History Wrestling / RandyOrton

* BaldOfEvil: As a heel.

** The second was in the 8/1/2016 episode of ''[=RAW=]'', as buildup to his ''Wrestling/{{Summerslam}}'' match with Wrestling/BrockLesnar. To put into context: Wrestling/PaulHeyman was doing his usual LargeHam promo for his client, up to the point where he emphasized the fact that [[TemptingFate Orton can never hit the RKO on Lesnar]] (while the camera was focused on Lesnar). Cue RKO ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu on Lesnar.]]''

** His wrestling style is also completely practical from a business standpoint. Guys who do really flashy moves and take crazy bumps through tables or off ladders or even just in the ring might be more entertaining for audiences to watch, but they can't put on a match like that every single night, and their bodies inevitably suffer for it. (Note how, since the NXT and indie influence on the main roster has become more pronounced in TheNewTens the standard workrate has increased somewhat but injuries have also seen a massive uptick) With his style, Orton could potentially wrestle a match five nights a week if the bosses asked him to, with a fairly low risk of injury (for him and for the other wrestler/s he's working with) and with comparatively little chance that he's going to have to retire prematurely.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Randy's ''modus operandi''. Notably, during his Iron Man match with Wrestling/JohnCena, he tried to '''''blow Cena up''''' with pyrotechnics. Michael Cole called him "psycho", and rightfully so.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[HeroKiller The Legend Killer.]]]]

* AmbiguouslyBrown: Perhaps due to his Cherokee ascendancy, it's hard to pinpoint his actual skin tone: he's mostly white (which is somewhat obvious), with bits of tan, and sometimes even gives off a bronze/golden skin tone, which has inspired some to dub Orton as WWE's ''literal'' "golden boy."

** Was set to star in the third installment of ''Film/TheMarine''. But due to his past history with the marines (he went AWOL and was dishonorably discharged after serving 38 days in military prison), he was pulled from the movie after some real marines wasn't all that pleased with him starring in the movie. [[note]]He was eventually replaced by Wrestling/TheMiz and was instead placed in the ''12 Rounds'' sequel.[[/note]]

** Randy also had many issues with Wrestling/{{Batista}} over the years, stemming from Batista's part in Randy's ousting from Evolution, though it's only in the last five years that they have directly opposed each other. It's mainly due to the fact that while Randy hated Dave for his part in the betrayal, he hated Hunter far, ''far'' more.

** In 2020 he's feuded with Wrestling/{{Edge|Wrestler}} and Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre for the WWE Championship.

After signing with WWE, Orton became a member of the stable Wrestling/{{Evolution}}, where he acquired the moniker "[[HeroKiller The Legend Killer]]": an unstoppable golem of a man who physically targeted Hall of Famers and other veterans of the industry, usually [[CombatPragmatist outside of appropriate restrictions]]. In 2004, Orton became the youngest World Heavyweight Champion when he won the title at the age of twenty-four (defeating Wrestling/ChrisBenoit). This win resulted in his departure from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Wrestling/{{Edge}} in a tag team known as...er, [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Rated-RKO]]. Together, Orton and Edge held the World Tag Team Championship. After the team disbanded, Orton won the WWE Championship twice in one night in mid-2007 (said title changes being the only time that title changed hands that year).

He is a ten time WWE World Heavyweight Champion[[note]]prior to TLC 2013 it was known as the WWE Championship before being merged with the World Heavyweight Championship[[/note]], a four time and final World Heavyweight Champion, one time Intercontinental Champion, one time United States Champion, a one time World Tag Team Champion alongside Wrestling/{{Edge}}, and a one time Smackdown Tag Team Champion alongside [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily The Wyatt Family]]. In 2017, he won the second Royal Rumble of his career.

** In 2020 he's feuded with Wrestling/{{Edge}} and Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre for the WWE Championship.

