Randy Orton On How Jinder Mahal Is Doing As WWE Champion, Advice He Gave Jinder, Legends At PPV
WWE Superstar Randy Orton recently spoke with Donny Fandango on 105.7 The Point to promote tonight's WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view event. Orton talked about his time in the business, the resurgence of Jinder Mahal's career, his match with "The Maharaja" at MITB, and much more. Here are the highlights:
His past comments about wanting to see the WWE work Jinder Mahal more and being very much in his corner:
"Since then I think he got let go, his contract was terminated, he did some independents, kind of studied his craft a little bit more, then we were looking for more talent to sign back up and his name popped up. I definitely thought it'd be good to have him back. I didn't think he was going to come in and take my title. That's another thing altogether. But I haven't seen anyone as motivated as him in a long time. You can tell he has been hitting the gym, you can tell he has been working on his promos, when it comes to the in-ring stuff he's fine-tuning his stuff to be more of a main event guy and learn how to tell the story in the way that the main events tell the stories. He's doing a great job."
Advice he gave Jinder:
"When he first came back he was on RAW, and I think that has helped him out. A lot of the younger guys are so anxious to please and to get better and they try almost too hard, they need to take a step back and relax. I started kind of getting it, so to speak, the lightbulb kind of stopped giving as much of a crap, I guess you can say. I don't mean in the sense of being lazy or not caring, that's not true at all. But kind of letting it happen out there and letting it be more organic as opposed to coming up with all these ideas where it looks more choreographed or if you're banking on a reaction from the crowd in a particular point in a promo or a match and you don't get that reaction, being prepared to go another route with what you're doing. There's a lot of little aspects to the game that guys can get better at and that's just a few."
His father and a bunch of WWE Legends being ringside for his Money In The Bank match with Jinder Mahal:
"No, no pressure at all. My family will be sitting ringside as well, like you said my father, but other legends as well. Gosh. It's going to be insane. And it's always a little more stressful performing in my hometown, because I know I got everybody that I grew up with in the arena, my family is there, in this case, my father. So the pressure will be on. But I plan on delivering and taking that title back home where it belongs."
How many tickets he gets asked for:
"Hundreds and hundreds. Family and close friends will all take turns every couple of turns. Every couple of shows a certain group of people might get to go and my nephew is five-years-old, my sister's son, was diagnosed with leukemia in October and unfortunately he can't go. His name is TJ by the way. That's what this Orange bracelet I've been wearing since October, even in the ring too, over the wrist tape, that's what that's for, supporting him. Because of that, I was able to meet and hook up a lot of kids, that are sick as well, with tickets. Like I said, he can't go, but he saw me on the news this morning and my sister texted me and said 'TJ saw you wearing your bracelet and he thought it was so cool.' That's what it's all about, the kids. But to answer your question, tickets usually find their way to someone deserving of them, and in this case, the kids who need it the most are going to get to go. I think there's eight."
His thoughts on the full MITB PPV card:
"We got some really good matches. The New Day, this is their first match back on PPV since the draft. They got drafted from RAW to SmackDown. Kofi Kingston injured his ankle and he's now back and able to work, and they're taking on The Usos for the Tag Team Championships. Naomi and Lana are in a Women's Championship Match. I believe that will be Lana's first singles match on TV ever. Big match of the night I'm looking forward to, besides my own of course, I'm winning back that title, is the men's Money In The Bank with guys like AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura. These guys are going to just leave it all out there man. It will probably be like a 30 or 45-minute match, and Ladder Matches are always fun. I don't like necessarily participating in them, but these guys are going to – it's going to be very physical. Then, of course, the girls as you mentioned their Money In The Bank Ladder Match. That's another history making moment there, never been done. So St. Louis gets to host this awesome event Sunday."
You can listen to Orton's full interview with Donny Fandango of 105.7 The Point at this link.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit 105.7 The Point with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.