Review for WWE Randy Orton: The Evolution Of A Predator

Now I'm not a big fan of Randy Orton, but and this is a big BUT, I am really enjoying these WWE documentaries that follow a wrestler for a few months and also fill in some back story on who they are and how they got to be the WWE Superstar they are today. One of the most fascinating things was a look at OVW and I do wish that WWE would produce a DVD around the time that they had there especially as so many big stars came from there (Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena and Randy Orton amongst others).

However, have you ever wanted to watch a DVD that shows someone pick out what shirt they are going to wear? You have? Then you're in luck as one section of this documentary that follows Randy Orton as he prepares for Wrestlemania. Though that is just nitpicking as I honestly thought we would end up with him deciding on what to eat and which socks to put on too.

The documentary covers his time in Evolution, Legend Killer gimmick and his rise within the WWE to cement himself as one of the top stars and the stats speak for themselves. Nine Time World Champion, Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion, Royal Rumble winner. Winner of Eight PWI Awards including Number One in the Top 500 in 2008. It is such a shame that despite all this I can never really get into Orton as a character and this DVD didn't do much to change my opinion of him. He admits that when he got into the business he was a bit of a d&*k and almost everyone including Cena agrees. I expected that by the end someone would have said 'Oh but he's changed now', but it seems that he still is.

However, I did enjoy the way the documentary was made and there is a lot of good archive footage and interviews with the likes of Cowboy Bob Orton, Triple H and others that are nice. The DVD is accompanied by two disks containing sixteen matches and thankfully apart from three the rest are from PPVs and so the quality is generally excellent. If you are a fan of Randy Orton I think all of his best matches are featured here with highlights including a rare match from OVW, his debut match against Hardcore Holly and a number of great matches.
The odd thing is that though they include his Intercontinental Championship win over Rob Van Dam, they don't include his first winning of the World Heavyweight Championship (before anyone says it, yes I understand that it was against Chris Benoit, but it just seemed bizarre to not include it and only include shots of him with the belt).

Other highlights are his No Holds Barred match against Mick Foley at Backlash, Casket Match against The Undertaker, a really good Triple Threat against John Cena and Triple H at Wrestlemania 24 and his match against CM Punk at Wrestlemania 27. The only other thing missing is possibly an overview of the whole Legend Killer gimmick to show just how many Legends he actually faced including Harley Race, Jake Roberts, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels amongst others.

Randy Orton: The Evolution of a Predator is a great DVD for Randy Orton fans. If you are not I'm not sure whether you will enjoy the set or not. There are some good matches and some of the stories, particularly regarding his early days are interesting. However, if you are like me and you think that Randy Orton at times is as interesting as watching paint dry then this DVD could go a few babysteps to changing your mind.