Randy Orton Recalls His Promo About Edge Which Vince McMahon Called His “Oscar Winning Moment”

Randy Orton recalls turning a corner in regards to his promo work.

One of the most decorated competitors in WWE history, Randy Orton hasn’t been shy about acknowledging that for a long time, promos were not his top priority. He reiterated as much during a recent interview with The Ringer Wrestling Show.

“I was working with Edge, and I was never a promo guy, and I knew I wasn’t a promo guy. I just coasted through my promos. The fact that I did that for so long is a little embarrassing that I didn’t have more pride in my body of work. I used to get a little offended. I’d hear Steve Austin say I had a bad promo like, ‘what the hell? No, I don’t.’ They were passable, but he could tell that I wasn’t given it my all and I wasn’t. I almost don’t even know why. It’s like I had a mental block because I knew I couldn’t be as entertaining as The Rock or I couldn’t be as believable of an ass-kicker as Steve Austin,” Orton said.

After returning to WWE at the 2020 Royal Rumble, Edge entered into a feud with Randy Orton. It was at this time that something clicked for Randy, as he shares his memories of a promo with Beth Phoenix in Brooklyn in which he turned what he thought was bad creative into an emotional and compelling story that he felt strongly about telling.

“Something kind of clicked for me when I was working with Edge in 2020 and I was able to make the story real and was able to change something at the Barclays Center before I had a promo with Beth Phoenix during the storyline where the writers wanted me to say some stuff where it was written in Beth and Edge’s will that if something happened to them, my wife Kim and I would take their children and vice versa. We were that close that we were written into each other’s wills to accept responsibility for each other’s children. That was so far-fetched and stupid. yeah, I worked with Edge, but to believe that and make that real and make those people believe that I’m really in this guy’s will is bullshit. In ten minutes, I took this story that I hadn’t thought about in 15 or 20 years, that was a true story about when I first met Edge, I turned up the volume on that story a little bit, and I went out there without anything written or memorize, I was able to talk to Beth briefly before we went out there to let her know the direction I was going to make sure it didn’t mess her up. She was going to try and get emotional if I remember correctly. It was this really intense promo and it was the best promo I ever cut,” he admitted.

Continuing on, Orton shared that the reception to the promo backstage was universally positive, even revealing what Vince McMahon said to him.

“When I came backstage, Vince said, ‘that was your Oscar-winning moment.’ From then on, I feel the lightbulb went off, and almost each and every promo I had since then, I had a little bit of confidence that I didn’t have before,” Orton began by saying. “It was just organically that happened. ‘This is really bad creative, this is a great angle, I want to make it good.’ Usually, it was just, ‘I’ll say what I need to say. I don’t feel like talking to Vince and getting it changed.’ That’s not me anymore. For six or seven years, that was me to a tee. I just wanted to do it and get out there. There was a couple of reasons for that attitude that I don’t think it would be too professional for me to go into detail on why, but you might see where I was coming from if I told you those details. Let’s just say I had a change of heart and I realized that promos are huge and almost even more important than in-ring.”

In the end, it was a perfect storm of ingredients that helped Randy Orton round out his game.

“The perfect storm, perfect time. I was in the ring with Beth. It was about Edge, but it was all those variables, definitely. Talking about Edge, the creative they wanted me to say, it sucking, and then me having this real story about Adam that I could share and change slightly, that’s all it took,” Orton concluded.

Elsewhere during the interview, Orton explained why he’s having so much fun working with Riddle. You can find his full comments by clicking here.

Orton is set to compete in the men’s Royal Rumble this evening. Fightful will have live coverage of the event beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

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