Randy Orton

Acrylic and spray on 24″ x 24″ wood

Randy Orton is one of the biggest names in the last ten years of professional wrestling. A third-generation wrestler, Orton is one of the few to become a bigger star than his forbears. After a brief face singles career in WWE, Orton returned from an injury as a member of the amazing heel faction Evolution alongside Triple H, Batista and Ric Flair, leading to him becoming the youngest champion in WWE history at the age of 24. He then went on to a great run in the tag team Rated RKO with Edge, before starting his own faction Legacy, a group of other second- and third-generation wrestlers like Ted Dibiase Jr and Cody Rhodes. Orton spent a better part of the last decade as a perennial main-eventer becoming a nine-time world champion.

On a personal level, Orton inspired me to keep pushing myself. He’s exactly three months older than me, and is also from Missouri, albeit the other side of the state. Seeing him continue to achieve and to learn from his mistakes taught me that I’ll never be too young and it’s never too late to achieve my goals.

About the piece: I painted the background a solid black, then used white spray paint for the halo and glare. I then painted Randy in, thinking that I’d pretty much be done once the figure was rendered. The piece sat on my easel for a day or two because it just didn’t feel right yet. Then it hit me, that this guy has put his chaos behind him but still carries it, and that allowed me to bring in the elements along the right side of the piece.