WWE News: Randy Orton Injury Status, Works Match With John Cena?
In the latest WWE news, superstar Randy Orton appears like he may be in good shape for the ring soon. Orton was originally set to appear in a match at WWE’s Backlash 2016 pay-per-view this past Sunday. However, due to an injury, he was forced out of the match. His opponent for the event, Bray Wyatt, staged a backstage attack. Later on, Wyatt came to the ring for the match, but Orton could not. Therefore, Bray received a forfeit victory.
According to Wrestling News, Orton worked a match at a WWE live event on Monday night. He and fellow SmackDown Live star, John Cena, teamed up for a tag team match at the house show in Fairfax, Virginia. The longtime rivals took on Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan. While Orton was part of the match, he didn’t do a whole lot. The report indicates that “The Viper” was “protected” during his time at the event. Photos surfaced on Twitter which showed Orton looking like he was comfortable enough to be out there, at least posing on the ring apron and corner.
As mentioned, Orton was originally scheduled to work the Backlash pay-per-view in Virginia on Sunday. The Wrestlezone website reported that WWE knew of the injury a week ahead of the Backlash event. WWE officials were hoping he would be able to pass the necessary impact concussion tests to be cleared for his match. Orton apparently passed them, but not on a consistent enough basis, hence why he wasn’t cleared.
That led to the backstage attack from Wyatt and Orton failing to appear in their Backlash match later. Wyatt went on to face Kane in a No Holds Barred match. As fans saw Sunday night, he still was able to show up at ringside and get into the ring to hit his trademark move, the RKO on Bray Wyatt.
Orton’s recent injury was due to the concussions he sustained during his SummerSlam match against Brock Lesnar. That match saw Lesnar win by TKO and leave Orton with 10 stitches in his head. Orton still appeared on Smackdown ahead of Backlash. However, it was mainly to set the scene for his feud with Bray Wyatt. There were no actual in-ring physical confrontations between the two competitors. Instead, there were promo segments cut by Orton and Wyatt.
Before Hell in a Cell 2015, Orton was away from WWE for nine months due to a legitimate shoulder injury. He just recently came back in late July. During his return, he helped to build towards the feud with Lesnar. Orton made comments about his opponent failing two drug tests with the UFC after defeating an opponent at UFC 200.
However, the shoulder injury hasn’t been a concern like the concussions recently. Right now, it appears that WWE is still able to use Orton, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him show up in some capacity on the SmackDown Live show. Most likely, the company will continue the storyline feud between Orton and Wyatt. The next pay-per-view that is exclusive to the Smackdown brand will be No Mercy 2016, which is scheduled for October 9 in Sacramento, California.
Orton is also scheduled to have a rematch with Brock Lesnar in less than two weeks. The two will fight at a live house show in Chicago on September 24. The early rumors are that Orton should be cleared of his concussions in time for that bout. However, WWE is definitely erring on the side of caution with regards to these sorts of head injuries. It’s likely they’ll keep a close watch on his situation in the coming days and weeks.
[Image via WWE]
