''No wonder everybody hated me''- Randy Orton on his backstage equation with former WWE Champion who gave new talent a 'hard time' backstage
Randy Orton is one of the most well-respected WWE superstars in the locker room today. But that wasn't always the case. The third-generation star was notorious backstage during the early days of his career. He revealed that even top stars like JBL would never bother him because of who his dad was.
Bradshaw, later known as JBL, had a bad reputation when it came to his backstage behavior. He was known to give trouble to the younger talent in the locker room. The Viper said that since his father Bob Orton was like a mentor to JBL, the former WWE Champion never troubled him.
Speaking on Out of Character, Randy Orton revealed that his father had taken Bradshaw under his wing when he was new to the company. The Legend Killer believes this was the reason why JBL was always cordial to him and did not treat him like the other young talent on the roster.
“He was always one of those guys, man, those local guys, those new guys, they’d come and he’d give ’em a hard time.” recalled Orton, “Nothing wrong. but just f**ing with the guy, you know, just guys being guys. You need a little bit of that, but I was never a target because of my dad. [I was] such a lucky little asshole. No wonder everybody hated me,'' said Orton
Randy Orton on Bob Orton mentoring JBL
The Viper revealed that his father, Cowboy Bob Orton had taken JBL under his wing during his first tour of Japan in the 90s. Bradshaw never forgot what Bob Orton had done for him during that time and so never 'gave any sh*t' to Orton.
Orton tasted success early on in WWE, and has often admitted that he became arrogant. He did not have to work his way up the ladder like many of the other superstars as he was just naturally gifted inside the ring from the beginning.