Randy Orton said ex-WWE star was not "over" despite high merch sales

Randy Orton has been one of WWE's marquee attractions for over two decades. In a recent interview, The Viper's former RK-Bro tag team partner Matt Riddle recalled how they once had a conversation about whether they were "over."

In wrestling, the word "over" is used to describe talents who are among the most popular acts on a show. Riddle's partnership with Orton in 2021 and 2022 was well-received by most fans. However, the latter allegedly doubted RK-Bro's level of stardom.

On Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, Riddle said Orton told him they were not "over" despite having high merchandise sales and loud crowd reactions:

"One time we were doing our shows, killing it, everybody's chanting our stuff, RK-Bro, we're leading sales in merch, killing it, and I go, 'Randy, we're pretty over, dude,' and he goes, 'We're not over.' I'm like, 'Come on, don't be hard on us, dude. We're killing it, bro.' And he's like, 'Hulk Hogan was over. Rock's over. Stone Cold is over. We're not over.' And I was like, 'All right, I guess you're right [laughs].'" [47:17 – 47:48]

Matt Riddle and Randy Orton won the RAW Tag Team Championship twice. Their last match as a duo ended in defeat against The Usos in May 2022.

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Backstage reaction to Matt Riddle's Randy Orton tag team idea

In April 2021, Matt Riddle surprisingly defeated Randy Orton on RAW before forming an unlikely tag team partnership with the 14-time world champion.

According to Riddle, he was initially met with laughter from WWE officials after pitching the tag team idea backstage:

"The RK-Bro thing happened randomly. I was just talking to one of the producers and I was like, 'Hey, how cool would it be if me and Randy teamed up and we were RK-Bro?' Right? Because I'm a bro, it's like an O. They all laughed at me, told me I was kinda stupid, and I was like, 'All right, guys, whatever!'" [56:47 – 57:06]

At the time, Orton had a back injury and disliked the creative team's plan to have him feud with Braun Strowman. After hearing Riddle's idea, he agreed to join forces with The Original Bro.

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Please credit Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.