The Wrestler With The Most Pay-Per-View Matches May Open Some Eyes

Since following in the footsteps of his family before him when choosing to become a professional wrestler, Randy Orton, son of "Cowboy" Bob Orton, has become one of the industry's biggest and most successful names. From his incredible 14 world title reigns to his immaculate ability to stay atop the WWE card for over 20 years, Orton has cemented his legacy as a bonafide first-ballot WWE Hall of Famer with a right to claim himself as one of the greatest of all time. 

Orton has wrestled in an era that featured over a dozen iconic names, from Triple H to Shawn Michaels to Ric Flair to The Undertaker to CM Punk to Jeff Hardy to Edge to John Cena to Daniel Bryan, wrestling all of them at one point or another in his career. However, of all the legacy-defining accolades Orton has added to his resume, one that certainly stands out is his longevity, and "The Viper" holds one accolade that towers above them all.

Orton holds the WWE record for most pay-per-view matches at 181, topping Kane at 176, The Undertaker at 174, and Triple H at 173 (per The Internet Wrestling Database — Cagematch has Orton with 180 PPV matches). Perhaps even more remarkable, however, is that Orton made his pay-per-view debut in a world championship match, appearing in the Elimination Chamber at SummerSlam 2003, and he didn't slow down from there. In his next five PPV matches, Orton defeated the legendary Shawn Michaels, was the last man standing in a Survivor Series Elimination match, won the Intercontinental Championship from Rob Van Dam, lasted more than 30 minutes in the 2004 Royal Rumble (second only to the winner, Chris Benoit) and wrestled The Rock and Mick Foley at WrestleMania XX. In his 10th PPV match, almost exactly a year after his first one, Orton defeated Benoit for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, becoming the youngest world champion in WWE history. And he still had 170 PPV matches to go.

Orton might be on the back end of his career, but even after he retires, it's unlikely that his record will be broken any time soon — most of his immediate competitors for the honor are either already retired from in-ring competition or similarly staring down the end. Some active wrestlers who could have a shot at the record sometime down the road include The Miz, Kofi Kingston, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, and Roman Reigns.