- Before being promoted to the main World Wrestling Federation (WWF,
now WWE) roster, Orton trained in and wrestled for Mid-Missouri
Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling for a
month. He was then sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where Orton held the OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions.
- After signing with WWF, Orton became a member of the stable Evolution, which quickly led to a WWE Intercontinental Championship reign, his first title with the company. Orton also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting Hall of Famers and physically attacking veterans of the industry outside of appropriate restrictions. At age 24, Orton became the youngest person ever to hold the World Heavyweight Championship.With this win, Orton departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, Orton and Edge held the World Tag Team Championship. After the team disbanded, during mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night. Orton formed the group The Legacy with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
in 2008, however, they would disband in 2010 with Orton returning to
singles competition. Overall, Orton has won eleven total championships
in WWE, including being a nine-time world champion, having won the World Heavyweight Championship three times and the WWE Championship six times. He is also the winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble match.
Early life
Orton was born on April 1, 1980, in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
Son to Elaine and
"Cowboy" Bob Orton,
he has two younger siblings—Becky and Nathan.
Knowing from experience the hardships of life as a professional
wrestler, Orton's parents tried to convince him to stay away from the
business,
and his father warned him that life in the ring meant a life on the road, away from family.
Orton attended
Hazelwood Central High School, where he was an amateur wrestler.
After graduating from Hazelwood in 1998,
Orton enlisted with the
United States Marine Corps. There, he expressed his
Christian faith by telling another marine that he "better believe in
Jesus."
At the base, he received a
bad conduct discharge a year later after going
AWOL on two separate occasions and disobeying an order from a commanding officer.
Under the
Uniform Code of Military Justice,
Private First Class Orton was tried and convicted under a special
court-martial and was put into a
military prison for thirty-eight days.
Training
Orton made his wrestling debut in 2000 at the Mid-Missouri Wrestling
Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling (MMWA-SICW) in
St. Louis, Missouri, an offshoot of the historic
St. Louis Wrestling Club headed by
Sam Muchnick.
There, he was trained by both the promotion and his father,
"Cowboy" Bob Orton.
He wrestled for the promotion for one month,
where he performed with wrestlers such as Ace Strange and Mark Bland.
Orton also
refereed a few matches with World Organized Wrestling, a promotion where his uncle
Barry Orton worked.
In 2001, Orton signed a deal with
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and was sent to its
developmental territory,
Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in
Louisville, Kentucky, where he continued his training. During his time in OVW, Orton wrestled the likes of
Rico Constantino and
The Prototype and teamed with
Bobby Eaton during a
tag team title tournament. He won the
OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions by defeating Mr. Black on February 14, 2001, and
Flash Flanagan on May 5, 2001.
Personal life
In November 2005, Orton announced his engagement to his girlfriend Samantha Speno.
They married on September 21, 2007.
In December 2007, Orton announced that he and his wife were expecting their first child, a daughter.
Orton and his wife welcomed Alanna Marie Orton on July 12, 2008.
He had a tattoo on his left arm that read "USMC" for United States Marine Corps but covered it up after receiving a
bad conduct discharge when he went
AWOL from the service. He was sent home after serving thirty-eight days in military prison at Camp Pendleton in California.
Orton suffers from
hypermobile shoulders.
After being medically cleared to wrestle and after he broke his collarbone in a
Last Man Standing match at
One Night Stand against
Triple H, Orton re-injured his collarbone in a motorcycle accident.
