Randy Orton breaks silence after making 11-year return to NXT; heaps praise on 20-year-old WWE star

Randy Orton has commented on his match against Je'Von Evans on the latest episode of WWE NXT. He heaped praise on the young star after the bout and offered him some advice.

The Apex Predator's first match in NXT was in 2013, and Damian Sandow was his opponent. This week's show was the second episode to air on The CW network, and it emanated from St. Louis, Missouri, Orton's hometown. In the main event, the 14-time world champion pinned Je'Von Evans to emerge victorious.

During a backstage interview after the show, Randy Orton stated that it felt good to compete on a sold-out episode of NXT in his hometown and he heaped praise on The Young OG.

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"It's an awesome venue, we sold out, we're in St. Louis, very happy to be here. Especially for a sold-out NXT show. And I got to work with an incredible talent tonight, only 20 years old, you know him, he's bouncy, Je'Von Evans. Dude, yeah, I'm very excited to see where he goes in the future. He's going to be around for as long as he wants to," said Orton.

The Viper also offered some advice to Je'Von Evans:

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"We have a lot in common but there's a lot of differences between us. I think that he needs to keep doing what he's doing. What I noticed, first and foremost, after meeting him for the first time today, he's incredibly humble. He has nothing but respect for the business and guys like me that have been here for 20 years. And you know what? That means a lot to me," he added. [0:29 - 1:18]

Randy Orton is still part of the SmackDown roster. He challenged Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship at Bash in Berlin but was unsuccessful.

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