Bob Orton Jr.

Bob Orton Jr.
Orton (right) driving Jimmy Snuka into a turnbuckle in 2009
Birth name	Robert Keith Orton Jr.
Born	(1950-11-10) November 10, 1950 (age 73) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Elaine Orton ​ (m. 1968)​
Children	3, including Hiro Matsuda[1][2] Eddie Graham[1] Jack Brisco[1]
Debut	August 23, 1972

Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950),

Early life

Robert Keith "Bob" Orton Jr. was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and is a son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr.^[3]

Professional wrestling career

Championship Wrestling from Florida (1972–1980)

Orton trained with

Orton spent time in Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association in 1976 and 1978, a large portion of it under the tutelage of AWA MVP Manager Bobby Heenan. Orton feuded with Greg Gagne among others. A match featuring Orton vs Gagne was a featured match on the AWA undercard for the Muhammad Ali-Antonio Inoki mixed martial arts match.

Orton had a brief stint back in the AWA in early 1988 following his November 1987 dismissal from the WWF, during which he renewed his alliance with Adrian Adonis from the WWF.

National Wrestling Alliance (1980–1982)

Following experiencing success in the Florida, Central States, and Mid-South regions, Orton competed in the

World Wrestling Federation (1982)

In 1982, Orton competed in the World Wrestling Federation. He challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship in Philadelphia, winning by count-out (the title cannot change of hands by disqualification or count-out). They had a lumberjack match a month later again in Philadelphia, but Orton was again unsuccessful. Their matches ran in some of the largest cities on the WWF circuit.

Return to NWA (1982–1984)

He returned to the NWA again in 1982 and captured the tag team title with Don Kernodle. The duo held the title for two months before succumbing to Wahoo McDaniel and Mark Youngblood.

Together with

Return to WWF (1984–1987, 1989, 1990)

Orton re-joined the WWF in March 1984 for what would be the most famous run of his career. He was often addressed as "Ace" Orton by Roddy Piper, and was Piper's bodyguard. His other gimmick, wearing a cast during his matches, stemmed from legitimately having his left forearm broken in a match with Jimmy Snuka at the 1985 event The War to Settle the Score in Madison Square Garden. 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. He won several matches, with the cast and without the cast.

In 1984, Orton was the #1 contender to the

Orton remained with Piper for the remainder of 1985, feuding with Orndorff and a variety of partners, such as Hogan, André the Giant, and Bruno Sammartino. In early 1986, Orndorff began wearing a cast as a neutralizer, and the WWF ordered both men to remove their casts. Also, in late 1985 and early 1986, Orton challenged Hogan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship; like his matches four years earlier against Backlund, Orton was not successful. On June 30, at a house show held on Bloomington, Minnesota, Orton and Piper surprisingly scored an upset victory over Orndorff and Hogan, albeit by DQ; this event also would be the first time Orton got a victory over Hogan as previous matches between them typically saw Hogan winning.

Orton was dubbed "Boxing" Bob and "Battling" Bob in early 1986 after the cast came off and fought

By 1987, the team of Muraco and Orton was clearly stepping down the card. While they were still able to defeat preliminary teams, Orton and Muraco would usually find themselves on the losing end to upper-card teams. Orton and Muraco then eventually started arguing during their matches, which also caused them to lose credibility as a team. This finally led to a match on WWF Superstars of Wrestling where Orton caused him and Muraco to lose a match when Orton kept Muraco from performing a Superplex, which was Orton's finishing move. Orton felt offended that Muraco was trying to steal his hold. This led to a brawl between both wrestlers that took place inside and outside the ring.[4] On September 7, 1987, Orton and Muraco finally faced off at a WWF house show. This match ended in a double disqualification. Orton and Muraco faced off during the late months of 1987. By this point, the team was essentially disbanded, with the now turned face "The Rock" Magnificent Muraco getting the upper hand in the feud. During Orton's feud with Muraco, Mr. Fuji would return to manage Orton (Muraco dumped Mr. Fuji as his manager following his face turn). Orton's last televised match and victory as a whole in the WWF came on October 10, 1987, in a heated victory against preliminary wrestler Siva Afi. Orton's last match with the WWF came on November 7, 1987, where Orton fought preliminary wrestler Sam Houston to a draw in his home state of Missouri. Orton was fired after this for getting arrested for causing a disturbance at a Calgary airport.^[5]

In 1989, Orton attempted to make a comeback to the WWF, losing to Ted DiBiase in a WWF house show at Springfield, MI on October 11. However, no contract was ever offered to him.^[6]

By 1990, Orton was wrestling for the Arena Wrestling Alliance promotion. As the AWA had an agreement with the WWF to exchange talent, Orton made appearances for the WWF, at three house show-matches. All took place in New Zealand. Orton was also scheduled to make an appearance for a WWF show in Madison Square Garden in January 1990 against Bret Hart, but that was cancelled. Then Orton would depart from the company for 15 years before returning in 2005.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1988–1989)

After leaving the WWF, Orton took a short hiatus from wrestling, inactive until 1988, when Orton travelled to Japan. During this time, he wrestled for

Orton returned to the ring at Millennium Wrestling Federation Soul Survivor II in 2004,[11] teaming with Todd Hanson and Beau Douglas to defeat "The Ugandan Giant" Kamala, Gino Marktino, and Ox Baker's Executioner.

