.jpg) Orton in 2018 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Robert Keith Orton Jr. (1950-11-10)November 10, 1950 (age 75) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingRandy |
| Family | Bob Orton (father) Barry Orton (brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bob Orton Jr.[1] Bob Orton[2] The Invader[2] Billy Gaspar[2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 242 lb (110 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Kansas City, Missouri[1] |
| Trained by | Hiro Matsuda[4] Eddie Graham[4] Jack Brisco[4] |
| Debut | 1972[2] |
Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950), known by hisring name "Cowboy"Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is a son of professional wrestlerBob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestlerBarry Orton, and the father of professional wrestlerRandy Orton. He is best known for his time in theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), including his involvement in the main event of the inauguralWrestleMania. He has also wrestled for several promotions in the United States, Japan, and other countries.
In 1972, Orton began his career inChampionship Wrestling from Florida, initially as a referee for promoterEddie Graham.[4][5] Early in his career, he wrestled as part of tag teams withBob Roop[5] andMr. Wrestling II, with whom he won theNWA Georgia Tag Team Championship on June 9, 1973.[6] Orton was one of the first wrestlers to use thesuperplex as his finishing move.[1]
Orton worked forVerne Gagne'sAmerican Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1976 and 1978, mostly under the tutelage ofmanagerBobby Heenan. He was involved in afeud withGreg Gagne; a match between the two was featured on the AWA undercard for theMuhammad Ali-Antonio Inokimixed martial arts match. Orton had a brief stint back in the AWA in early 1988, during which he renewed his alliance withAdrian Adonis from the WWF.
Following experiencing success in the Florida, Central States, and Mid-South regions, Orton competed in theNational Wrestling Alliance in 1980 and 1981 using a cowboy'sgimmick. While he competed in the NWA, he won several matches and earned a reputation as a hard worker and legit tough wrestler. In 1982, he left the NWA to sign a contract with theWorld Wrestling Federation.
On February 16, 1982, Orton made his debut for theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), defeating Victor Mercado.[7] He scored a count-out victory overWWF Heavyweight ChampionBob Backlund on April 8 and challenged him for the title in several rematches over the following months, which ran in some of the largest cities on the WWF circuit, but he ultimately failed to win the title.[7]
He returned to the NWA in 1982, and together withDick Slater, feuded withRic Flair. Orton and Slater interfered in Flair's return match against NWA World ChampionHarley Race, who had beaten Flair for the title. They attacked Flair with anaided piledriver, which caused Flair a severe injury in the neck and put Flair out of wrestling for several months, collecting a bounty placed on Flair's head by Race, who was reluctant to wrestle Flair in return matches for the title. In the run-up to this incident, Orton had been portrayed as a babyface and a longtime friend of Flair; his participation in the attack was portrayed as the betrayal of that friendship. Flair would eventually return in late 1983, attacking both Orton and Slater with a baseball bat. AtStarrcade '83 on November 24, Orton and Slater defeatedMark Youngblood andWahoo McDaniel.[8] He captured theNWA World Tag Team Championship withDon Kernodle on January 8, 1984. The duo held the title for two months before losing it on March 4 to Youngblood and McDaniel.[9]
Orton re-joined the WWF in March 1984, becameRoddy Piper's bodyguard and was often addressed as"Ace" Orton.[10][1] His othergimmick, wearing acast during his matches, stemmed from legitimately having his left forearm broken in a match withJimmy Snuka at the 1985 eventThe War to Settle the Score in Madison Square Garden.[11][12] Although the injury healed in real life, the "cast" gimmick involved Orton—on "doctor's orders"—continuing to wear the cast, claiming the injury had not healed; Orton instead would use the cast to his advantage, striking his opponents behind the referee's back.[1][13] On an episode ofWWE Confidential, he admitted that his injury was not awork and did not heal when he wore the cast.
