User:Randy Orton

Lee Ryan Gerrard (Born May 30th 1980) is a British professional wrestler, better known as Randy Orton, currently employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a wrestler on the Raw brand. Orton is originally from Liverpool, England but is billed as being from St. Louis, Missouri. He is known for speaking in an American accent, instead of his native accent, which has helped to further his career.

Orton began his wrestling career in 1996 when he was signed to a development deal by World Championship Wrestling in November 1996, lying about his age saying he was born in 1978, not 1980 (All WCW contract holders had to be at least 18 years old). He was dropped from WCW in November 1997 when his lie was found out. After working a number of independent dates, again lying about his age, he was resigned to WCW in August 1998. He made his televised debut in January 2000 but was injured by Diamond Dallas Page just 2 months later. He was sidelined until February 2001 but never made his return, being released from his contract in January.

3 days after his departure from WCW, Orton signed to WWE and was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) for training. He won the OVW Hardcore Championship on two separate occasions by defeating Mr. Black on February 14, 2001, and Flash Flanagan on May 5, 2001.

Following being promoted to television shows in April 2002, Orton became a member of the stable Evolution, which quickly led to a WWE Intercontinental Championship reign, his first title with the company. Orton also acquired the moniker "The Legend Killer" during a storyline where he began disrespecting Hall of Famers and physically attacking veterans of the industry outside of appropriate restrictions. At age 24, Orton became the youngest person ever to hold the World Heavyweight Championship. With this win, Orton departed from Evolution and a feud with his former stablemates began. In 2006, Orton joined forces with Edge in a tag team known as Rated-RKO. Together, Orton and Edge held the World Tag Team Championship. After the team disbanded, during mid-2007, Orton gained two WWE Championship reigns in one night. Orton's "Legend Killer" character would later evolve into "The Viper", a cold, calculating psychopath. Overall, Orton is a seven-time world champion, having won the World Heavyweight Championship once and the WWE Championship six times. He is also the winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble match.