“Walking a Straight Line”: Randy Orton Thanks Former WWE CEO and Mentor for Continuous Chances Despite Being “A D**k”

A good mentor can help shape our personal and professional lives in the long run. It looks like Randy Orton is thankful for having not one, but two of them. While he admitted the claim that he was in fact “an as****e”, he credited the pivotal roles of those who guided him through his initial days in WWE.

Randy Orton’s mentors

While talking with Logan Paul on his podcast, IMPAULSIVE, Orton accepted the fact that he felt he was rude and disrespectful during his initial days at WWE. This came as a response when Paul’s fellow podcast host posed an interesting question. Mike Majilak asked, “Do you think at some point in your career you were a d**k?” Additionally, Orton also talked about the people who were there with him during those days. He said he is grateful to Vince McMahon and Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque for giving him multiple chances. Orton said that he feels “blessed” as the two would make sure he, “was walking a straight line” whenever he messed up.

The Viper also talked about how he incurred multiple times and was sent away on various occasions. However, he believes all of that was done to discipline him and make him a better star. Orton also mentioned that Triple H not only acted as a colleague but also as a mentor during his initial days. According to him, Triple H was there whenever he felt he had veered off from the course. 

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While disrespectful backstage events were a common kayfabe during the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era, Orton was particularly infamous backstage.

Randy Orton and his backstage antics

During his initial days, Orton put on the persona of the Legend Killer who was rude and a bully. While it was still a kayfabe, there were reports that he blurred the lines between fiction and reality. He was known as a bully behind the curtains and many stars, particularly female wrestlers were his common target. While the two higher-ups at the company did help him out, Orton also decided to put in efforts to change his behavior.

While talking with Paul, he reflected that he sometimes could not believe that he acted a certain way back in those days. However, according to him, things changed after a particular incident. In an interview with WWE Magazine, he said a 60-day unpaid suspension that was followed by a four-week anger management class was something that helped him break the cycle.

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