Randy Orton

Randy Orton

Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand.Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler as his grandfather Bob Orton, Sr., his father "Cowboy" Bob Orton, and his uncle Barry Orton all competed in the professional wrestling business. Before being promoted to the main World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now 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 he held the OVW Hardcore Championship twice.Orton became a member of the stable Evolution shortly after his WWE debut, which quickly led to an Intercontinental Championship reign, his first title with the company. 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. At age 24, he became the youngest world champion in WWE history after he won the World Heavyweight Championship. With this win, he 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, they held the World Tag Team Championship. After Rated-RKO disbanded in mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night, when at 27 he became the second youngest two-time WWE Champion. He formed the group The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in 2008. It disbanded in 2010 and Orton returned to singles competition. From 2013 to 2015, Orton was aligned with The Authority, who named him the "face of the WWE". In late 2016, he joined The Wyatt Family, winning the SmackDown Tag Team Championship with stablemates Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper before turning on Wyatt in February 2017. He won his first United States Championship in 2018, becoming the eighteenth overall Grand Slam Champion after already having been the Seventeenth Triple Crown Champion. Orton has held the WWE Championship nine 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 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2013 to become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion by defeating John Cena. Orton is recognized by WWE as having the fourth-most world championship victories in history behind only Triple H, Ric Flair and John Cena. He is the winner of the 2013 Money in the Bank ladder match, both the 2009 and 2017 Royal Rumble matches and has headlined multiple WWE pay-per-view events, including WrestleMania XXV and WrestleMania XXX.

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