The Sun in the UK has an interview up with WWE Champion Randy Orton. Here are some highlights.
On his newest run as WWE Champion following Backlash:
“The older and more mature I?ve become in the business, the more responsibility I?m able to carry in being champion and representing the company. This is going to be where I make my name and I cement myself in history. I?ve already done that in a lot of ways ? becoming the youngest champ of all time, being in an Evolution, being a third-generation competitor, headlining WrestleMania. But I think this title run is going to be what makes Randy Orton.”
If he went easy on Vince McMahon when he kicked him in the head:
“Did you see that kick to Vince? It didn?t look like anything was pulled did it? They replayed that thing from every angle and he definitely ate a big piece of my boot. When I?m kicking Vince in the head, if it doesn?t look good on live TV, people are going to think: ?Oh, he didn?t want to kick him too hard because, deep down inside, Orton knows that is his boss so he took it easy on him.? So I did the opposite. I kicked him harder. I want everything I do in the ring to be as crisp and as perfect as humanely possible. I calculate my movements to where it’s going to be the best for that moment. So when I kicked Vince in the head, the only thing going through my mind was: ?I?m going to kick this b*****d in the skull as hard as I can. Here we go. I?ve been waiting for this one!?”
On receiving negative feedback to his match with Triple H at WrestleMania 25 for the WWE Championship:
“This was a storyline where Triple H needed retribution. He needed to beat the living p*** out of me because of what I did. I handcuffed him and made him watch while I beat up his wife and then kissed her while she was unconscious. Then to top it off after I do that, I knock him out with a sledgehammer to the head. I kick his father-in-law in the skull and put him in the hospital, and do the same to his brother-in-law. I think when all that happens and then you have this match where he can?t be disqualified or he loses the title, you kind of screw yourself. We were not able to do everything that the other guys were able to do. Matt and Jeff Hardy had a hardcore no-holds-barred match. They were able to use all the bells and whistles to beat the hell out of each other. Everyone was expecting Triple H and I to do the same, but we had rules that put a fence around everything we were able to do. We weren?t able to go to the extreme. If anything hurt us, it was that.”
If he tried to talk Vince out of the match stipulation:
“No, because I was happy with the match. I really was. The crowd in the arena had seen three and half hours of wrestling and, not only that, they had seen some very good wrestling. Shawn Michaels and Undertaker put on a hell of a performance, the Money In The Bank match was crazy and a lot of guys did some death-defying manoeuvres. When you do that and then you have this match with two guys who can?t be outside of the ring for more than 10 seconds, you kinda screw yourself. You?ve backed yourself into a corner where it’s going to be hard to outperform the matches that went before you. I think our storyline and what our match was all about deserved to be the main-event match on WrestleMania. But I think that the restraints and stipulations around the match made it harder on us than it should have been.”
On the departure of Manu from Legacy and WWE:
“Manu had some respect issues. There are a lot of different reasons he wasn?t good for Legacy, but the reason he’s not with the company anymore had a lot to do with his backstage attitude. His father was the great Afa, of the Wild Samoans, and Manu had been in the ring since his early teens. Now, in his early 20s, technically he’s been in the ring for more than a decade – but not really. Really he?d only been in the business a month by the time I knew him. He carried himself like he had been in the business for 15 years. He thought he knew everything. He thought he deserved a first-class seat when we went overseas. He thought he didn?t have to pick up in the lockeroom after the show was over, like the new guys do. He didn?t feel like he had to pay his dues, because he?d already paid them. What he doesn?t understand is that wrestling once a week for 10 years doesn?t count. When wrestling is all you do, when everyone in the world knows who you are and you?ve held titles and main-evented PPVs ? that’s when you start to get to the point where you might deserve a little something extra. I don?t think he applied himself in the gym or when it came to his diet. He just thought: ?Hey, my dad is Afa, the Wild Samoan, so I get a job. I deserve to be here.? He just didn?t get it.”
To check out the full interview, click here.