Randy Orton on his biggest influences, titles, and WWE's future

"The Viper" speaks.

In a recent interview with Extreme Pro Wrestling Radio, multi-time WWE World Champion Randy Orton was far less explicit than his last radio appearance. Nope, there weren't references to Divas Champion Kelly Kelly's sex life or The Rock's "inferiority" to John Cena, but there's still some good stuff here.

Check out the highlights:

--Triple H is (obviously) one of his biggest influences, going back to their days in the famous stable Evolution. Orton says he wouldn't be in WWE without Triple H.

--Orton joked about the WWE Championship, saying it's like 30lbs and that he's on Smackdown because the World Heavyweight Title is light enough for him. Says with past shoulder surgeries, he found it annoying holding up the WWE Title. He says it's a title/championship because a belt "holds up your pants." Randy, company man--sort of.

--Orton said he isn't supposed to talk about getting robbed in South Africa, but he said "When you get robbed, you gotta talk about it." WrestlingObserver.com's Dave Meltzer mentioned in his latest newsletter that WWE superstars aren't allowed to talk about this at all. Interesting to hear if Orton will get heat for that comment.

--Orton says Arn Anderson has helped him in and out of the ring. His three main mentor in WWE are/were--Ric Flair, HHH, and Anderson.

--He says Flair is crazy, but was like his road dad.

--Mentioned how his father, WWE Hall of Famer Cowboy Bob Orton Jr., helped him early in his career with brutal honesty and constructive criticism.

--Sheamus, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase are his three really good friends on the Smackdown roster. He says he can see Rhodes and DiBiase being future World Champs. (Editor's note: Rhodes possibly, but DiBiase's been all over the place. Hopefully, he can get back on track.)

--Orton is very high on Wade Barrett. He says Barrett is good on the mic, getting there in the ring, and will be there shortly.

--Orton THANKED The Rock for his WrestleMania payday and infers that he dissed Rocky out of defense for his friend John Cena. He says The Rock is one of the greatest ever and looked up to him, but that Cena's his friend and he always has his back. 

Overall, Orton came off less childish here, although outside of the Kelly stuff, I thoroughly enjoyed his last interview too. He comes off as a real cool guy. Mr. RKO had big heat last time around, so he kept things PGish for the most part here. Good stuff.