On March 31, 1985, Orton was involved in the main event of the inauguralWrestleManiapay-per-view atMadison Square Garden, being in the corner of Piper and 'Mr. Wonderful'Paul Orndorff in their match againstHulk Hogan andMr. T. Orton accidentally cost his team the match after an attempted cheat backfired, resulting in him hitting Orndorff with the cast.[14] Orton also competed in the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Championship against Hulk Hogan on the inauguralSaturday Night's Main Event on May 11, but lost bydisqualification after interference from Piper.[15] Orton took part in the 1985King of the Ring tournament on July 8 and fought Orndorff to a double disqualification.[11]
In early 1986, Orndorff began wearing a cast as a neutralizer, and the WWF ordered both men to remove their casts.[16] Orton was dubbed "Boxing" Bob and "Battling" Bob after the cast came off and lost toMr. T atSaturday Night's Main Event V on March 1, which served as a setup for the Piper-Mr. T match atWrestleMania 2.[17] Prior to the event, "Boxing" Bob Orton defeatedJose Luis Rivera in a boxing match.[16] Piper and Orton went their separate ways after WrestleMania, after which Orton became the bodyguard for Piper's talk-segment successor"Adorable" Adrian Adonis, now sporting a pink cowboy hat.[1] When Piper returned later in the year to reclaim his talk show segment, Orton betrayed his long-time friend, sparking a violent feud between the two, which saw Orton lose to Piper atSaturday Night's Main Event VIII on November 29.[16][18]
Orton also formed a tag team withThe Magnificent Muraco, with the duo managed byMr. Fuji and occasionallyJimmy Hart.[1][16] AtWrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, they lost to theCan-Am Connection (Rick Martel andTom Zenk).[19] The team of Muraco and Orton got into a series of matches withThe Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair andJumpin' Jim Brunzell) and were notable for being the first team alongsideTiger Chung Lee to lose toThe Young Stallions (Jim Powers andPaul Roma) alongsideTito Santana. Later in the year, Muraco and Orton found themselves on the losing end to upper-card teams and started arguing during their matches; this led to a match onWWF Superstars of Wrestling where Orton caused him and Muraco to lose a match when Orton kept Muraco from performing his finishing move, the superplex, thinking he was trying to steal the hold. This led to a brawl between both wrestlers, splitting up their team.[20] On September 7, Orton and Muraco faced off at a house show, but the match ended in a double disqualification. Orton's last match with the WWF came on November 7, facingSam Houston to a draw in his home state of Missouri.[20] He was subsequently fired after being arrested for causing a disturbance at a Calgary airport.[21]
Orton made a one-time return to the WWF on October 11, 1989, losing toTed DiBiase at a house show inSpringfield, Illinois.[22] In April 1990, Orton, who was wrestling for the Arena Wrestling Alliance, which at the time had an agreement with the WWF to exchange talent, again returned to faceNorman Smiley at three house show matches inNew Zealand.[23]
After leaving the WWF, Orton took a short hiatus from wrestling, inactive until February 1988, when Orton travelled to Japan. During this time, he wrestled forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, initially working withTyler Mane where they formed the team of the Gaspar Brothers, two hockey-masked pirates, with Bob using the ring name ofBilly Gaspar while Tyler usedGully Gaspar. However, Tyler left NJPW in May of that year, so Bob got a new partner inKarl Moffat, who called himselfBarry Gaspar, and who in the future, would inherit the Gaspar Pirate mask to play his "Jason The Terrible" gimmick. They won several matches together, beating the teams ofNobuhiko Takada andAntonio Inoki,Kuniaki Kobayashi andRiki Choshu,Osamu Kido andYoshiaki Fujiwara,Hiro Saito andSuper Strong Machine and many others. After the team of the Gaspar Brothers ended, Orton briefly teamed withDick Murdoch andScott Hall in NJPW for the Japan Cup Elimination League. After wrestling a few more matches in 1989 with a low number of victories, Orton left New Japan.
