Randy Orton Says He Originally Had “No Interest” In Facing Drew McIntyre

Randy Orton & Drew McIntyre

14-time WWE World Champion and sure-fire Hall of Famer Randy Orton recently sat down with Stone Cold Steve Austin on the Broken Skull Sessions.

During the near two hour conversation which dived into Randy Orton’s life and career, The Viper was brutally honest about his triumphs and also his mistakes. Right off the bat he commented on how he always felt that cutting promos had been a weakness throughout his career, explaining that he only really realised their importance “about a year ago.”

As well as a wide range of topics and milestones, Orton also discussed working with Drew McIntyre, stating that originally he had “no interest” in doing so.

“Originally, I had no interest being in there with him. We got closer and closer and closer and closer and he grew on me. We had like 3 or 4 pay-per-view matches and I slowly learned more about this guy. I did watch you sit down [Stone Cold’s Broken Skull Session with Drew McIntyre] when it came out, and man I felt that. I’ve gotten to know him to the point that I know he’s got a good heart. I know he loves this business, and I know this business has given everything that I have and has given it to me, and he feels the same way.”

The Viper went on to detail how that common ground then helped them work together and to make their matches as good as they could possibly be. Before later adding that McIntyre is “good in my books.”

Here we are, let’s do what we can to elevate each other, and to make what we love as great as we can. For me to be a threat to you, yeah that helps me, but now you have a hole to dig up out of and come up and overcome. I’ve been around 12-, 13-, 14-time Champion, like now you’ve got me on my heels – it’s the best of both worlds. We eventually got there, but it took a couple of months to get there but he’s good in my books.”

While he has now held the WWE World Championship 14 times, when Randy Orton won the World Heavyweight Championship in 2004, he became the youngest WWE World Champion in history.

Reflecting on the achievement Orton revealed that he felt that at the time he wasn’t ready to carry the WWE’s top title.

Meanwhile The Viper is set to battle The Fiend once more at WrestleMania following Wyatt’s return at WWE Fastlane. After a confrontation on RAW the following night, it has been confirmed that the pair will go one on one at ‘The Showcase Of The Immortals.’