The youngest World Champion in history...The Legend Killer...The Viper. So many alias go along with the third generation wrestler known as Randy Orton & here is WWE telling his story on his own DVD with additional comments from others like his farther Bob Orton jr, Arn Anderson, John Cena, Triple H, Batista, his wife Samantha, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, and Sheamus.
The documentary is setup differently than the usual sit-down interview about his career type that we normally get as it's similar to how Jeff Hardy's "My Life, My Rules" or similar Steve Austin's "Hell Yeah!" where it's based around following him with a behind the scenes look at him during a certain time period while also telling his story. It was the period between the Elimination Chamber & WrestleMania 27 PPV's in this case where we saw Orton on the road, backstage at events, at home with his family, and doing promotional work (radio, Axxess, ect.) while Orton recalls various flashbacks in his career. Orton beings to talk about how he was interested in getting into the business back in 1999 leading to going to OVW developmental territory the same time John Cena & Batista & Brock Lesnar were there along with him having a cocky arrogant attitude that makes Orton himself admit that he was an "jerk." This run in Evolution was discussed from how he was handpicked by Flair & Triple H leading to backstage jealously regarding his spot on the roster before talking about how his own bad attitude got in the way of his success. His successful run as the Legend Killer leading to becoming the youngest World Champion in history was discussed before going back in time to tell the story about how he didn't didn't originally want to follow in his dad's footsteps & the story behind Orton going A.W.O.L. from the military. Orton's drug problem was discussed in heavy detail next from his suspension to what was the one thing that made him turn his life around & how he incorporates elements of this period into his current "Viper" character before going into his run with Dibiase & Rhodes in "Legacy" to being seen as a locker room leader close out the documentary.
Matches Include
vs. Slick Robbie D - The video quality here wasn't much as OVW was pretty low budget but it was a quick match to showcase Orton at the beginning of his career.
"OVW Christmas Chaos" Jan. '01
vs. Hardcore Holly - This was Orton's WWE television debut that was pretty short & sweet but very impressive for a first showing.
"SmackDown" Apr. '02
[Best Of Smackdown: 10th Anniversary]
vs. Shawn Michaels - The was the Orton's first singles PPV match & the beginning of Orton's run as "The Legend Killer." Orton kept getting shown up by Shawn in the beginning causing Orton to attempt to do it himself at one point with his own version of "skin the cat" to get an advantage only for Shawn to return it & gain the momentum back. Shawn ended up hurting his shoulder by hitting the post causing Ric Flair to get his shots in on the outside while Orton also used the ringpost along with working over Shawn's arm with hammerlocks, armbars, and even a single arm DDT. Both men went back & forth with Flair constantly trying to get involved only for Shawn to keep knock him down but unfortunately not out as Flair would get involved towards the end causing a bit of confusion which Orton was able to capitalize on.
Unforgiven '03
vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion vs. Rob Van Dam - Mick Foley was not only the special referee in this match but also the co-General Manager at this time while also having his personal issues with Orton dating back months earlier when Orton attacked Foley at Madison Square Garden. RVD was in control during the first half of the match before he "crashed & burned" with a high risk move on the outside for Orton to gain control. Orton grounded RVD with moves like a side headlock before they began to trade momentum with impactful moves like RVD's spinning kick onto Orton on the ringside barrier while Orton later gave a DDT with RVD hanging off the middle ropes. This was a good match that got more competitive overtime.
Armageddon '03
w/Evolution (Ric Flair & Batista) vs. The Rock & Sock Connection (The Rock & Mick Foley) - This was The Rock's first match in almost a year while Foley's first in over 4 years. This was just a fun handicap tag match that's not easy to summarize more than to just sit back & watch unfold as everyone here had their moments to look strong as Foley looked like he didn't miss a step, Batista heavily showcased his power, and the biggest highlight being the interaction between Flair & Rock to the point where both men were trading each other's taunts like Flair doing the people's elbow & Rock doing Flair's strut.
