Wrestling Reporter's Journal

Traveling the globe for my magazines, a lot of people ask me all the time who are some of the most surly individuals I've met and who are some of the best. Well, I can tell you that - reputations aside - Randy Orton is one of the most genuine and honest folks in the locker room. The problem he runs into all the time is that he's too honest.

Like when he told that woman he was going to poop in her travel bag if she didn't go out with him. Made sense I thought. He told her what he was going to do. She didn't do it. And she took remnants of his waste home with her as she walked out the company doors forever.

Like when he told the late Mr. McMahon he was going to get drunk and trash his hotel room like Shawn Michaels once did if he didn't get a title shot. I was in the corridor to see McMahon just laugh and shrug it off. I'm guessing you all heard what happened with that one as well.

Orton once told me - and I'll never forget this - "The problem with people, Hicks, is that nobody says what they mean." In a world of backstage politics and back-stabbing friends, Randy Orton is a courageous fighter, reputation be damned. He needs to get a more public face if he is to ever get ahead in this world.

As for the nastiest of the nasty, I'd have to give that honor to Umaga. When Raw was in Wilkes-Barre, PA last week, the wild Samoan and former three count member actually choked out Steve-O from Jackass to the chagrin of WWE executives. Now, I've met both men quite a few times and I can tell you that Steve-O is a legitimate Jackass dating back to well before his time in West Chester PA at the height of his show's popularity. And to have the gall to agree to sign a waver he will not sue the former Jamal for hurting him takes a lot of guts, and stupidity.

Would you let a guy with no command of the English language whatsoever choke you as long as he wants? I'm not sure where WWE keeps finding these island savages and Ugandan headhunters and Punjabi prize-fighters but it's probably somewhere near parts unknown.

That's all I've got for this week. Shoot me an e-mail at bradyhicks@gmail.com and I'll answer your letters in an upcoming column.