"It was me being egotistical" - When top WWE name revealed he had real-life backstage heat with Randy Orton

After competing for a few years in Vince McMahon's promotion, WWE Hall of Famer Road Dogg was released from his contract in January 2001. The 53-year-old wrestled on the independent circuit and in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling before returning to the Stamford-based company in 2011.

During an episode of his "Oh...You Didn't Know" podcast in 2022, the current Senior Vice President of Live Events disclosed that he had real-life backstage heat with Randy Orton during his second WWE run as an in-ring competitor.

"At this point, me and Randy Orton, me, Billy (Gunn), and Randy Orton are kind of butting heads a little bit, and it's just because Randy's the man, and he's been the man for a while, and Randy is the last one on the bus and Randy is Randy, you know what I mean? I was young in sobriety, and I was older in my wrestling, and I was like, 'Why are we waiting on him? If me and Billy are here, so should he.' So, that's my ego and my pride talking, and he has the same thing. He's an alpha with ego and pride too," he said.

Road Dogg and his tag team partner Billy Gunn teamed up with The Viper in a few matches during the WrestleMania Revenge Tour in 2013. The 53-year-old legend revealed that his issues with Orton affected the execution of the bouts.

"We butted heads a little bit on that tour, but it was after that tour that me and him kind of saw each other and said, 'Are we good, man?' But it didn't help we worked some matches and it kind of perpetuated it even in the matches and the execution of the matches, or so I thought, and looking back, it was me being egotistical and thinking he should bow down. Oh, we're the old-timers, you've got to bend a little bit, and he was saying, like, 'No, you bend.' I get it, you know what I mean," Road Dogg added.

John Cena and Randy Orton once got into a heated real-life argument at a WWE venue. Check out the details here.

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Randy Orton has been absent from WWE since May 2022

Since May 20, 2022, Randy Orton has been out of action due to a back injury. The Viper last competed on SmackDown when he and his RK-Bro partner, Matt Riddle, lost their RAW Tag Team Titles to The Usos.

Dave Meltzer recently reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the 14-time world champion could return to in-ring action soon.

"All the indications are that he's on his way back, which is also good news because at the end of last year, there were definitely people worried about him," he said. [H/T: WrestlingnewsCo]

A former WWE star wanted to quit after a co-worker allegedly got bullied by Edge and Randy Orton. Check out the story here.