** Again in 2020, following the return of his Legend Killer gimmick. Once more the most dangerous psychopath in the company (perhaps short of [[Wrestling/BrayWyatt the Fiend]]), Orton went on a rampage of brutally assaulting older wrestlers such as Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/BigShow, and Wrestling/RicFlair, before finally punting out Wrestling/ShawnMichaels as a means to draw out current WWE Champion and [[TheHero company face]] Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre for a match at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2020''.

* EvilPowerVacuum: Before the brand extension was gradually phased out, Orton was drafted to ''[=SmackDown!=]'' to be its new top face after Wrestling/{{Edge}} had to retire. It's even been said they bumped up the draft ''six weeks early'' just to make it happen. Unfortunately, because Orton had to be the new top face for SD, the company had no real option for top heel besides Wrestling/CMPunk, who was on RAW, and even ''he'' turned face after the "Summer of Punk II" later that year. Wrestling/{{Christian}} had to turn heel just so Randy had someone to feud against, up until they moved to Wrestling/MarkHenry, who functioned as the top heel for ''SD'' for the rest of the year. As far as RAW went, they tried with Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio, Wrestling/TheMiz, Wrestling/RTruth and Wrestling/DolphZiggler, but it took the return of Wrestling/ChrisJericho for the company to have a real top heel again.

** In 2020 on the following night on Raw after Wrestling/RoyalRumble, Orton viciously attacked Wrestling/{{Edge}} with a RKO and a steel chair thus turning heel once again. So much for a short-lived HeelFaceTurn....

** Of the oddest sort. His behavior never actually changed; the fans just kept cheering him more and more until WWE apparently threw its hands up and [[AscendedFanon went with it]]. The only difference was his choice of targets (and even then, he got cheered for delivering random, unprovoked [=RKOs=] to people like [[ItMakesSenseInContext Wayne Brady and Meatloaf]]). This put him in the same "too cool to boo" category of a lot of legends, such as Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin and Wrestling/TripleH, along with Wrestling/RicFlair, [[Wrestling/JakeRoberts Jake "The Snake" Roberts]], Wrestling/TheUndertaker, [[Wrestling/ScottHall Razor Ramon]], [[Wrestling/KevinNash Diesel]], Wrestling/{{Sabu}}, Wrestling/{{Tazz}}, Wrestling/RobVanDam, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Wrestling/ChrisJericho, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/{{Batista}}, [[OverlyLongGag etc]]…

** Randy's descent from the "Legend Killer" to the "Viper" was characterized as this and lasted years. It first began when Wrestling/{{Evolution}} betrayed him, causing him to lose his first world title a month later. Then came his feud with Wrestling/TheUndertaker, which saw him attack his girlfriend Wrestling/StacyKeibler in order to prove he was ruthless enough to take on 'Taker at ''[=WrestleMania=]''. Losing ''that'' feud (even with his father's help!) nearly pushed him over the deep end, and it was only his partnership with Wrestling/{{Edge}} as Rated-RKO that held him together. After that partnership broke down, there was nothing and no one stopping Randy from completely losing it, as seen during his first feud with Cena. 2008 saw several abrupt bouts of violence from him (including one case of him punting Wrestling/CMPunk in the head, costing ''him'' his first world title), and then 2009 happened and that's when everyone realized how completely and utterly insane he'd become. He assaulted every member of the [=McMahon=] family except Linda, punted several people in the head and put them on the shelf, and even once tried to blow Cena up with pyro. From that point on everyone openly acknowledged that he's crazy and he's been terrorizing WWE like that ever since.

* VillainTeamUp: With Wrestling/{{Edge}} when they formed Rated-RKO, and later with Wrestling/CodyRhodes and Ted [=DiBiase=] to form Legacy. Also teamed up with The Revival to torment Wrestling/KofiKingston and Wrestling/TheNewDay in 2019.

** His signature punt kick cranked it UpToEleven, as it seemed to be reserved solely for when WWE wants to write someone out of the show for an extended period of time. The Punk kick has since been banned. Averted as of 2020, as Randy busts out the Punt kick often again.

