In this WWE Evil: Randy Orton review, some thoughts on the fifth installment of the newest Peacock series from WWE.
Let’s jump in.
– Orton shows right off the bat what he does to get into the zone, and it is something. The facial expressions are wild.
– Shawn Michaels notes Orton’s evil comes more from the mental side than the physical side. I’d never thought of it that way, but it’s a good point.
– They highlight when “RKO outta nowhere” took social media by storm. I don’t know what that has to do with the evil theme of this series, but it was notable.
– I do like that they go back to Orton’s childhood for some background on him being a loner and why he was insecure. Bob Orton Jr. makes an appearance and shares what he remembers about Orton as a kid.
– Orton recalls being bullied as a child until he hit a growth spurt, then the kids stopped messing with him. Dr. Stacy Kaiser fills the Dr. Phil role on this episode as the psychotherapist. That’s been an interesting addition to this series.
– Both the Ortons recall Bob’s wrestling career and only seeing Randy around 10-12 days per year. Yeah, the touring schedule back then was insane.
– They delve into Orton going AWOL after leaving the military. Kaiser adds that she thinks it was a building block of his character.
– Ohio Valley Wrestling is the next area of focus, then it’s the transition to the shoulder injuries early in his career. I loved the RNN injury update vignettes, so I appreciated the highlights of Orton really leaning into those.
– And then they dive into the history of Evolution and how Triple H and Ric Flair impacted Orton’s career. From there, it’s the career-defining feud with Mick Foley, including their memorable Backlash 2004 match. No doubt, that match catapulted Orton into another stratosphere with the “Legend Killer” gimmick.
– They also share some infamous Orton moments outside of the ring, and he admits he was a prick. The story revolves around fame and fortune feeding Orton’s ego. Orton also recalls being out of it for Bob Orton’s induction speech for the WWE Hall of Fame and the look on his father’s face when he realized it.
– Orton recounts having substance abuse issues, which led him to change his ways. They go a bit further into the character aspect after that and how those problems forced him to think differently.
– And then it’s all about Orton’s feud with The Fiend and setting him on fire. I figured this would be included to punish the “evil” theme, but it was still a brutal storyline.
– Orton caps it off by pondering if his “Voices” theme song plays into voices he heard as a child, where he doubted himself and lacked confidence.
BLAKE’S TAKE ON WWE EVIL: RANDY ORTON
Orton is perfect for the theme of this series, and there were lots of good character tidbits involved. The story jumped around a bit, but I suppose that’s to be expected when you’re cramming 20 years of a wrestler’s career into 40 minutes. That’s a challenge. Something we also have to remember is Orton, unlike some wrestlers, hasn’t done numerous podcasts documenting his career. So you get plenty of fresh insight because of that.
As with all of these episodes, a lot of the input from anyone other than the subject is pretty basic. However, I enjoyed Bob Orton Jr. and Foley’s insight in this one. Orton himself was the star of the show, and his own self-reflection made this enjoyable overall.
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