John Cena Congratulates Randy Orton on 20 Years in WWE

Randy Orton’s WWE debut will officially become 20 years old this week, and to celebrate the occasion his greatest rival — John Cena— took to Twitter to congratulate him. The pair shared the ring more than 300 times throughout their respective careers, headlining pay-per-views, swapping world championships and nailing each other with every move in their arsenal many times over. Cena wrote, “For 20 years @RandyOrton has cemented his legacy as 1 of the greatest @WWE Superstars ever. I have the utmost respect for every achievement he’s earned & CONTINUES to earn. But my genuine love & admiration for him is in his maturity & growth as a human being. Here’s to RKO!”

“The Viper” has transitioned into a babyface over the past year as his unlikely partnership with Riddle as RK-Bro has become a consistent highlight on Raw. The pair are on their second reign as Raw Tag Team Champions and will face The Usos at WrestleMania Backlash to unify both sets of tag titles. 

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Orton talked about his partnership with Riddle in an interview with The Ringer back in January. He started off by joking that the pair both enjoy smoking. 

One of the main reasons me and Riddle come across as so happy in the ring together is…he’s the one guy that can grow my favorite strain. I’m not lying,” Orton said. “Seriously, I’m having fun out there. Monday, they had me put on a graduation cap and gown. Whenever they are tasking me some with kind of ridiculous stuff, you wouldn’t think you would see Randy Orton in a cap and gown. I laughed because I was excited because I knew the fans were going to be like, ‘what the hell is he doing?’ After the career that I’ve had and all the somewhat monotonous intensity, I did that for so long, if I crack a smile and break the fourth wall or whatever, if you can tell I’m having fun at this point in my career, I feel like it draws you in more because I was so against letting people in before. It was just ‘character, character, character. I have to be mean and angry and intense and they have to believe I want to rip this guys head off.’ Now, I can still do that, but I’ve been around long enough to where, I get let off easy when I break character or when I do things that maybe a babyface wouldn’t do. There might be a sign in Gorilla that says ‘no eyepokes,’ and even though in parenthesis it doesn’t say ‘except Randy Orton,’ I know it’s still there. I can get away with this, but compared to the stuff I used to get away with, if I get away with an eyepoke, it’s okay. I’m having fun and staying true to who I am as a heel, which is what brought me to the dance, but I’m able to have more leniency with how I do that,”