Randy Orton has been with WWE for more than 15 years now, and during this time, his role in the company backstage has come full circle. When the former World Champion first signed with WWE, he was a rookie in the locker room with little experience in the business. Now he finds himself among the few veterans on the roster who have been with the company for more than a decade.
In a recent interview with Denny Burkholder of CBS Sports, Randy talked about many different things. Among others, he mentioned how things have changed backstage since his early days in WWE.
Orton was signed by the company back in 2001 and made his debut on WWE TV, during an episode of SmackDown back in April 2002. During the interview he explained that it was a time when young wrestlers like himself had to go to the veterans and ask for advice:
“I remember walking into our locker room and there’s a few guys I can’t even name, but you had a crew of guys that were very intimidating and commanded respect. You could also go to them and get advice, and you would get that advice."
Now the 12-time World Champion is in a place where he has achieved almost everything inside the company and is considered a veteran. Talking about how things have changed since his early days, the former Intercontinental Champion claimed that now stars like him have to go to the fresher talents and give them suggestions:
"Nowadays, a lot of the younger guys, I find myself, and I see other guys that have been around, having to go to them with suggestions on how to make their ‘product’ better. Whether it’s selling or facial expressions or just slowing down a little bit. But no, they’re not coming to us."
The member of the new Wyatt Family said that the reason behind this change is the fact that many talents who are new to WWE have been wrestling on the independent circuit for many years. So they think they know everything:
"It's almost like some of these guys that have been in the indies 15 years think they know everything. That's probably the only negative difference that sticks out to me."
While Randy Orton has made his fair share of mistakes in his early days of WWE, including facing multiple suspensions for various reasons, his latest interview emphasises how the arrival of new talents with veteran indie background has changed the conditions backstage in the WWE locker room since early 2000.
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