Eric Bischoff praises Randy Orton.
Randy Orton had been sidelined for over a year, but he returned to WWE at WWE Survivor Series. O the November 20 episode of WWE Raw, Cody Rhodes announced Orton as the final member of his team for the Men's WarGames match at WWE Survivor Series. Orton then helped Rhodes' team win the bout. "The Viper" then appeared on the November 27 episode of WWE RAW before he signed with WWE SmackDown on December 1.
Speaking on 83 Weeks, Randy Orton's return came up in the conversation, and Eric Bischoff praised the former world champion.
“I think Randy Orton is the purest sports entertainer, professional wrestler, whatever you choose, in the business in the last 30 years. Other than Shawn Michaels, is there anybody smoother than Randy Orton? You go back and watch any of his matches, go back to 2003 or 2005, whenever it was that he debuted in WWE…watch him closely in his matches. His positioning is flawless. His timing is flawless. His execution is flawless. Forget about everything else that’s going on in the ring, and focus on nothing but his facials. What is doing with his face? What is he doing with his eyes? When he’s selling? When he’s on top, when he’s aggressive? He is the purest form of [a] professional wrestler that I think I’ve seen in the last 30 years. He’s flawless. He is the wrestling definition of smooth. I’m so happy to see him back. I hope Randy rides this out for as long as Randy chooses to ride it out. I don’t think he needs the bread, he’s doing it out of passion. I think he’s doing it to end his career on a high note, the way he wants to end it. I have tons of respect for anybody that puts themself in a position to end their careers the way they want to end them. Admirable quality in my book. I’m just hoping for the best for Randy. I hope, however long this run is, whether it’s a month, two months, six months, a year, five years, whatever it is, I hope it ends exactly the way Randy wants it to end, and I hope people recognize Randy for the amazing talent that he is," Bischoff said.
Co-host Conrad Thompson asked Bischoff whether he thought WWE should have held off on Orton's return at WWE Survivor Series, as he argued that CM Punk's arrival may have overshadowed it. Bischoff described how WWE could have built up some anticipation for Orton's return and built it up over the next few months. However, he stated that Orton likely wasn't concerned about Punk's appearance coming after his comeback.
“We’ve been hearing about Randy making his comeback and perhaps making a comeback, we didn’t know when, but we knew he was on his way. That could have been held off til Royal Rumble, couldn’t it, and perhaps even built upon over the next few months? Not saying replicate the Triple H thing when he came back in 2002 and show him working out, getting ready. That’s kind of old-school, been there, done that, not as effective. But there are other things that could have been done over the course of the next three months that could have helped build anticipation, since it wasn’t going to be a surprise, let’s build anticipation for it and whether or not it actually happens, and have it happen at Royal Rumble. I think it probably could have been better for Randy individually. But I don’t think anybody’s sad. I don’t know Randy really well. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit over the years. I don’t think he was sitting at home, going, ‘Wow, they were excited me about for 20 minutes, and then not so much.’ That’s not Randy at all. The Randy that I think I know is going, ‘Cool, talk about CM Punk all you want. Wait til you see what happens next week.’ Because Randy will bring it into the ring. Not that CM Punk can’t or won’t. But there’s something special about Randy, and I think at the end of it all, they’ll be talking about Randy," Bischoff said.
Kurt Angle recently discussed Orton's return and stated that he thought WWE needed the veteran. Check out his comments here.
John Cena called Orton a massive pickup for WWE SmackDown. More information is available here.
Fightful Select reported an update about Randy Orton's WWE contract.
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