10 Reasons Randy Orton Is "Mr. Survivor Series"

10. Survivor Series 2003

As much as Survivor Series itself has been diminished in recent years as a PPV itself, there's still quite a lot of clout that comes with being the sole survivor of one of its elimination tag matches, and that was no less true in 2003, when Orton, in his in-ring Survivor Series debut, fulfilled precisely that.

However, to say the match was about Orton would be a lie. The then-Legend Killer was recruited by Eric Bischoff along with Chris Jericho, Christian, Mark Henry, and Scott Steiner to face Stone Cold Steve Austin's babyface team. The leader of the winning team got to retain their job as RAW general manager, and the entire video package focused on those stakes. So yes, all of you complaining about this year's Survivor Series being yet another McMahon family squabble where the wrestlers play second fiddle: you have a pretty fair point.

Still, even as Orton was less experienced and thus more limited in his in-ring contributions, it spoke highly of what the company saw with his potential. The match ends with Orton getting the sneaky win over a bloodied Shawn Michaels after interference from Batista, and this would start an unprecedented three year streak.

Also: he RKO'd Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban at the event, so that's pretty cool.