"They were always mediocre" - Randy Orton on his promos throughout the majority of his WWE career

Randy Orton's work on the microphone in WWE as of late has been top-notch quality. But it didn't use to be that way.

The Viper was the latest guest on Stone Cold Steve Austin's The Broken Skull Sessions, and the subject of RandOrton's great promos as of late came up.

Orton stated:

"I've been around, but the promos, they were always mediocre. I was concentrating on the in-ring stuff, and I did that for years. I even remember that the reason I give you a bit of s*** and I say 'you weren't too fond of me,' is I know you've done interviews before where you s*** on my promos. At the time, I'm like 'f*** him.' But you were right. I think it was Michael Hayes, not too long ago, he said, 'Randy if you look at all the guys who have had a Hall of Fame career, they were all good workers but could cut a good promo -- a great promo. They were great on the mic. You're not great on the mic, but you're kind of in that mix and that's odd to me.' He said that to me, and it's like, I need to give this more thought."

Talking to @steveaustinbsr about my wife’s company and facing @AlexaBliss_WWE at #WWEFastlane. Two things I never thought I’d be doing on a Sunday in March. See it all tonight @peacocktv @wwenetwork #BrokenSkullSessions pic.twitter.com/5gniE9cKhe

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) March 21, 2021

How long it took Randy Orton to realize how important promos are

Randy Orton acknowledges that he was perfectly content just getting by on his in-ring work for years and not caring about how he performed on the microphone. That has changed over the last year or so, and the WWE Universe is starting to see a new side of Orton in the process.

He continued:

"For years I didn't want to hear it. When he would say that my promos were the s***, I didn't want to hear it. I knew that I was good enough to get by and do my thing. When you talk about the downs as opposed to the ups, those downs would put me in that funk to where I was good enough to stay out all night, not treat myself the best possible way I could be treating myself. Sleep in, miss the gym, show up to work, wipe the sleep out of my eye, put on my boots, and go kill it. I've always been so blessed in that regard, but I realized about a year ago how important promos were and it's embarrassing to say especially to someone like you that it took me that long to realize that."

Randy Orton will face Alexa Bliss tonight at WWE Fastlane.

#RKO 🐍 vs. #Stunner 💀Which camp are you in?@steveaustinBSR's #BrokenSkullSessions with @RandyOrton is available now to stream anytime on @PeacockTV and @WWENetwork! pic.twitter.com/QDwHDeOtHk

— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) March 21, 2021

What are your thoughts on Randy Orton's promos throughout his WWE career? Do you think he's doing his best work on the microphone right now? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.

Thanks to Fightful for the transcription from the Broken Skull Sessions.