Randy Orton: “God I Miss Daniel Bryan And Wish He Was Still Here”
During the latest episode of the Out of Character podcast with Ryan Satin, WWE superstar Randy Orton spoke about his longevity in the WWE, having worked in the company since 2000 and just having turned 42 last week.
Orton has already worked more televised matches in Monday Night RAW history and pay per view matches than any WWE talent in history and plans on continuing his career for another decade or so. The Viper revealed what he'd like his legacy to be down the line and mentioned a current AEW superstar he misses in WWE.
"I just enjoy every day that I get to stick around from this point on man," Orton said. "I think my legacy, I think longevity, I think finding a way to do it in a smart way to where you stay true to the things from the era of my father. The art of professional wrestling, not just thinking that if I clothesline this guy's head off because I was a big linebacker in the NFL, that's what going to get me to the next week and get people to buy my t-shirts and that's what's going to get me over.
"Like no, we have to do this 200 times a year. I want my legacy to be that I made sure that the guys like Edge, Seth Rollins, and AJ Styles, and god I miss Daniel Bryan and wish he was still here, but these guys, Finn Balor, Damien Priest, Austin Theory, Street Profits, Riddle especially, these guys that have all the potential in the world, Roman Reigns as well.
"These guys that can work and they know the art of this business and I want my legacy to be that I was able to, with these gentlemen, take this business to the next generation and ensure that that new wave of talent knows how to do it the right way, staying true to the art of what it is and making sure that number one priority is taking care of your opponents' health that you're in the ring with. That needs to be number one in every case. If that's my legacy, I'm happy with that."
The Legend Killer also continued to talk about having the most televised matches in WWE history and spoke about how that makes him feel. Randy Orton mentioned why he values that honor and believes it's a feather in his cap.
"It's very surreal, that's a lot of traveling and I think about it as a whole," Orton said. "That's performing in front of so many different people, I'm traveling to so many different places. I think I've been to just under 50 countries so just think of the amount of people that I've come into contact with over that couple decades, it's really mind-blowing to me.
"It's an honor to me as well to be able to say that I've had those numbers and if I keep doing it another decade, like I said the end is nowhere near, those records might be hard to break too. I definitely consider that a feather in my cap. You know, longevity is important to me for sure."
Randy Orton also spoke about what it means to him to be a 14-time World Champion, approaching the likes of John Cena and Ric Flair. The WWE superstar spoke about the importance of those reigns to him and where he keeps each title.
"Definitely, I've said that before, back when I first started you wouldn't talk about wins and losses, you just did what you had to do," Orton said. "It matters now. I think we have a direct line of communication with the fans and we can hear what they're thinking. I've got replicas of all those titles hanging up in my garage gym at my house and I'm proud of each and every one of them."
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Out of Character with Ryan Satin with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.