The Ohio Valley of Wrestling (OVW) 2002 is unarguably the most decorated developmental batch for WWE before NXT came into being. It gave us the quadruple of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Batista, and Randy Orton. They share 40+ WWE Championship wins, 8 Royal Rumble wins, and 13 WrestleMania main events.

It is indeed a difficult task to pick one among the four for any category. But this 48-year-old WWE legend has revealed that one wrestler among them was more hyped than others. Hardy has also given the reasons why this wrestler had a greater buzz than anyone else.

WWE legend claims one OVW talented drew more attention than others

WWE tag team legend and Hall of Famer Matt Hardy was on the ‘The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy’ with host Jon Alba where he spoke about Brock Lesnar. The podcast is available on Google Podcast and Apple Podcast from 10th August. At some point in the podcast, Jon discussed the iconic Ohio Valley Wrestling 2002 batch and revealed the rookie who made the biggest hype among the big four.

Speaking on the most hyped wrestler in the batch of OVW 2002, Matt Hardy said, “I think they knew they had some guys who were gonna be players, but I know Randy was kinda like the one who had the most hype behind him.“

Hardy revealed that Orton had more buzz on him than the rest. The buzz was so big that he was known in the main roster even before he made his debut in 2002. It was a big thing as his batch consisted of talented wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Batista, John Cena, and Shelton Benjamin.

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He also goes on to explain why Orton was so hyped more than others.

Matt Hardy explains why Randy Orton was so hyped at OVW 2002

Matt Hardy explained the reason behind Randy Orton’s hype as well. He said, “Because Randy Orton, they said, this kid you know he is a third generation, he is just so gifted, he gets it so naturally, he is gonna be so so good after he gets some experience under his belt.”

WWE did the exact thing with the Viper who was included in the legendary heel stable ‘Evolution’ that consisted of Triple H, Ric Flair, Randy Orton, and his OVW batch mate Batista. The stable helped Orton gain some experience, win WWE World Championship, and compete at WrestleMania. The push also helped him transition into one of his best gimmicks ‘The Legend Killer.’

In his 21 years with WWE, Randy has played every character admirably. Throughout his journey, he stood upon the expectations everyone had of him. Although his return to the company is uncertain right now, the WWE Universe will always remember the Viper as one of the best heels of all time, such is his legacy. 

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