Orton started wrestling in 1972 in the Florida and Georgia territories. He often teamed with his father, Bob Orton. He made a name for himself in the early to mid-1980s in the National Wrestling Alliance, where he formed a tag team with Don Kernodle and won the NWA World Tag Team Championship.

In 1984, Orton re-joined the World Wrestling Federation as a heel. He was often addressed as "Ace" Orton by Roddy Piper, and was Piper's bodyguard. His other gimmick was that he had supposedly had his left forearm broken in a match with Jimmy Snuka at the 1985 event "The War To Settle The Score" in Madison Square Garden, requiring him to wear a cast for the rest of 1985 and early 1986. He used the cast to illegally win his matches by striking opponents with it behind the back of the referee.

'Cowboy' Bob was involved in the main event of the very first WrestleMania at Madison Square Garden in 1985, being in the corner of Piper and 'Mr. Wonderful' Paul Orndorff in their match against Hulk Hogan and Mr. T. Bob accidentally cost his team the match after an attempted cheat backfired, resulting in him hitting Orndorff with the cast.

Orton remained with Piper for the remainder of 1985, feuding with Orndorff and a variety of partners, such as Hogan, Andre the Giant and Bruno Sammartino. In early 1986, Orndorff began wearing a cast as a neutralizer and the WWF ordered both men to remove the cast.

Orton was dubbed "Boxing" Bob in early 1986 after the cast came off and fought Mr. T on an episode of Saturday Night's Main Event. This match served as a setup for the Piper-Mr. T match at WrestleMania 2.

Piper and Orton went their separate ways after WrestleMania, with Piper taking a hiatus and Orton in the meantime becoming the bodyguard for Piper's talk-segment successor Adorable Adrian Adonis, who had Orton wear a pink cowboy hat. Orton would turn against Piper when Piper returned to reclaim his segment time from Adonis and Piper and Orton wrestled in many matches throughout the country, typically with Piper winning. During this time, Orton formed a tag team with Don Muraco, with the duo managed by Mr. Fuji. They won several matches and appeared at Wrestlemania III, losing to the Can-Am Connection but split up on during the summer of 1987 on bad terms.

Orton returned to the NWA briefly in 1989 before returning to the independent circuit. He retired from wrestling in 1999.

[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment

On February 3, 2005, Bob Orton was announced as a 2005 inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame.

In the weeks preceding WrestleMania 21, Orton became entangled in his son Randy's feud with The Undertaker. During an episode of SmackDown!, Orton begged The Undertaker to show mercy on his son in order to distract The Undertaker long enough for his son to sneak into the ring and hit the R.K.O.. At WrestleMania, he (unsuccessfully) interfered in the match between Orton and The Undertaker, striking The Undertaker with his cast.

On August 21, 2005, at SummerSlam 2005, Orton interfered in a rematch between Randy and The Undertaker, this time enabling his son to defeat The Undertaker. Orton then began accompanying Randy to ringside during his matches, and teamed with his son at No Mercy 2005 on October 9, 2005, defeating The Undertaker in a handicap casket match. The Ortons teamed together once again on the October 28, 2005 episode of Smackdown!, joining forces with Ken Kennedy to face Roddy Piper, Batista and Eddie Guerrero in a six man tag team match. The match ended in defeat for the Ortons when Bob succumbed to Piper's sleeper hold.

On the December 16, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, Orton disguised himself as one of the Undertaker's druids and carried The Undertaker's signature urn to ringside as The Undertaker came to the ring to confront Randy. Orton remained at ringside after the other druids had left, distracting The Undertaker and enabling Randy to attack him. Orton then handed Randy the urn, which Randy used to knock The Undertaker unconscious.

At Armageddon 2005, Orton (still holding the urn) accompanied Randy to ringside for his Hell in a Cell match with The Undertaker. He interfered in the match several times, but was ultimately unable to prevent The Undertaker from delivering a Tombstone Piledriver to both Ortons and then covering Randy for the win.

Championships and accomplishments

American Wrestling Federation
AWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 
International Championship Wrestling
ICW Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
ICW Southeastern Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bob Roop (1) and Barry Orton (1)

ICW Television Championship (1 time)
 
Mid-South Wrestling
Mid-South Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 
Midwest Powerhouse Wrestling
MPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

National Wrestling Alliance
Regional
NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Bob Orton
NWA Georgia Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Tim Woods (1) and Dick Slater (1)
NWA Southeast Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Bob Roop (1), Ron Garvin (2), and Jerry Blackwell (1)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1 time) - with Don Kernodle
 
Powerhouse Championship Wrestling
PCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 
Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 121 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

PWI Rookie of the Year in 1973

Universal Wrestling Federation
UWF Southern States Championship (2 times)

World Wrestling Entertainment
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)
 
Other Titles

WWS Television Championship (1 time)