On March 30, 1989, Orton, managed byGary Hart, made his debut with then-National Wrestling Alliance member,World Championship Wrestling (WCW), at aWCW Saturday Night taping in Atlanta, Georgia, defeatingShane Douglas.[24] AtClash of Champions VI on April 2, Orton defeated former partnerDick Murdoch after interference from Hart.[25] Murdoch eventually challenged Orton to abullrope match after he had interfered in one of Orton's matches.[24] On May 7, he lost to Murdoch in the bullrope match atWrestleWar. After the match, Orton's manager Hart started brawling with Murdoch, and then Orton attacked Murdoch with thecowbell of the bullrope, threw him out of the ring, choked him, and attacked the referees that were trying to stop him in the process.[26] Orton made his last appearance at a house show in Kiel, Missouri on May 25, 1990, defeatingDutch Mantell.[27]
On the February 3, 2005 episode ofSmackDown!, Bob Orton was announced as an inductee into theWWE Hall of Fame.[28] The following month, Orton became entangled in his sonRandy'sfeud withThe Undertaker. On the March 31 episode ofSmackDown!, Orton begged The Undertaker to show mercy on his son in order to distract him long enough for his son to sneak into the ring and hit theRKO.[29] AtWrestleMania 21 on April 3, he (unsuccessfully) interfered in the match between Randy and The Undertaker, striking The Undertaker with his cast.[30] AtSummerSlam on August 21, Orton interfered in a rematch between Randy and The Undertaker, this time enabling his son to defeat The Undertaker.[31] Orton teamed with his son atNo Mercy on October 9, defeating The Undertaker in a handicapcasket match.[32] On the October 28 episode ofSmackDown!, the Ortons teamed withKen Kennedy to face Roddy Piper,Batista andEddie Guerrero in a six-man tag team match, which they lost after Orton submitted to Piper'ssleeper hold.[33] On the December 16 episode ofSmackDown!, Orton disguised himself as one of the Undertaker'sdruids and carried The Undertaker's signatureurn to ringside as The Undertaker came to the ring to confront Randy. Orton remained at ringside after the other druids had left, distracting The Undertaker and enabling Randy to attack him. Orton then handed Randy the urn, which he used to knock The Undertaker unconscious.[34] AtArmageddon on December 18, Orton (still holding the urn) accompanied Randy to ringside for hisHell in a Cell match with The Undertaker and interfered several times, but he was ultimately unable to prevent The Undertaker from delivering aTombstone Piledriver to both Ortons and then pinning Randy.[35] On February 13, 2006, Orton was released from WWE.[36]
Orton made appearances for the Five Star Wrestling Federation inBaton Rouge (headed byGrizzly Smith) and began wrestling forHerb Abrams'Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1990.[37] He teamed withCactus Jack in a loss to Wet'N'Wild (Steve Ray andSunny Beach) at their lone pay-per-viewBeach Brawl on June 9, 1991.[38] On June 19, 1992, Orton won theUWF Southern States Championship, but lost it three days later toPaul Orndorff.[39] He was awarded theUWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship at a television taping on July 24, 1993, which was only defended once and soon declared vacant.[39] On September 23, 1994, Orton again became UWF Southern States Champion after Orndorff left the UWF, and defended the title againstFinland Hellraiser Thor at that night's live wrestling specialBlackjack Brawl; the match ended in a double countout.[40] From August to November 1994, Orton made appearances forJim Cornette'sSmoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), feuding withBob Armstrong.[41]
That same year, Orton wrestled for theAmerican Wrestling Federation (AWF). On November 29, Orton challengedTito Santana for the AWF Championship with AWF commissionerJim Brunzell as thespecial guest referee, but lost.[42] He won a battle royal on August 18, 1996, to challenge Santana in a title rematch, but again lost. On October 5, Orton defeated Santana to win the championship, before losing it back to him later that night.[42] On October 10, 1999, he appeared at theHeroes of Wrestling pay-per-view, in which he lost to former rivalJimmy Snuka after interference from Snuka's managerLou Albano.[43] Following the event, Orton retired from wrestling and sold used cars near St. Louis.[5]
In September 2004, Orton returned to wrestling for the Independent Wrestling Federation (IWF) as a special guest referee for the match between IWF Champion Roman and Shane O'Brien.[44] On March 28, 2009, Orton appeared at the "Night of Legends" event by the International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), losing to Snuka.[45] On October 17, Orton, accompanied by his youngest son Nathan, faced Harker Dirge for the Pro Wrestling Entertainment Championship at an Independent Hardcore Wrestling (IHW) event, losing by disqualification after Nathan attacked Dirge. In August 2010, Orton appeared forJuggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) at "Wrestling Legend & Loonies", losing toBob Armstrong. At aPro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) event on January 29, 2011, Orton participated in a battle royal, but was eliminated byTerry Funk.[46] He returned to JCW at the "Legends and Icons" pay-per-view on August 12, teaming with Roddy Piper to defeat Funk andMick Foley.[47] On August 25, 2012, Orton appeared for Wrestling Past Present Future (WPPF) to face "Cowboy" Troy Hansen in a "Cowboy versus Cowboy" match (due to Hansen also using the "Cowboy" moniker), which Orton won.
