The following are highlights from Randy Orton's interview with Extreme Pro Wrestling Radio podcast hosts Big D and Crisco...
When asked about The Rock vs. John Cena main event of WrestleMania 28: "You know, that's a tough question for me to answer," Orton said. "I've answered it already a few times. Here's the thing, I could be selfish and say that I feel it takes away from me, but you have to give credit where credit is due, and I will very humbly say that Cena, watching him come up and get better and better and just how smart he is in and outside the business, the business side, he knows what he's doing out there. Rock? You know, he went and did the acting thing. I could see how one of our fans would be upset with him for coming back after all this time and saying, 'I promise I won't leave, I'm here for good, I'm here to stay.'"
"The day after WrestleMania, this match, Cena vs. Rock, is made. And you thinking, man, is he going to be around to promote this match. Here's the thing, Rock is so big time and that many more people are going to watch our show because of it. And for that, no matter how I feel about whether or not Rock is here, there, or wherever, I got paid for this past WrestleMania and I was happy with my payday. And I know that that number on that paycheck reflected him being present that day. If anything, Dwayne, if you're listening, thank you. And I think everyone on the card owes him a thank you, because helped people watch our show. He helped ticket sales, plain and simple. He's The Rock. Whether you love him or hate him, he's entertaining."
"I guess in Australia, John Cena, I saw some stuff on the net where post-show for a live event, he said some disparaging things about Rock. And Rock gave his rebuttal... It was Rock himself doing a flip-camera video, and he cut a 12-minute promo on Cena. And after the promo, I was like, 'Man, I never really thought about it like that before.' It was pretty good. I had my wife come listen to it. Rock is awesome. I've said things before about his verbiage and writers helping come up with it."
"Here's the thing, he's as entertaining as it gets. The electricity that whole thing, you do feel it in the air. When you're backstage, when I first started, he's doing a live promo to the house and TV live at the same time, backstage I'd be peeking around the corner and watching him do his thing and hoping that one day that I could amount to an eighth of that energy. He's better than anybody else out there when it comes to that, but John Cena is my boy. I respect what he's done for this business and how hard he works for this business, so I will always have his back.
