Randy Orton Embarrassed By His 'Mediocre' WWE Promos

Randy Orton has admitted it took him an embarrassingly long time to realise how important it was to be good at promos, describing himself as 'mediocre' on the microphone up until recently.

The Apex Predator has enjoyed a Hall Of Fame career but Orton's promo work has always been questionable, with the Viper confessing he was happy to phone it in on the mic and focus on his in-ring work.

Orton said he didn't want to hear about how his promos were not any good, because he was gifted enough to show up and tell his stories in the ring, but has recently started to understand the importance of being able to speak on the microphone.

Speaking on Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, Orton said: "I've been around, but the promos, they were always mediocre. I was concentrating on the in-ring stuff, and I did that for years. I even remember that the reason I give you a bit of sh*t and I say 'you weren't too fond of me,' is I know you've done interviews before where you sh*t on my promos. At the time, I'm like 'f*ck him.' But you were right.

"I think it was Michael Hayes, not too long ago, he said, 'Randy if you look at all the guys who have had a Hall of Fame career, they were all good workers but could cut a good promo -- a great promo. They were great on the mic. You're not great on the mic, but you're kind of in that mix and that's odd to me.' He said that to me, and it's like: 'I need to give this more thought.'

"For years I didn't want to hear it. When he would say that my promos were the sh*t, I didn't want to hear it. I knew that I was good enough to get by and do my thing. When you talk about the downs as opposed to the ups, those downs would put me in that funk to where I was good enough to stay out all night, not treat myself the best possible way I could be treating myself. Sleep in, miss the gym, show up to work, wipe the sleep out of my eye, put on my boots, and go kill it.

"I've always been so blessed in that regard, but I realized about a year ago how important promos were and it's embarrassing to say, especially to someone like you, that it took me that long to realize that."

H/T Fightful