Triple H says he rooted for another WWE star over Randy Orton
World Wrestling Entertainment's Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, wrestled his final televised match against Randy Orton before leaving his boots in the middle of the ring at WrestleMania 38 following a health scare. He has since emphasized that he has no plans to ever step back inside the squared circle.
Although his relationship with The Legend Killer is solid, Levesque recently opened up about another member of their erstwhile faction Evolution, Dave Batista. The now-retired professional wrestler looked back at recruiting both of them in the early aughts, claiming that he predicted The Animal's success.
In an interview with the Roommates Show, Triple H recalled how people always looked at Randy Orton as the breakout star of the group, but he always rooted for Batista. They were the rising stars at the time, while he and WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, were already established names in the business.
"A lot of people had kind of written Dave off as 'He’s never going to make it.' And Ric and I were adamant about putting him in the group. As we started to do the group, everybody kept saying, 'Randy is the breakout.' I kept saying, 'You guys are wrong. It’s going to be Dave.' He was a sponge. He got it. You might not have known it at that time, but the level he put into it and how hard he worked and all that stuff. For me, he was the MVP," Triple H said. [From 52:35 to 53:06]
You can check out his comments in the video below:
Triple H also noted that while Randy Orton did find great success in WWE, it was only after a few years that he finally found his footing. But immediately coming out of Evolution, Batista was the one who rose to superstardom.
Dave Batista retired from in-ring competition in 2019 and is due for a WWE Hall of Fame induction. He continues to work as an actor in Hollywood.
Randy Orton is long overdue for a WWE return, will he show up for the Netflix debut in January?
In early November, Kevin Owens hit Randy Orton with a Piledriver which led to Orton being stretchered out of the arena. He is yet to make a comeback on television. The Viper is one of the most beloved veterans in the industry today.
This was evident in the year prior when he was forced to sit on the bench owing to injuries that led to speculations about whether his career was over. But this turned out to be untrue, as Orton returned to the ring at Survivor Series: WarGames last year, looking better than ever.
Be that as it may, doubts have crept in once again after what The Prizefighter did to him on SmackDown last month. But then former World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins shed light on Randy Orton's current inactivity recently.
If you use the quote above, please credit the Roommates Show and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription.