"It was all riding on this match" - Randy Orton reflects on his debut match
14-time World Champion Randy Orton has opened up about his WWE debut match on the company's official YouTube Channel.
The Legend Killer is a graduate of the 2002 OVW batch of superstars. Similar to Brock Lesnar, Batista and John Cena, Orton has had an illustrious career in WWE. The Viper has been a part of several notable stables and now he's teaming up with Riddle as one half of RK-Bro.
In a recent video, Orton reflected on his SmackDown debut match on the 25th of April 2002:
"This is my debut, everybody. It was probably one of the most nervous times in my career. It was all riding on this match. As far as I was concerned, my performance in the next few minutes was going to dictate the rest of my career. When I debuted, it was against Hardcore Holly and you gotta understand this guy who was one of the most feared guys in the locker room." [0:22-0:44]
.@randyorton doesn't take a bad photo, but these photo shoot outtakes have never seen the light of day. #OrtonWeek
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Unfortunately, Hardcore Holly was unable to defeat the rookie, who went on to have a glorious tenure in WWE for over twenty years.
"I had a lot of scars on my chest." - Randy Orton weighs in on his match with Bob Holly
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Over the years, The Apex Predator has had several gruesome matches but nothing compares to his debut match with Bob Holly. In the same video, Randy Orton talks about the scars he earned in his debut match:
"I had a lot of scars on my chest. You can probably see to this date. I needed to get the sh*t kicked out of me. If it wasn't for that, I don't think I would have learned at the bright age of 21/ 22 years old what it meant to be in that ring and how important it was to trust the other guy in the ring. I was making mistakes back then, and I had to learn. Bob had an interesting way of teaching, but I learned a few lessons from Bob Holly." [0:47-1:16]
Randy Orton has learned a lot over the past two decades and the lessons have made him a better worker who has captured more than a dozen championships in the company.
While using any quotes from this article, please credit 'WWE' and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.