The storyline between Randy Orton, 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt, and Alexa Bliss dominated the latter stages of 2020 going into 2021.
The storyline featured Orton coughing up black ooze, Orton lighting Wyatt on fire, Alexa shooting a fireball into Orton's face, and plenty more.
Over the years, Orton has become more relaxed as a performer and is arguably doing some of the best work of his career. He agrees and cited 'The Fiend' storyline as an example of how he's learned to roll with the punches and do the best with what he's given.
"Rolling with the punches is something that I realized, more recently than not, if I just accept that I'm out of control of some of these situations and I'm talking about the business right now, if I just take what they give me and do it to the best of my ability...I was doing Fiend stuff a year ago. That was hard," admitted Orton on The Ringer Wrestling Show. "Some of that was rough. They put me in the burn mask one week and the next week I'm out of it and my skin healed. It's tough. Then you go to, who you would imagine you go to when you have a gripe, and go, 'Hey, I can't do this. Aren't they gonna....' [Vince impression], 'Just do it. It's going to work.' 'Okay.' Roll with the punches. You go out there and do your best job. Even though I'm lighting a dead guy on fire and he's the babyface...I had a very hard time trying to make that real, but I feel like I did a good enough job to where even though it was a little cringe-worthy for some people, because I really tried to believe I was going through this, I think it helped people buy into it a little bit more while we were suspending that reality and trying to make them believe like they would if they were watching the most recent Halloween movie. They want to believe and be entertained so, the more I can accept that and make it real and make it something that I'm feeling and not just words that some 22-year-old writer wrote on paper for me, if I believe it and make it mine, I can get them to believe. That's what kind of changed with my promos."
The storyline between Orton and Wyatt culminated at WrestleMania 37 with Orton picking up the victory after Bliss was covered in black ooze that came out of a crown she was wearing, which distracted Wyatt, leading to Orton hitting the RKO.
Orton is set to compete in the men's Royal Rumble on Saturday. You can find the current list of competitors play by clicking here.
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