having to share TV time with him after Rock's seven years away from the company. He buried The Rock in an interview on ESPN Radio and claimed Rock used teleprompters to cut his promos, and stood on Cena's side in the feud, which at the time, was blurring the lines of kayfabe and reality.
Orton said he thought The Rock turned his back on WWE for Hollywood and Rock lied to the fans when he said he would never leave again.He compared Cena's "about 2,000 matches" in the last seven years to Rock's zero. He alluded to the fact he believed Rock had ring rust and said he thought Cena was wittier and "10 times" the performer in the ring compared to Rock.
Orton's words to ESPN upset The Rock so much ahead of WrestleMania 28that he went to Vince McMahon. Orton said former Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis pulled him aside backstage and told him McMahon didn't like what Orton said. Orton explained that Rock called the company about Orton burying him in the interview. The pair have reportedly squashed their beef since and no longer have heat, but haven't crossed paths in the ring or on the microphone since, even after The Rock's recent WWE runs ahead of WrestleManias 40 and 41.
