Randy Orton reveals time he injured Batista seriously; reason Edge faced him after WWE return
Randy Orton is a true legend in the world of WWE, which is ironic, given his moniker of 'The Legend Killer'. Over his career in WWE, Randy Orton has faced some of the top names in the wrestling business — Triple H, The Undertaker, Edge, Batista, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Seth Rollins, among a variety of others. He has developed a reputation for being a safe Superstar in WWE, whose repertoire is not always the most high flying move. However, his natural ability and charisma in the ring is always enough to keep things interesting.
Now, talking to Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, Randy Orton talked about how once he injured Batista by breaking his nose. The Viper also explained the reasoning behind Edge facing him as his first opponent, after being away from WWE for nine years.
Randy Orton on facing Edge; injuring Batista in WWE
At WWE Royal Rumble 2020, Edge made his return to the wrestling ring after nine years away due to a serious injury that he had suffered earlier in his career. Since his return to WWE, Edge has been involved in a vicious feud with Randy Orton. Talking about the reason he is the one to face Edge, Orton explained that Edge needed someone safe to work with, and that was always going to be him.
"It's a dance, there's an art to it, but it's also a brutal contest between two individuals," he explained."There's a line where you can kick a guy so hard in the stomach that it looks like you killed him and with the right selling technique it looks like you killed them. But you don't have to really kick him in the stomach. There's an art to it. Edge knew I wasn't one of those guys that was going to kick him in the stomach, if that makes sense. Maybe I should be using his neck as the body part reference. But he had the neck surgery and he knew that I would do what I had to do to work around the possibility that his neck might not be ready for ring action."
Randy Orton went on to talk about how he was a safe wrestler, but even then, he had accidentally injured Batista seriously.
"I've got a reputation of being safe but shit happens," Orton said. "I broke Dave Bautista's nose jumping out of a cake on Raw back in 2004. I didn't mean to break his nose but for three months he couldn't breathe but s**t happens."