The Main Event:

Randy Orton: The Evolution Of A Predator isn't so much a biography of the champion WWE superstar as it is a like inside the head of its subject. The feature bases itself around Orton's journey on 'The Road to WrestleMania' where we see him preparing for various matches leading up to the WWE's biggest and boldest event and his position in it. Along the way, we get not only footage of Orton stretching, training and dealing with doctors and physical therapists but we also get a look at what his life is like outside the ring - or at least what his professional life is like. The focus here is very much on his WWE superstar status and as such this isn't so much a biographical piece as it is a slice of life look into his career.

Orton does go into a little bit of detail about his early days, discussing how when he was nineteen years old he got tired of working as a gas station attendant and had his father, 'Cowboy' Bob Orton Jr. (son of Bob Orton - Randy had wrestling in his blood, whether he wanted it or not!), pull some strings and get him an interview with a WWE talent scout. Evidently that scout liked what Orton brought to the table and soon enough he was an up and coming star in the OVW league alongside other future WWE titans like Dave Batista, Brock Lesner and of course, John Cena. It's here, Orton notes, that he first start getting cocky - which is fine, says Arn Anderson, so long as you can back it up. When Orton made the transition to the big leagues and debuted in the WWE, he'd fast climb the ranks but Anderson, as his trainer, would try to reel him in. Randy is a big guy and his early years featured a lot of high flying kicks and 'off the top ropes' maneuvers that would wind up causing him some fairly serious pain that he still carries with him. This lead to an evolution in his style, on his way to the very top where, after joining up with Batista, HHH and Ric Flair to form Evolution, he'd soon become the youngest champion title holder in the history of the WWE.

As the documentary plays out we also see how and how often Orton deals with the media, takes time out to sign for the fans whenever he can, and how infrequently he gets to go home and actually have a personal life. It's fairly telling and interesting to have this material mixed in with the expected career highlights, such as his time as the 'Legend Killer' and his later infamous feud with CM Punk.

The documentary moves at a good pace and covers pretty much all of Orton's career highlights (save for the perpetually absent Chris Benoit material) and more importantly it also allows him to discuss things in his own words. That said, the WWE's tendency to bleep him when he curses, which is frequently, gets old fast. Of course they want to keep things reasonably family friendly on their releases, but Orton curses a lot (as does Cena at one point!) and the bleeping gets irritating. Regardless, what's here is pretty interesting even if some of us probably would have liked for it to have provided more background information on Orton's life and given us more dirt on his early years. Orton does talk about being kind of a nerd in high school, noting that he had bad acne and that he didn't lose his virginity until he was finished high school, later than his peers ,but these are fleeting comments even if a few pictures from his archive are fun to check out.

Input on Orton's personality and style come from commentators like the aforementioned Cena and Anderson is welcome, while 'Cowboy' Bob Orton Jr. chimes in here and there as do Triple H, Batista, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus and a few others. All in all, it paints an interesting portrait of the life and career of a man who tends to be a pretty vicious contender in the ring, and gives him a refreshingly honest and human personality.

Video:

All of the material in this collection is presented in 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen although when the documentary makes use of some older footage going to Orton's early days mattes appear on the left and right side of the screen to present it full frame. Some of the older material was shot on consumer grade video and isn't in the bets of shape, though all of the newer material looks just as fine as you'd expect it to. Colors are nice and natural and there are no problems with print damage, dirt or debris. Skin tones look good and there aren't any compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues to note either. All in all, it's a pretty standard WWE transfer - it's not reference quality, but it looks good enough.