Bob Orton Jr.
Robert Keith Orton Jr., known by his ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is a son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Barry Orton, and the father of professional wrestler Randy Orton. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation, including his involvement in the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania. He has also wrestled for several promotions in the United States, Japan, and other countries.
Professional wrestling career
Championship Wrestling from Florida (1972–1980)
In 1972, Orton began his career in Championship Wrestling from Florida, initially as a referee for promoter Eddie Graham. Early in his career, he wrestled as part of tag teams with Bob Roop and Mr. Wrestling II, with whom he won the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship on June 9, 1973. Orton was one of the first wrestlers to use the superplex as his finishing move.American Wrestling Association (1976, 1978, 1988)
Orton worked for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association in 1976 and 1978, mostly under the tutelage of manager Bobby Heenan. He was involved in a feud with Greg Gagne; a match between the two was featured 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, 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 National Wrestling Alliance in 1980 and 1981 using a cowboy's gimmick. 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 the World Wrestling Federation.World Wrestling Federation (1982)
On February 16, 1982, Orton made his debut for the World Wrestling Federation, defeating Victor Mercado. He scored a count-out victory over WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob 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.Return to NWA (1982–1984)
He returned to the NWA in 1982, and together with Dick Slater, feuded with Ric Flair. Orton and Slater interfered in Flair's return match against NWA World Champion Harley Race, who had beaten Flair for the title. They attacked Flair with an aided 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. At Starrcade '83 on November 24, Orton and Slater defeated Mark Youngblood and Wahoo McDaniel. He captured the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Don Kernodle on January 8, 1984. The duo held the title for two months before losing it on March 4 to Youngblood and McDaniel.Return to WWF (1984–1987, 1989, 1990)
Orton re-joined the WWF in March 1984, became Roddy Piper's bodyguard and was often addressed as "Ace" Orton. 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. On an episode of WWE Confidential, he admitted that his injury was not a work and did not heal when he wore the cast.On March 31, 1985, Orton was involved in the main event of the inaugural WrestleMania pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden, being in the corner of Piper and 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff in their match against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Orton accidentally cost his team the match after an attempted cheat backfired, resulting in him hitting Orndorff with the cast. Orton also competed in the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Championship against Hulk Hogan on the inaugural Saturday Night's Main Event on May 11, but lost by disqualification after interference from Piper. Orton took part in the 1985 King of the Ring tournament on July 8 and fought Orndorff to a double disqualification.
In early 1986, Orndorff began wearing a cast as a neutralizer, and the WWF ordered both men to remove their casts. Orton was dubbed "Boxing" Bob and "Battling" Bob after the cast came off and lost to Mr. T at Saturday Night's Main Event V on March 1, which served as a setup for the Piper-Mr. T match at WrestleMania 2. Prior to the event, "Boxing" Bob Orton defeated Jose Luis Rivera in a boxing match. 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. 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 at Saturday Night's Main Event VIII on November 29.
Orton also formed a tag team with The Magnificent Muraco, with the duo managed by Mr. Fuji and occasionally Jimmy Hart. At WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, they lost to the Can-Am Connection. The team of Muraco and Orton got into a series of matches with The Killer Bees and were notable for being the first team alongside Tiger Chung Lee to lose to The Young Stallions alongside Tito 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 on WWF 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. 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, facing Sam Houston to a draw in his home state of Missouri. He was subsequently fired after being arrested for causing a disturbance at a Calgary airport.
Orton made a one-time return to the WWF on October 11, 1989, losing to Ted DiBiase at a house show in Springfield, Illinois. 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 face Norman Smiley at three house show matches in New Zealand.