Randy Orton has been on arguably the best WWE run of his life in the last 12 months. 

In 2020, The Viper went to war with the returning Edge in a feud that fans had been desperate to see for over a decade, before moving on to challenge WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.

He worked with 'The Scottish Psychopath' during a long programme that even saw him capture the title at Hell in a Cell, before dropping it a few weeks later. 

Orton then went on to feud with 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt and on Sunday night at WrestleMania, he finally banished the demon. 

The past 12 months really have seen Randy involved in the biggest of WWE's storylines and according to Jim Ross, there's a reason for that. 

The legendary wrestling commentator has shared some incredibly high praise for Orton, calling him the best wrestler in the world right now. 

Orton has been called the best in the world

"Randy is at the top of his game right now. There’s nobody in WWE or anywhere else that’s better than Randy Orton in my view," Ross said during his Grilling JR podcast

"I know he’s controversial in real life but there’s some magic surrounding that."

That's a pretty big statement from JR, but it's one we should respect. In recent years, he's switched WWE for AEW so has eyes across multiple promotions and still believes Orton is the best out there. 

Orton was WWE Champion in 2020

It is interesting he's called The Viper controversial in 'real life' and is perhaps referring to Randy's ongoing social media spat with rapper Soulja Boy. 

The pair have been exchanging highly personal insults on Twitter for months now and it's definitely not a 'work'. 

But you can't really blame Orton for protecting the business, even if he's going about it in a contentious way. 

Orton is protecting the business

So, Randy Orton... controversial, yes. Best wrestler in the world? Almost certainly.