As crazy as it may be to imagine, 43-year-old Randy Orton is rapidly approaching 25 years in the WWE Universe, with his debut coming all the way back in 2000.

Since that first match, which came for OVW, Orton has never left the promotion for another, never taken an extensive period away to pursue becoming a movie star, or even pursued the idea of becoming a shoot fighter in the UFC like Brock Lesnar or CM Punk before him, all he ever wanted to do was wrestle, even if it physically pained him to do it due to an extensive series of injuries, as he explained in an interview with ImPaulsive with Logan Paul.

“I'm like the only guy that's never left and come back, other than John Cena. I'm going to be here for the rest… this is me,” Randy Orton said via Fightful. “I'm not moving on to Hollywood. I love what I do. I just had 18 months off recovering from spinal fusion. I was kind of faced with the fact that I might not be able to do this again. It's almost like I got a second lease on my career here. I'm not going to take a day for granted. Not a second in that ring for granted. Even now, more so than the matches you would have seen a year ago when you first started, or a couple years ago, I'm feeling even more in my element now.”

Fortunately for Orton, his return has gone off without a hitch, with his efforts looking everything as good as they did back in May of 2022. Asked how he has been able to return in such good shape by Paul, Orton noted that his time away let him clean a lot of things up with the doctors in order to ensure that he has the best conditioning possible.

“I changed a lot of stuff off these last 18 months,” Orton noted. “I really needed the time. I had a lot of ailments. I couldn't stand for more than a couple of minutes without having pain shoot down my legs. When I would sit, I had a disc slipping every time I would bend. On a plane, sitting here, my feet would go numb, and I had pain shooting down my legs. It really sucked. It was really hard. That last year, before I had to leave because of the back, I was in a tag team with former WWE Superstar Matt Riddle. I have to give him props because that year we tagged together, I was not able to be in the ring unless I was in there with someone like him. He was able to take the brunt of the physicality. He tagged me in, I come in, do my s**t. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have made it that far. I had some great doctors, they fixed me up right. They didn't cut through any muscle, which would enable me to get back in the ring. Once you start cutting muscle, that's never going to heal back. You're done. I'm blessed, all the way around.”

Wow, well good on Orton for shouting out Matt Riddle for his efforts, as it's hard to imagine WWE will be putting too much effort into reminiscing about a performer they just released without cause to help bolster the bottom line. While his tag team wasn't universally beloved, as many fans wanted to see Orton on his own instead of in RKO, in the end, if the only way he could operate at the time was in a tag team, it's nice to know the “King of Bros” was willing to take the brunt of the damage in order to keep him entertaining fans week in and week out.

Randy Orton wants to help mentor the future of WWE.

Elsewhere in his interview with Logan Paul, Randy Orton discussed his second lease on life his career is having now that he's returned to WWE from what many felt could have been a career-ending injury. While Orton obviously wants to add a few more anecdotes to his career, including being the man who unseats Roman Reigns as the “Head of the Table,” he'd also like to help out the next generation of WWE Superstars.

“Oh, of course. I want to do everything I can. Longevity is always the number one goal for me, and being able to go home and play with my kids and not be in pain. That'd be the ultimate goal. But as many accomplishments as I can accomplish in WWE, the more the better,” Randy Orton said via WrestleZone.

“I've already done so much so far, it's kind of nice being in a position where I can watch other guys' matches and maybe critique and help and answer questions. So for the first time in my career, I find myself being a little bit of a, gosh, I don't want to say the word, I guess a mentor to some people. I can pull a guy aside, like, ‘Hey man, careful. Don't go out there and end up in a wheelchair.'”

While Orton is far from the end of his professional wrestling career, as, again, he's only 43, it's nice to know that he's willing to help out the next generation of Superstars and hopefully keep them from suffering as much pain as he has over his professional wrestling career. In the end, that might be the biggest accomplishment of his career.