** Randy's feud with Wrestling/{{Christian}} was focused on Randy's [[UnstoppableRage anger]] [[HairTriggerTemper management]] [[BerserkButton issues]]. Instead, it came off as Randy being [[UpToEleven more unhinged than usual]], and he seemed to enjoy his own pain and that of others.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Orton was a clean-cut, respectful baby face when he first debuted in 2002. Even after he turned heel a few months later, he still had that wide-eyed enthusiastic personality. Contrast that to the modern day Orton and it's like two different people. This can be attributed to his time in Wrestling/{{Evolution}} with him getting violently thrown out of the group, and his later quest to become a WWE Champion no matter what. He probably realized he couldn't keep those traits if he wanted to get anywhere in WWE.

* TookALevelInBadass: When he was the "Legend Killer", Orton was considered a young hot shot rookie with a lot of potential, but with too much ego and brashness for his own good. After he completed his transformation into the "Viper" however, he became one of the most dangerous and feared wrestlers on the roster. It also echoed in his career; after his first world title win, Randy didn't win another title for three years -- not until he was close to leaving the Legend Killer persona behind and becoming the Viper he's known as today.

* HatesEveryoneEqually: Was as susceptible to attacking heels as he was to faces. In fact, the only way you can tell what alignment he is is by who he attacks most frequently and who he gets placed into tag team matches with. That's the only thing about his character that really changes, otherwise he's the same sadistic sociopath that he's always been, and does not follow the normal rules of face/heel allegiance (such as never attacking someone of the same alignment).

* {{Corpsing}}: During a multi-man in-ring face-off on the Jan. 29 2019 episode of ''[=SmackDown=]'', Wrestling/SamoaJoe came out to tear a strip off the guys in the ring. When Wrestling/JeffHardy tried to interrupt, Joe's scathing rebuke ("Heyheyhey, do me a favor- why don't you [[TakeThat act like this is an AA meeting]] and you shut yo' mouth while I'm sharing with the group!") was so funny that [[https://i.imgur.com/PDpUDNP.jpg Randy crouched down with his hands over his ears]] to try and hide how badly he was cracking up.

*** [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]] at the beginning of his career by some of the legends that mentored him. He used to feature [[IHaveTheHighGround several top rope moves]] in his arsenal. Once he hit main event status, though, his mentor(s) advised him to remove them because, first off, they were too risky for a guy of his status and health history (he's got shoulder issues) and, second, because he didn't need them to get over.

* GenreBlindness: Invokes this on his opponents. [[Wrestling/EvanBourne How]] [[Wrestling/{{Christian}} many]] [[Wrestling/CMPunk guys]] have tried [[IHaveTheHighGround top rope moves]] on Randy only to get caught and RKO'd in mid-air? You'd think they would stop doing it by now.

* IHaveTheHighGround:
** ''Loves'' subverting this trope. It's almost to the point where attacking Orton from the top rope is like signing your own death warrant. If you attempt a high-flying move on Orton, there's at least a 90% chance he's going to counter it into an RKO.
** He did have a few high-flying maneuvers in the beginning of his career.

Randal Keith Orton (born on April 1, 1980 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to the Wrestling/{{WWE}}. Orton is a third-generation professional wrestler; his grandfather Bob Orton Sr., father [[Wrestling/BobOrtonJr "Cowboy" Bob Orton]], as well as his uncle Barry O, all competed in the professional wrestling industry.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: He's actually white (which is somewhat obvious) - just rather tan. He sometimes even gives off a bronze/golden skin tone, which has inspired some to dub Orton as WWE's ''literal'' "golden boy."
** He's actually not completely white. He's part Cherokee.
* AntiHero: Compared to most of the smiling, rule-abiding faces in the organization, and YMMV on the extent, Orton fits this anywhere from type III-V.

* FinishingMove: The RKO, technically a jumping cutter.

