Randy Orton says he and Bray Wyatt were ahead of the curve when it comes to cinematic wrestling matches.
Randy Orton is about to engage in the “Greatest Wrestling Match Ever” when he faces Edge at Backlash 2020, but he is also reflecting on one of his more infamous matches now that cinematic matches have become en-vogue.
Speaking with Corey Graves on WWE After The Bell, Randy Orton opened up about how difficult he thought it would be to work the Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 with no crowd in the audience and how the creativity of Edge and himself made that match a lot easier for him.
“Going into it, I thought, ‘Man, this is going to suck.’ The fans, as you know, Corey, are a huge part of what we do,” Randy began. “The bumps hurt less. It's easier to tell a story when your audience is there. How are we going to react off these fans if they're not there? But, the creativity side. Edge and I were able to kind of look at the building and decide, oh, wait, we can go over here, we can go over here. The stipulation of the match, the Last Man Standing stipulation made it to where we at least we're gonna be different.”
Randy was happy that he and Edge were able to have a match that felt unique. Then, he would speak about the Boneyard Match at WrestleMania 36 between AJ Styles and The Undertaker. While Randy liked that match, he feels that he and Bray Wyatt actually had the first cinematic experience in WWE when they competed at Payback 2017 in the first, and only, House of Horrors Match. This was a cinematic-style match that took place partly on set and partly in front of a live audience.
Overall, the match wasn't well-received, but Randy Orton feels like maybe they were just ahead of their time.
“Of course, AJ and Undertaker were different. The whole cinematic experience, which Bray Wyatt and me did first in the House of Horrors most recently, but everyone kind of shit on it, you know? I feel like if that happened during the pandemic, it would have been the coolest thing ever.”
WWE actually uploaded the House of Horrors match in full and you can view it, while it is still public, at this link.
Elsewhere in the interview, Randy Orton discusses how honored he was to be Edge’s first choice for a one-on-one match after being away from the ring for nine years. To read Randy's full comments, click here.
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