10 Times Randy Orton Broke Character
Come on, fess up, who thought they'd ever see Randy Orton do the splits?
As a third-generation talent, this pro wrestling malarkey comes naturally to Randy Orton. So naturally, in fact, that sometimes he finds himself getting a little too comfortable and Randy Orton the person spills over into Randy Orton the character.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. In many ways, it’s only made him more endearing, adding an extra dimension to whatever on-screen persona he's portraying at the time.
Over the years, such personas have included his Legend Killer shtick from the mid-2000s, the unhinged Viper with voices in his head who made a habit of punting people in the face, as well as the seasoned-pro known as the Apex Predator that he’d eventually evolve into.
But his tendency to veer away from those personas and, on occasion, break character completely, have meant we’ve also seen many other sides of Orton: from the Orton who lost his cool on live TV, to the Orton who spontaneously broke into dance or even helped himself to a mid-match hotdog. Let's look at some highlig
10. Stupid Kofi!
Kicking things off, it’s Randy Orton’s guide to how you shouldn’t react to a mistake on live TV.
Back in January 2010, Orton was squaring off against John Cena and Kofi Kingston in Triple Threat action in the main event of Raw. Orton would eventually score the win, pinning Kingston after the RKO, but there was something a little off about the finish: namely the fact that Orton totally lost his cool and threw a temper tantrum that would have made ‘90s-era Shawn Michaels proud.
After making his RKO an especially stiff one, a visibly-enraged Orton got to his feet and went on a foul-mouthed tirade, lambasting Kingston and yelling “stupid!” over and over, as well as some less-than-PG mutterings after the referee raised his hand.
Clearly, this was more than just Orton dialling it up as a heel. It was eventually revealed that Kingston had in fact been supposed to stay down for longer, possibly to take a punt kick, but in getting to his feet he threw off the timing of the finish slightly, hence Orton’s outburst.
Still, botch or no botch, this seemed a little excessive and was one of the more unsavoury examples of Orton breaking character.