On June 16, 2013, Orton andGeorge South lost toTim Horner andTom Prichard at theBrad Armstrong Memorial event.[48] On November 16, Orton and Dirge defeated the team of Attitude, Inc. (Guy Smith and Spencer Powers) at the monthly Pro Wrestling Glory show in Maroa, Illinois. On March 21, 2015, Orton teamed with Ricky Cruz and Red River Jack in a six-man tag team match withNikolai Volkoff as their manager, defeating Attila Khan, Bull Bronson and Chris Hargas. In April 2015, Orton won a 2-on-1 handicap match against "Iron Man" Ken Kasa and Travis Cook for the St. Louis Wrestling promotion. On May 30, 2015, Orton was the Special Guest of Pinfall Wrestling Association in Springfield, Illinois at their biggest show of the year, The Grand Wrestling Spectacle V. Orton defeated Bradley Stephens III (who was looking for a "Legend" to challenge). On July 16, 2016, Orton,Gary Jackson andRon Powers lost to Khan,Kahagas and Vic The Bruiser in a two out-of-three falls six-man tag team match.[49]
On March 25, 2023, Orton andTony Atlas defeated Bradley Diggs and Lamonte Potts to win the SICW Tag Team Championship, but dropped the titles back to them on July 8, withFlash Flanagan substituting for Atlas.[50]
Orton made an appearance on the November 15, 2010 episode ofRaw as the show went old school, with appearances from past WWE wrestlers, announcers and other on-air personalities.[51]
He also appeared on the April 10, 2012 episode ofSmackDown and was attacked byKane (offscreen), who had been feuding with his son Randy at the time.[52]
Orton appeared once again atMoney in the Bank on June 18, 2017, situated in the front row of the crowd with fellow Hall of FamersRic Flair andSgt. Slaughter. During theWWE Championship match between his son Randy and championJinder Mahal, he was assaulted by theSingh Brothers as they were ejected from ringside, prompting Randy to attack the Singh Brothers; the distraction ultimately cost him the match.[53]
Orton appeared as a henchman in the movieRoad House (1989) withPatrick Swayze and fellow wrestlerTerry Funk.[5]
Orton is married to Elaine Orton, anurse at a hospital in Missouri, and they have two sons,Randy (also a professional wrestler), Nathan (a stand-up comedian), and a daughter, Becky. His first grandchild was born on July 12, 2008, when son Randy and his now ex-wife Samantha had their first child, a daughter, Alanna.
Around 1986, Orton was involved in an incident inFresno, California, where the Fresno Police Department were called for an incident involving Orton andRoddy Piper in a hotel. He would end up naked and drunk on the roof of the hotel and was shot three times with policetasers.[54]
As a teenager, Orton was diagnosed withhepatitis C, but showed no apparent symptoms and would eventually no longer recall having the disease. Over 30 years later, in the midst of his feud with his son Randy againstThe Undertaker, Orton was retested and it was confirmed that he still carried the disease. The Undertaker was furious that he was uninformed of Orton's illness and learned that former Head of Talent RelationsJohn Laurinaitis (who knew of Orton's disease) allowed him toblade, and at one point in the feud (during a Hell in a Cell match atArmageddon 2005), Orton spilled blood directly onto The Undertaker, which could have caused him to contract the disease.[55][56]
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