With SummerSlam here, there’s going to be plenty of This Day in Wrestling History focusing on the event, and this one comes to us from August 15, 2004.
Airing from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, SummerSlam had nearly 18,000 with a little more than 400k homes buying the pay-per-view.
The stage was set for Randy Orton to become the youngest champion in WWE history instead of Brock Lesnar (@awrestlinghistorian) at 24 years old.
Making history
The WWE loves to set new “records” to help gain media attention but this was a fun one. At least, it was for me as a Randy Orton fan from the beginning.
It was great seeing him win and take his place in the history books, and it was important to him as well, which comes as no surprise.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
“I’m very fortunate to being able to work with Chris, and of course being the youngest World Heavyweight Champion in history is such a great honor. I think I deserved it, but I think that, it was one of those things where they had the title on me for about 28 days, and it wasn’t a long run at all.
“But I think that claiming the title as the youngest Champ ever, was so big that the title run itself, even though it was that short, it was still such a big point in my career. One of my favorites ever. The emotions that went through me, when I got my hand raised, but I think the next time around I’ll definitely, as far as what I did during my title run, I think will be more impactful, by far, than what I did during my first title run.” – Randy Orton, NZPWI.com interview November 4, 2005.
Start of something special
While there’s plenty of discussion over the WWE’s reasons for putting the championship on Orton, he’s proven it wasn’t a mistake as he’s continued to be one of the top stars in the world.
This Day in Wrestling History moment legitimized Orton in the eyes of many that were on the fence, and he’s shown a consistent appeal over the years that has him getting one of the loudest pops when he comes to the ring.
At the end of the day, he gives us his all and he’s in the hunt to become the most decorated champion in WWE history.
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