Randy Orton
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Randy Orton says he worked with guys from NXT that “don’t know what the f**k they’re doing”

Aaron Rift

Randy Orton made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show and talked about stepping up his game in WWE in recent years…

“It started to turn around for me years ago, just because I was maturing, I became a father and stuff, but my opponents. Working with Edge two years ago, right when the pandemic, it was right before COVID, we started working. Having Edge come back and having that person who kind of mentored me and I looked up to, that bigger brother figure that I haven’t had for a decade. Now, all of a sudden, I have this guy, ‘Can you help me with this?’ Instead of everyone coming to me or me feeling like I didn’t have anyone to talk to, now I have Edge, who is probably one of the best minds in the business that I have been fortunate enough to be in the ring with. He helped turn it around for me because he had that old school mentality and he knew how to work and he wasn’t taught that ‘when the red light is on, cream the shit out of the guy.'”

“There is an art to what we do and a lot guys have lost that art. Instead of selling a punch because you need to sell a punch, now I’m protecting myself because I don’t want to get my f**king jaw broken. That’s unfortunate. The art to professional wrestling…when Vince (McMahon) was on (McAfee’s Show), he talked about the number one priority, above all, being protecting your opponent. That’s not taught necessarily in NXT. I know that because I’ve been in the ring with guys that came from NXT and they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing. It’s unfortunate. It’s just how kind of things are changing. Edge, I knew I could trust this guy and give this guy my body in the ring and I don’t have to, in the back of my head, worry about him only being concerned with looking cool in the ring and hitting the f**k out of me and taking my head off. He knows I know how to work and when he hits me, I’m going to sell and react and make it bigger. He doesn’t have to hurt me. The right way to do things in the ring, longevity-wise. There is a reason I’ve done it for 20 years and I’ll do it for another 10 and I want everyone to put food on the table, clothes one their back, and take care of their families for 10, 20, 30 years but they’re not going to be able to because they’re going to be all f**ked up. I’m trying to preach that longevity. If I’m able to think about what’s happening in the moment and not worry about, ‘here’s this f**king guy, I don’t know where he’s coming from,’ because you have to protect yourself.” (quotes courtesy of Fightful.com)