WrestleMania XX
WWE Intercontinental/Falls Count Anywhere Match vs. Mick Foley - Foley came out under his "Cactus Jack" persona & tried to nail Orton with "Barbie" right away with Orton running for his life before Orton was able to took nail Mick with a trash can to the face multiple times before Orton eventually ended up taking one himself. They took the fight to the ramp where Foley was back suplexed before going back into the ring where more weapons came into play causing Foley to ask the fans if they wanted him to use either "Socko" or "Barbie" on Orton. Foley got more violent as he used "Barbie" to bust Orton open along with using that to give him a legdrop to the groin. Barbed wire boards, cookie sheets, thumbtacks were all used here along with a moment where Orton was thrown off the stage followed by the classic Cactus Jack elbow drop off the stage onto Orton. Foley in this match did what he did for Triple H in 2000 as he heavily put Orton over in his hardcore environment & showed that he can take some serious punishment that most wrestlers can't & still go while telling a good story in the ring as well.
Backlash '04
[Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses: Hardcore Edition]
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match vs. Edge - Years before the thought of "Rated RKO," Edge was on a mission to take out Randy Orton & end the longest I.C. title reign in over 7 years. This match had some dull moments (2-3 min. headlocks by Orton) but went back & forth between both guys with an interesting note here being how the fans were divided as half were cheering for Edge while half were getting behind Randy Orton despite being a heel in Evolution.
Vengeance '04
[Edge: Decade Of Decadence & History Of I.C. Title]
Casket Match w/Bob Orton vs. Undertaker - As expected in a handicap match situation, the Orton's kept trying to corner & double team Taker while Taker's strategy was to hit & move when both of them were. Taker was able to focus on one man when the other was out of the way for a few moments such as using a chair on Randy while choking out Bob with the triangle choke. Bob resorted to desperate tactics like using a fire extinguisher to blind Taker while Orton was able to knock Taker out with a chair for a victory but it was the aftermath of the match that made the strongest impression on everyone.
No Mercy '05
[Undertaker's Deadliest Matches]
vs. Kurt Angle - This was a rematch from the ECW One Night Stand PPV weeks earlier & for those who don't remember, Kurt Angle was part of the ECW brand during this time with WWE treating it as a separate promotion from WWE causing various biased commentary against Angle & ECW from Jerry Lawler causing Jim Ross to even get caught up in it from time to time. Angle outwrestled Orton early to the point where he almost delivered a german suplex from the apron to the floor before eventually just doing it on the floor. Orton attempted to ground Angle with his chinlocks & side headlocks but Angle kept coming with his various suplexes including one off the top rope, repeated belly to belly suplexes, and eight german suplexes in a row. Good match in their series that went throughout the year.
Vengeance '06
vs. Hulk Hogan - There really isn't much to say here except this was the typical performance you would get from Hulk Hogan at this "attraction" stage of his career in that he was dominate for a majority of the match with Orton getting somewhat of an advantage by going after Hogan's bad leg for a while & even nailing the RKO at one point but you knew exactly what was going to happen afterwords & who was going to win so this match wasn't much but the politics behind this match (and last year's SummerSlam) also showcase why you hadn't see Hogan wrestle a match or really done much business with WWE since.
SummerSlam '06
Texas Bull Rope Match vs. Dusty Rhodes - This was a very short match that served it's purpose in that Randy Orton beat another legend...in this case, the legend who created the event itself. Besides that & Cody Rhodes appearance after the match, nothing noteworthy here.
The Great American Bash '07
WWE Championship Match vs. Triple H vs. John Cena - Before I get started, I liked Cena's entrance with the college band playing his entrance music. Well, this was the shocker of the night considering the winner of the match was the person nobody expected just based off 92% of WWE's own poll & a majority the comments in the reviews of Royal Rumble & No Way Out on Amazon itself. As for the match itself, it was your typical triple threat match in which it was non-stop action with each man having their moments at various times along with the various moments of one man stopping another from winning the match before Orton got the biggest win in his championship reign...and for those trivia fans who like to keep score of this type of thing, this was Cena's first WrestleMania loss & the fourth time a heel has walked out of WrestleMania a World Champion.
WrestleMania XXIV
WWE Championship/"I Quit" Match vs.
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