Matt Sydal On How It Was Working With Randy Orton In WWE
The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast welcomed Matt Sydal recently where he sat down with Wrestling Inc. President Raj Giri. During the interview, Sydal was asked about a famous moment in his career when he was hit with an RKO out of nowhere on the July 12, 2010 episode of RAW after Sydal had attempted a shooting star press on Orton. Sydal revealed where he got the idea for the move.
"I had been on a show in Highland, IN. It was IWA Mid-South, and it was M-Dogg 20 (Matt Cross) and B-Boy," Sydal recalled. "M-Dogg for the shooter, and B-Boy hit him with the cutter. The place exploded. So we were on tour in the Ohio area, and M-Dogg was actually an extra at the show. And I had mentioned to Randy on Sunday because it seemed like we were a leading to a Money in the Bank match, and I had sort of mentioned that that would be something I would want to do in the Money in the Bank match. Mentioned it to Randy, that was Sunday and then on Monday, we went out there and did it.
"It was just beautiful, perfect timing. It was great because it was a move that I had established. It's a move that he had established. It wasn't just two random people just doing it for fun. It really was two people's specialties colliding."
Sydal discussed more about the moment with Orton praising the camera work of the scene. He detailed why the shot of the RKO out of nowhere was so perfect and how everything aligned well.
"I don't want to take all the credit for it," Sydal humbly said. "One, not my idea, and two, if you watch the way it was filmed, it was filmed perfectly. It was shot flawlessly. Randy goes down. They cut to me climbing, but the climbing shot is super super tight. You almost forget that Randy's there. He's out of the picture, and it's not until I jump that they cut to the second shot. And then you can see Randy popping out of nowhere and catching me. It was art. It was masterfully shot.
"It was just the perfect moment, and I mean every single night, we go out there and try and create a moment like that. Every single night, you try and make that magic happen, but this one, all the stars lined up. Randy was perfect. My jump was just where it needed to be. The guys behind the scenes had it orchestrated so beautifully that all I had to do was jump and the rest wrote itself."
Sydal also revealed that one of his friends helped get Orton started in the wrestling business. He also revealed how their relationship spans back further than most people know.
"I loved it. He and I are both from St. Louis.," Sydal noted. "Like one of my best friend's was one of the guys that helped him get started at the South Broadway Athletic Club way way way back in the day. Kind of his first few bumps in the ring and his first powerbomb ever was to my friend who still uses that as his claim to fame. 'I got powerbombed by Randy Orton,' but in fact, his dad, Cowboy Bob, was a Missouri State Athletic Commissioner, so a couple of times, when Randy was in OVW and even maybe on the main roster, he would come to these shows.
"I would be wrestling Delirious in a body shop garage that had just enough room for a ring and like fans on one side. We remember him sitting up there watching the show. He's sort of kind of been there since day one for me."
Sydal admitted that he liked working with Orton. He said that while some guys were intimated to work with Orton due to his reputation of his unfriendly personality, he said that Orton was always kind and generous to him even inviting him out to hang out with the rest of the WWE locker room.
"I really liked working with him. I always thought that there was even more potential to Randy than had been unleashed," Sydal stated. "I think a lot of people are intimidated wrestling him. I think even like guys like The Miz were a little intimidated wrestling Randy, kind of almost afraid of him, and I didn't really have that because he was always kind and generous with me.
"Sometimes, I think, towards fans or whatever, especially early on in young in his life there was some some issues, but really the way he treated the other wrestlers was very respectful and always was trying to like invite me. 'Hey, come to the movies. All the guys are going to the movies on Sunday. Let's all go out to eat.' Where, for some reason, he had a reputation as kind of being like egotistical, hard guy, I always found it to be just opposite."
Sydal's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.