Honky Tonk Man Says Randy Orton Is Greatest Talent In WWE

In an interview with Main Event Radio, the Honky Tonk Man spoke about which talents in WWE he enjoys watching and which he considers the best. Here are highlights:

On calling AJ Styles vs John Cena a video game: “I wasn’t critical. With everything that they were doing and they did a lot of stuff in that match. It looked more like what you’d see in a video game. I’m a traditionalist. Traditional wrestling matches aren’t what they do nowadays. It was giving an opinion on what I perceived that the match looked like to me. It’s not a match I would do because I’m not capable of doing that kind of match. They’re actually doing what the fans want. They’ve got sell-out shows; 70,000+ people attending Wrestlemania every year. Obviously they’re doing something very right.”

On the WWE Network: “It’s been good. At the beginning when the Network first came out I didn’t know it would be such a success that it has been. It has given us old guys and legends a whole new avenue of fans which is good.”

On if he’ll go into the WWE Hall of Fame: “If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. They have people that they choose at a certain time. It doesn’t affect my life at all. I mean it’s not like the sportswriters or the fans vote for the Hall of Fame. There’s no physical building. It’s not that big a deal. There’s a lot of guys that should be in that aren’t. Rick Rude is a great choice for this year.”

On Jimmy Snuka: “Jimmy doesn’t have to suffer anymore. He was suffering through stomach cancer which is a terrible thing and his legal battles and God bless him he’s not suffering anymore.”

On still being in good health at 64: “I partied as much as anybody else. It’s just the luck of the draw. Who knows when something is going to happen to you. We’re not guaranteed anything other than the breath we are taking now. It’s sad. Of course if you want to speed it up you can do some things that will probably cause it. Everybody’s body reacts differently to different things. I don’t think there’s anybody who partied more than 3-4 guys and I was talking about one of them in particular, Jake [Roberts]. Jake is a very very lucky man and he should get up every day, look up in the sky and thank someone. He’s done enough that he shouldn’t be around and he knows that.”

On his issue with Jake Robets: “I don’t really have one other than the fact that he has said some bad things about me without even asking me about why he’s doing it. He thinks I tried to buy his name or trademark his name. He doesn’t have the rights to his name. He didn’t want to spend the money to trademark it so I was going to. When Vince trademarks people’s names, when he does it, they don’t get mad at him. He trademarks everything!”

On which WWE stars he enjoys watching: “I saw Kevin Owens at an independent show a couple of years ago and I saw what he did in the ring and I wished him well. I knew he did really well and I’m glad he is getting a break. Samoa Joe, he really deserves it. He’s toiled in the independents and around the world. After 10-15 years he deserves a chance to prove himself on the main stage. AJ Styles is doing really well right now. He’s a breakout star from the new generation and that’s fun to see. And my trusted star, Randy Orton. I think he’s the greatest talent there. He’s an all-around talent. He can talk, he can work, he doesn’t put up with any nonsense.”