Randy Orton tattoos: What do they mean?

Randy Orton was born into greatness. He is the son of "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. He started wrestling in 2000(after being expelled from the military) in Mid-Missouri Wrestling Association-Southern Illinois Conference Wrestling (MMWA-SICW), trained by his father.

Perhaps due to his father's connections, he was signed to a developmental deal in WWE, where he performed in OVW(Ohio Valley Wrestling). He was with what many call the greatest batch of students in WWE developmental history. He was with the likes of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Batista, and Shelton Benjamin. Naturally, this elite group of students who were all destined for greatness pushed each other to the limit preparing themselves for the main roster, which they all arrived on by 2002.

From the very beginning, Orton was being given a push and was being treated like a star in the making. His initial super push came when he was part of Evolution along with Triple H, Ric Flair, and Batista. The group was an extremely dominant heel faction, and it was said that Orton was intended to be the original breakout star of the group getting the big babyface rub. When he beat Chris Benoit at Summerslam 2004 and became the youngest world champion in WWE history, Evolution turned on him and he began to get a huge babyface push. Unfortunately, some things don't click, and Orton reverted to being a heel some months later and making his path on Smackdown while Batista ended up getting hot and got the huge babyface rub and Wrestlemania main event. However, Randy Orton's "Legend Killer" gimmick still ensured that he had many successful years ahead of him.

Orton won the World Championship an illustrious 12 times in his career so far. Many believe that he has not lived up to his full potential throughout his run, but many forget that The Viper is still 36 years old with many years of his career left to him. He has gone through various changes in persona and has managed to innovate himself and his arsenal throughout the years. Now, he is thriving in Smackdown Live, "the land of opportunity".

It is almost a certainty that on Smackdown Live, Orton will have the chance to become the WWE World Champion again, and perhaps more than just once. He may not end up tying arch-rival John Cena's record, but a 12-time world champion is beyond impressive. Orton tends to come off as one of those talents who will be appreciated more once he is gone.

One thing that definitely isn't underappreciated is The Viper's tattoos. With 8 tattoos, the ink on his body has almost come to be a trademark of his physical appearance. Apart from the slithering nature of his movements, the ink is one of the most notable things about the former 12-time world champion. The story of his tattoos are extremely interesting.

WWE superstars that are inked always have the most interesting stories behind them. The Apex Predator, who is a 12-time World Champion in the WWE and a future Hall Of Famer, has been inked for a long time now – Randy Orton has four tattoos on his forearm, one on his back/shoulders and two on his upper arms/biceps.

We take a look into the meaning behind his tattoos:

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Back/Shoulder tattoos:

The Viper says this means “nothing”

Randy Orton has openly said in the past that the tribal tattoo he got on his back and shoulders during his Ohio Valley Wrestling days meant “absolutely nothing”. However, in an interview with WWE.com over nine years ago, Orton had a story about it:

“The thing is, I was wrestling all the time and it had no time to heal, so it became this big, bloody scab.It was horrible; every two weeks I'd go in to have it retouched because I kept ruining it."

However, the tattoos on his arms definitely carry some meaning to them.

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Arm tattoos:

1 Peter 5:8

Orton initially had a “United States Marine Corps” tattoo on his shoulder. However, that has since been covered up.

"I had a tattoo on my left arm that read ‘USMC' for United States Marine Corps. When I got my bad conduct discharge and got sent home I got rid of the tattoo by getting it covered up," he said. "It was covered up once in San Diego while I was still in the Marines and they did an awful job so I had to go to another guy -- the guy who eventually did work on my shoulder -- and have him fix it for me."

A significant part of Randy Orton’s right arm has the Bible passage 1 Peter 5:8 which reads:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”

Orton has said that this passage tattooed has a special connection with his heart. He stated that after he got the back tribal tattoo which meant nothing, he wanted to ink his body with some meaning.

The only colour among all the ink on The Viper’s body

The Rose, as seen in the image above, reads “Alanna” – the name of Orton’s daughter. That Roman numerals below signify her date of birth. About this he said the following:

“I have a rose here, the only colour on any of my pieces is for my daughter Alana, and her birthday there in the Roman Numerals, and that's the centerpiece, that's what they all culminate to - is that rose right there on my arm for my daughter”

In an interview many years ago, Orton was asked about the meaning behind the tattoos, and his full quote in response is as follows:

“It probably took 40-50 hours. I do have a lot of meaning behind it, and that's the reason I got it done. The tribal work I had before had no meaning behind it. No meaning whatsoever, and I kind of wanted to put something on my body that had some meaning and it does, and that's for me, my wife and my family. As far as the meaning, I don't want to tell everyone what it means. They can look, they can enjoy them, but the meaning is for me.”

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Finger tattoo:

The ink is as fresh as it comes

The latest tattoo is one that Orton obtained last year after marrying his wife Kimberly Kessler. The wedding took place during his time away from WWE due to his injury. As seen above, his wife Kim had gotten a tattoo of his name as well on her finger.

The couple is now expecting their first child, and congratulations are in order!

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