WWE's greatest families - Part 1

Randy Orton

4) The Ortons

Randy Orton the current ‘face’ of the WWE comes is a 3rd generation wrestler who comes from a family with a rich wrestling history. His grandfather Bob Orton Sr. started his wrestling career way back in 1951. In a time when the United States was divided into numerous wrestling territories who all wrestled under the Guidance of the National Wrestling Association(NWA), Bob Orton Sr. along with his tag-team partner Eddie Graham held the coveted NWA Tag-Team titles twice.

He also held multiple championships in Florida’s Championship Wrestling and the Central States Wrestling territory as well as various other territories including the American Wrestling Association, NWA Big Time Wrestling and NWA Western States Wrestling.

His son ‘Cowboy’ Bob Orton really brought the Orton name into the spotlight when he joined the WWF as the enforcer for Roddy Piper. He became rather famous for his ‘cast’ gimmick. During a match against Superfly Jimmy Snuka, he broke his arm which was then put in a cast for protection. Cowboy Bob instead of ruing his bad luck added the cast to his gimmick and used it claim numerous tainted victories.

It was however the third generation Orton that lifted the family name into the stratosphere. Randy Orton, a marine corps deserter joined Evolution in 2003 a year after he joined the WWE. His career graph then exploded as the WWE pushed his character as he became the youngest ever World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Chris Benoit at Summerslam 2004.

Three reigns as the World Heavyweight champion and Seven as the WWE champion, Randy Orton is the current face of the WWE and quite a lot more is expected of him.