WWE News: Randy Orton’s Return Being Held Off For Now — When Will Orton Return?
It seems like every Monday night there is a report that Randy Orton — who has been away from WWE for nearly four months — will be returning on RAW. That’s partially WWE’s fault, as they’ve been advertising him for upcoming shows. Also, Orton said himself in an interview following the Royal Rumble that he expects to return to WWE television very soon. Well, WWE keeps changing their mind on Orton’s return date, and it looks like they could be holding it off until early next month.
On the February 2 edition of RAW, Seth Rollins — who in a storyline is responsible for Randy Orton’s absence — mentioned Orton’s name and laid the foundation for Orton to return. Many people believed that Orton was going to return during the Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan match on that very same episode of RAW and cost Rollins the match, setting up their WrestleMania program. However, WWE reserved that spot for Roman Reigns because they felt Reigns needed it a lot more than Orton did.
Why is Randy Orton’s WWE return being put on the back-burner for now? Well, it’s simple — WWE is having several wrestlers who have been off of television return to the small screen in the coming weeks. One of them is Sheamus, as WWE hyped his return on this past Monday’s RAW. Also, the rumor is that Sheamus will be returning to WWE as a heel in an effort to freshen up his character.
Another return that could be coming soon is the return of The Undertaker. Bray Wyatt has been indirectly calling The Undertaker out over the past couple of weeks, which is probably a sign that Undertaker has told WWE that he is healthy enough to work at WrestleMania. Many people believe that Undertaker should have a rematch with Brock Lesnar instead of a match with Wyatt, but Lesnar will be busy defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and WWE feels that Bray Wyatt is the most interesting available opponent for The Undertaker.
So, that leaves us with Randy Orton. It’s possible that Orton will return before The Undertaker does, but the belief is that neither of them will return until after WWE Fast Lane on February 22, if not at the event itself.
When Orton makes his official WWE return, he will be working with Seth Rollins and will likely lose to Rollins at WrestleMania. From there, it’s unclear where WWE will go with Orton, but a match with Brock Lesnar has been talked about if Lesnar decides to stick around after WrestleMania. If not, then he could continue his feud with Seth Rollins.
[Image via WWE]
