Where did Randy Orton’s “punt” finisher come from?
During a recent episode of the ARN podcast featuring pro wrestling legend Arn Anderson, the former longtime behind-the-scenes executive in WWE explained the origins of “The Viper” using the “punt” as one of his finishers.
Featured below is an excerpt from the show where “Double A” explains how the “punt” came to be one of the finishing moves used by the future WWE Hall of Fame legend.
“During this time (1985) that we were working our (Arn and Ole Anderson) way into working with (Dick) Slater and Buzz (Sawyer), and we knew that was going to be our money, I worked with Buzz’s little brother, Brett Wayne Sawyer. We needed a catalyst to get us to Buzz and Dick, who were the top babyfaces. I just said, ‘What if I shoot Brett out on the floor, He’s on his hands and knees. I back up a couple steps, and I punt his head off. Brett, just go with it. Watch me out of your peripheral vision, and when I point that toe and kick you in the side of the head, just go with it.’ Well, I thought he was going to go with it, and he didn’t, and I punted his head off. That morphed a couple of decades later. That became the Randy Orton punt in the head. I gave that to Randy from that experience because if you can find that footage, it looked nasty. It looked like a finish.”
Check out the complete episode of the show at Apple.com. H/T to WrestlingNews.co for transcribing the above quotes.
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