* KarmaHoudini:
** As a {{face}} Orton never, ever gets paid back for any of the horrible things he does to people, and even as a heel he's done numerous things that he never gets punished for. This was CM Punk's motivation for making [[Wrestling/TheNexus The New Nexus]] target Orton. (See LargeHam.) He even punted them [[PutOnABus on a bus]] during their feud, and it would appears as this would apply again, but then three out of four of Orton's [[Wrestling/TheNexus punt victims]] came back off the bus to beat him down and cost him another shot at the WWE title. He then defeated all of them once again, dominated Wrestling/CMPunk twice in a row, and went on to win World Heavyweight Championship 2 days later in a match he only "earned" via Teddy Long's clear populist favoritism. Opening ''yet another'' clear floodgate of Karma Houdini-ness.

** In a shocking twist, he was also the ''recipient'' of this at ''Wrestling/SummerSlam 2016''. Wrestling/BrockLesnar's elbows did very, ''very'' bad things to Randy's forehead.[[note]]Seriously, it was even worse than everyone involved including Brock himself had anticipated.[[/note]]

** Wrestling/AlexaBliss was definitely this in late 2020/early 2021. Originally a byproduct of his rivalry with Wrestling/TheFiend, after Randy burned the Fiend alive at ''TLC 2020'', Alexa proceeded to screw him over in retaliation via various mind games. This included things like throwing a fireball at his face, distracting him during his matches, and somehow inflicting him with a malady that caused black ichor to pour out of his nose and mouth at inopportune times. It eventually reached a point where when Alexa offered to have a match with him at ''Fastlane 2021'', Randy immediately pounced at the opportunity just to finally get his hands on her. Alexa then ''won'' the match with the help of the returning Fiend. While Randy turned his attentions back to the Fiend after this, there's no question the damage Alexa did to him -- she's one of the few people to have ever really gotten into his head.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Daniel Bryan's looking to be this for Orton, as Randy has ''never'' been able to get one up on Bryan in a legitimate one-on-one scenario without any [[Wrestling/TripleH controversy]], [[Wrestling/ShawnMichaels interference]] [[Wrestling/{{Kane}} or]] [[Wrestling/TheWyattFamily distractions]]. This was discussed by Cole and company during their 12/16/13 main event encounter, which ended in a DQ win for Bryan when Orton low-blowed him, further emphasizing the point.

* TheDreaded: Randy is a legend in his own right these days, but his legend inspires ''fear'' rather than respect. His uncontrollable rage, inability to be reasoned with, and overall insanity has made him absolutely terrifying to every non-main event talent on the roster. Even those who are considered "in his league" are wary of him, because he's liable to fly off the handle at any point, and with a finishing move that can ''literally'' come out of nowhere, that is ''not'' a good thing, as Randy HatesEveryoneEqually. No one, not even his allies or even his own family (by his own admission, no less) is safe from his wrath.

* EvilerThanThou: He's infinitely more malicious and depraved than any just about any {{Heel}} on the roster, and sometimes he manages to prove it.

** And again when he went to his 'Viper' gimmick. He shaved his bald, presumably to help himself physically resemble an actual snake.

* OddFriendship: His tag team with Wrestling/MattRiddle, aptly named [="RK-Bro"=]. The wisecracking, scooter-riding goofball and relative newcomer and the subdued, grizzled veteran should have been like chalk and cheese - but Riddle finally wore Randy down, and the two have formed a highly successful tag team.

* PopularityPower: The main reason why Randy became a face in 2010, and the main reason why Randy's been unable to turn heel until 2013. No matter who he [=RKOs=], the fans won't turn against him. Hell, if he RKO'd Cena, chances are he'd be ''cheered''. They only managed to turn him heel by putting him up against the massively over [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] - anyone else (Cena, Sheamus, Triple H, maybe even Punk, who suffers a similar dilemma when he's a heel) and they would be on his side no matter what.

** Wrestling/{{Christian}} ''was'' one of these, however his increasingly desperate begging for another shot after continuously losing has resulted in Orton getting frustrated with facing him.