On December 5, 2005, Orton participated in a match against wrestler Dingo. Orton was defeated.

On October 17, 2009, Orton (accompanied by his youngest son Nathan) performed at Independent Hardcore Wrestling against "Bloody" Harker Dirge, in a match for the Pro Wrestling Entertainment championship, losing by disqualification after Nathan attacked Dirge. This occasion marked Nathan Orton's first appearance in a professional wrestling event. In 2009, Orton appeared at the IWC "Night of Legends" event, performing against former rival Jimmy Snuka. Orton was defeated. In 2009, Orton faced Vance Desmond in the 2009 Winter Wrestlefest event, promoted by Canadian Promotion

In 2010, Orton faced "Bullet" Bob Armstrong for the Juggalo Championship Wrestling "Wrestling Legend & Loonies 2010" event. Orton was defeated by Armstrong despite Orton dominating him most of the match. On November 19, 2011, Orton appeared in the main event of a Holy Havoc Championship Wrestling card in Springfield, Illinois, teaming with HHCW Heavyweight Champion Pretty Boy Floyd and Mr. Allstar Rex Gill to defeat The Irish Revolution (Mickey Thomas and Seamus Farnam) and Beast. On August 25, 2012, Orton appeared at a Wrestling Past Present Future (WPPF) event in East Moline, IL. The match was billed as "Cowboy versus Cowboy" due to Orton's opponent, "Cowboy" Troy Hansen also using the moniker "Cowboy". Orton won by pinfall.

On February 9, 2013, Orton appeared at a Traditional Championship Wrestling (TCW) event in Jonesboro, Ark., where he managed and mentored International Heavyweight Champion "Mr. Saturday Night" Michael Barry in a feud with his cousin "All That" Alan Steel. He also participated in a non-televised dark match at the event when he turned on Barry and aligned himself with "The Empire" consisting of Matt Riviera and "Golden Boy" Greg Anthony. This team took on Michael Barry, Barrett Brown and John Saxon. The Empire along with Orton lost to Barry, Brown, and Saxon. On June 13, 2013, Orton faced Barrett Brown in a losing effort.

On August 16, 2013, Orton and George South faced Tim Horner and Tom Prichard at the Brad Armstrong Memorial event. Orton and South lost to Horner and Prichard. On November 16, 2013, Orton teamed up with former rival Harker Dirge to take on the team of Attitude, Inc., Guy Smith and Spencer Powers, in tag team action at the monthly Pro Wrestling Glory show in Maroa, Illinois. Orton and Dirge won the match. On October 25, 2014, Orton wrestled rival "Spotlight" Spencer Powers for the Pinfall Wrestling Association P.W.A. Heavyweight title at the Jaycee's Center in Springfield, Illinois. Orton was defeated.

On March 21, 2015, Orton participated in a 6-man tag team match teaming with Ricky Cruz and Red River Jack with Nikolai Volkoff as their manager to take on Chris Hargas, Bull Bronson and Attila Khan. Orton's team came victorious. In April 2015, Orton participated in a 2-on-1 handicap match taking on "Iron Man" Ken Kasa & Travis Cook for the St. Louis Wrestling promotion. Orton defeated Kasa and Cook after applying an RKO to Kasa. 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).

As of 2022, Orton makes occasional appearances at age 72.

Third return to WWE (2010, 2012, 2017)

Orton made an appearance on the November 15, 2010 episode of WWE Raw as the show went old school, with appearances from past WWE wrestlers, announcers and other on-air personalities. He also appeared on the April 10, 2012 episode of WWE SmackDown and was attacked by Kane (offscreen) who had been feuding with his son Randy at the time. Orton appeared once again on June 18, 2017, at the Money in the Bank Pay-per-view, situated in the front row of the crowd along with fellow Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Sgt. Slaughter. During the match between his son Randy and Jinder Mahal he would be assaulted by the Singh brothers as they were ejected from ringside, this prompted Randy to attack the Singh brothers. However this distraction proved enough for Jinder to hit Randy with the Khallas for the victory.

Personal life

Orton is married to Elaine Orton, a