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I have a lot of respect for Brock. I was down in OVW with him, and I was there a few months before he came. We all knew he was coming, but when he came, he was humble and a fun guy to be around.
Really getting married, settling down, and having a kid - that was the biggest thing for me. I realized, this little girl that came into my life, that I created with my wife, and how special is that?
One day, when I'm unable to physically perform, would I want to pursue more of an acting career? Eh, maybe. But I think my home is with the WWE, being on the road and wrestling in front of a live audience.
In the ring, you want every one of the 80,000 people in the building to know what you're feeling. On a movie set, every expression you make is going to get picked up times 10. They kept having to dial me back.
I understand the psychology of the sport, especially inside the ring. From bell to bell, from when my entrance plays and I step through that curtain, people have to wonder what's going on inside that guy's head.
I think my whole deal was I didn't think other people had a right to an opinion. I think the problem I had was, in real life, it was my way or the highway, and if people disagreed with me, then they were just wrong.
Deep down inside, when I come to the ring, whether it's a non-televised event or TV or pay per view, deep down inside, when you hear those 'R-K-O' chants or those 'Orton' chants, you know, it makes me smile on the inside.
I rose to the top real quick, and I was surrounded by Triple H, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, these guys who were very well respected in the profession, and they wanted to work with me, so I knew I was doing something right.
Growing up, my dad would be gone a lot. But I knew what he was doing, and I wanted to one day enjoy that. When I saw how tired he was when he got home, that, in a direct way, prepared me and made me realize what a tough business this is.
All the fans that are aware that I'm a family man and I have five kids and the newborn, and they send messages on social media or a sign in the audience, or they just say it to me person-to-person on the street, I appreciate all of that.
I was forced, more or less, to go to anger management. I was either going to make myself and everyone around me miserable, or I was going to realize that there's more than one person on this Earth. It definitely has made me a better person.
I think the biggest thing - when it comes to injuries and stuff, travel has a big part in that, because after a match, guys hit the road, and they're in a sitting position. They're not able to ice up or do whatever they have to do therapy-wise.
Being born into the business, I had the connections. A lot of guys aspire to be professional wrestlers, but you need to get trained the right way. And then, once you're trained, you need to get to that next level, and really, the WWE is the only place to do it.
At times, I'll watch a cruiserweight match, and I'm very impressed at how they limit themselves with all of the acrobatics, but every once in a while, you'll see a match where they're doing things I couldn't dream of doing, but you get lost because there's so much.
My father, my grandfather, the wrestling business, the WWE in particular, has really given me everything. A lot of happiness, my kids are taken care of, my wife is happy, they get to travel. A lot of pluses come with it; the Hall Of Fame would just be the cherry on top.
I got a bad conduct discharge, was at home for a few months in late '99, and basically said, 'Dad, I want to give wrestling a shot. I sure as hell don't wanna go to college, and the Marine Corps wasn't for me. And I need to make some money, so let's see if I can do it.'
Big E, he's a strong dude. Ryback's a strong dude. But if you put Batista next to those guys, he was 6'6'', 320 lbs. Those guys are pushing 6'1''-6'2''. But Batista was wide. He was a big old dude. Those guys could beat him in a bench press contest, but I'd rather look like Dave.
Doing these movies I've done with WWE, it's a different pace. It's a lot of hurry up and wait, a lot of sitting around and like the day of the pay-per-view, when you're thinking about what you can do, and then you get the payoff, the reward, that night. It's just a different animal.
I don't have a problem with dives out of the ring, but there are a lot of these guys who don't have anything to fall back on, and they're not making any money doing it. A lot of these guys go out there, and they're gonna break their necks at 23 years old doing things they shouldn't be doing.
I have to put my father over because he really taught me a lot, especially when it comes to out-of-the-ring psychology and how to react when you're approached by fans after a show or in the airport. It might sound silly, but a lot of those things come into play when you're playing a character.
When a kid smiles because you take an extra 30 seconds, minute, minute and a half to go over and ask them what their name is, give them the shirt you just wore to the ring, you just see them light up. We've all been kids before; we've all had our heroes, been fans of somebody and needed that autograph.
I probably had the most fun ever in the ring with Christian. And it was because he could just pick stuff up out of thin air and make it something. Neither of us were these big high-fliers; none of us were power guys doing these big, crazy moves. But the finesse and the things were smooth with me and him.
I've been around a long time, and it seemed for the longest time like I was the young guy. Now, all of a sudden, I've got fans with beards telling me, "I used to watch you when I was a kid." So, I don't know what happened to all those years, but the little bit I do remember? It was definitely a fun ride.
Before I was married, before I was with my wife, I was traveling with Ric Flair and women were everywhere. It was crazy. The lifestyle he leads, he's the wheelin', dealin', kiss-stealin' son of a gun. He's Ric Flair and there's no one like him, there won't ever be another like him in the wrestling world again.
I let some people down, like Triple H, who had a lot of faith in me and took me under his wing. Ric Flair would never say it, but he loved me like I was his kid, and he was like a dad to me on the road. I'm sure I let him down somewhere along the way. These guys really invested a lot of time, faith, and energy in me.
Things in the ring are definitely bigger, so that you can see them. But the movie world is completely different, and you have to hone things down because when that camera is so tight on you and so intimate and right up in your face, it's going to catch every little thing that you give it, and it's very easy to overdo it.
Guys like Jack Lanza, Pat Patterson, Bruce Pritchard, Tom Pritchard - those guys all helped me get a tryout. And I'd never been in the ring, so they went on a lot of faith and signed me and thought that they could help mold me into a WWE superstar. And now I'm glad they did, because that was a big turning point in my life.
Teaming up for Evolution, I think Batista and I credit a lot of our success to Ric Flair, but especially Triple H. He has an amazing psychology for the business. He understands how to tell a story, and you just pick his brain the best you can while riding with him. It was a great advantage for us in terms of learning our craft.
I was even more of a fan of Jake The Snake than I was of my dad when I was a kid, and that's because of the snake. Jake used to have his snake, Damien, out in the locker room slithering around the showers. In the locker room, they would actually block off one of the showers just so Damien could roll around, and I'd sit there and watch him.
If anything, I'm overacting in the ring because of the facials and the body language. I want the guy in the cheap seats to be able to see what I'm thinking, the expression on my face. But when you're filming a movie, it could be a two- or three-camera shot, and you're doing it over and over and over again. It's not live TV; it's a lot different.
You want to know why I am the perfect champion? Because you can take the strength of John Cena; the intelligence of Triple H; the desire of Cena; the athleticism of Triple H; the determination of Cena; the ruthlessness of Triple H... and if you combine these attributes into one person, you get Randy Orton. The only difference is that I have one thing that neither Cena nor Triple H has: the WWE Championship.
The pressure was always there, but I feel like it was almost invisible to me. I had too much going on once I got rolling with Evolution and won my first title. They say the cream rises to the top, and I felt like the cream. I rose to the top real quick, and I was surrounded by Triple H, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, these guys who were very well respected in the profession, and they wanted to work with me.
Ric Flair, you can tell all these people that I'm full of it for calling myself the Legend Killer? Well, I think you're full of it for coming out here every Monday and telling the whole world that Triple H is the best wrestler in the world today. I know it's not true, I'm pretty sure all these people know it's not true and Ric Flair, I know that deep down inside your heart, you know it's not true either which is why it's so tragic to see what you've become. This generation is gonna remember Ric Flair for kissing Triple H's ass!