Randy Orton Credits JBL for Protecting Him Early on

It’s fair to say that not everyone in the wrestling business has positive stories about John “Bradshaw” Layfield, who has a reputation for working stiff and hazing newcomers. One he never messed with, however, was Randy Orton. And it wasn’t because Orton, who hadn’t yet become the Viper, was especially intimidating.

In an interview with Ultimatekiko at Culture Kings in Las Vegas, Orton was asked about the pressure of entering wrestling as the son of Cowboy Bob Orton. In fact, according to Randy, it was the opposite of pressure.

“Guys like JBL, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, Jack Lanza, Tony Garea; they’re in the locker room when I debuted,” he said. “And they knew my father and respected my father and would say, you know, he was a wrestler’s wrestler and and had all the respect of the boys in the back. And the fact that they had such high regard for my dad, that helped me even more because they made sure to take care of me.”

Orton took care to single out JBL, though, saying, “The horror stories you hear of JBL f***ing with the new guys; he didn’t mess with me like that because of my dad. JBL’s very first overseas tour of Japan on the indies was with my father, and my father took care of him for the 3 months they were over there. So when JBL was able to take care of me, he returned the favor. So, if anything, there wasn’t a shadow that I had to to bust out of or live in. It was more like it it it helped me get my foot in the door, and it helped me earn the respect quicker from my peers, and the men and and women that I was learning from.”