WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry has addressed the crowd reactions to Randy Orton following his heel turn.
Randy Orton turned heel on the March 13 edition of SmackDown, brutalizing WWE Champion Cody Rhodes ahead of their WrestleMania 42 main event.
Matt Cardona fell victim to a Randy Orton attack on the March 20 show, with the Viper ending his attack by stomping on a chair wrapped around Cardona’s arm.
This move led to the crowd chanting “one more time” following the chair-stomp.
Speaking on Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry theorised that fans are still behind Orton as they want to see him reach the WWE Championship reign record.
Henry said:
“I’m going to tell you why they cheered, because they see Randy being close to the goal that he set. People would rather see an accomplishment, a milestone being made…
“I remember Randy from the beginning. The Randy that we have now is not the Randy that we had at the beginning. It took a long time, a couple of decades, for people to appreciate and love the Randy that we have today.
“That first iteration of Randy Orton was like my stint, in and out of trouble, always bucking the system, rebellion. Randy has made himself a Hall of Famer. Randy has made himself somebody special in the business, not just another wrestler’s kid.
“I’m hoping that we get to see even more of that, because if anybody deserves to eclipse Cena’s record and win, it’s Randy Orton.”
Randy Orton is in joint third place for the most total WWE world championship reigns, with he and Triple H both holding 14 world titles in the company.
They’re two title reigns behind Ric Flair’s 16 recognised reigns, which was surpassed last year when John Cena won his 17th world championship at WrestleMania 42.
We could see Orton surpass Triple H and earn a 15th world title reign at WrestleMania 42, where he will challenge for Cody Rhodes’ WWE Title.
With the next active WWE wrestler on the combined reigns leaderboard being Brock lesnar with 7 world titles, it seems that Randy Orton is the only star who will have the opportunity to approach Cena’s record for a number of years.
WWE might want to keep John Cena’s record intact until a star from another generation stacks up title reigns, but it would be fitting to see Cena’s long-time rival take his record away so soon.
The latest WWE updates and news stories ahead of WrestleMania 42 can be found right here.
