In a recent interview with Denny Burkholder of CBS Sports, Randy Orton spoke on a wide variety of topics. One of the most interesting parts was about the current state of the WWE locker room. Orton describes the differences of the backstage atmosphere from when he first started with WWE in the early 2000’s to today.
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Here is what he said:
“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. 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. And I remember just years ago, you were always seeking out that advice. 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”
Orton continued:
“It’s not that they don’t respect the business. I think that they just don’t understand what the respect for the business should be like backstage, if that even makes any sense. Let me backtrack a little bit. When I started I was very young, had no experience, came up and appreciated every breath I took in that locker room because I knew that I was very fortunate to be there. Some of the guys now [don’t get that], whether it was a pro athlete that came in and thought like ‘Oh, this is easy’ and then they had a rude awakening and had a little bit of an attitude, too. Whether it’s a guy that’s been in the indies for 15 years, comes up and doesn’t think he needs to go around and shake hands, you know, which sounds silly. But we’re all traveling the world together, around each other more than we’re with our families, and you know, you want to have that camaraderie”
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He also mentions that there is competition between wrestlers but it is friendly competition where no one is looking to stab the other in the back. You can read the full interview here.
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