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What’s Next For Randy Orton? Here Are Five Potential Opponents For ‘The Viper’

By Aaron Sass
Published on: 19:13 PST, Aug 22, 2016

Randy Orton is coming off of one of the most brutal losses in WWE history to Brock Lesnar, as “The Viper” was defeated by “The Beast” via TKO in a complete bloodbath. The finish of the match was so brutal that even WWE legend Chris Jericho didn’t know if the match ended the way it was originally planned. But apparently, in WWE, Brock Lesnar’s matches are the only matches that are allowed to have blood in them.

As of this writing, Randy Orton is advertised for Tuesday’s SmackDown show, so it doesn’t look like the brutal ending to Sunday’s main event will cause him to miss any time in the ring.

Now the question is, where does WWE go with Randy Orton? We all know that Orton didn’t lose all of his credibility after his loss to Lesnar, but WWE definitely has to rebuild him a bit due to the brutal nature of the loss, and here are five opponents that he could end up facing in the immediate future that will help both Orton and WWE rebuild “The Viper.”

  • AJ Styles

AJ Styles is coming off of the biggest win of his WWE career, and it’s likely that he’s going to move into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture on Tuesday. But if he doesn’t, he may be paired up with Randy Orton for a short-term singles feud.

Shortly after arriving in WWE, Styles said that one of his dream opponents was Randy Orton, and now that both of their feuds are over, they could end up facing each other in the near-future. Will it be on Tuesday, though? Probably not. But you shouldn’t rule it out.

  • John Cena

John Cena is about to leave WWE for a couple of months to film Season 2 of Fox’s American Grit, which is why he lost to AJ Styles on Sunday night. But, he’s not completely done with WWE yet, as he is advertised for Tuesday’s SmackDown show. He also could end up wrestling at the SmackDown-exclusive Backlash show on September 11.

Cena and Orton have faced each other a lot over the years, and it’s a match-up that WWE fans are sick of seeing. In fact, WWE pretty much knows that the fans don’t want to see the match anymore, because every time they face each other, it’s billed as “the last time ever,” which is WWE’s way of getting the fans interested.

Will this match happen anytime soon? It’s doubtful. But Cena is on his way out, and WWE does need to rehab Orton, and having him defeat Cena would definitely give him the boost that he needs going forward.

  • Dolph Ziggler

Both Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton are coming off of pretty high profile losses, and rumor has it that Ziggler is going to turn heel very soon, possibly on Tuesday’s SmackDown. Of course, Ziggler has been beaten to death over the last couple of years, so it’s quite clear that WWE has no issue with having him lose every single one of his big matches.

Randy Orton needs a win coming off of the Lesnar loss, and Ziggler would be the perfect opponent for him. The two men would have great matches with one another, and Ziggler is someone Randy Orton can beat to regain some momentum. So, it’s a perfect match.

  • Dean Ambrose

It’d be pretty hard to justify a Randy Orton WWE World Title shot right now, but stranger things have happened. For now though, it looks like AJ Styles is going to get the next shot at Dean Ambrose, but Orton may not be that far from a shot at the World Title.

With John Cena gone for the next couple of months, WWE may call on Orton to be a huge part of SmackDown, which may mean that he’ll have to be in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship picture. So, who knows? A three way title feud between Orton, Styles, and Ambrose may begin on Tuesday night.

  • Bray Wyatt

Prior to SummerSlam, there were some rumors going around that Bray Wyatt was going to cause Randy Orton to lose in the show’s main event, which didn’t end up happening. But that doesn’t mean that WWE isn’t planning on having the two feud at some point in the near-future, as Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that a Wyatt vs. Orton feud is on the table.

Before he went down with a shoulder injury last year, Orton was feuding with Bray, and, because of the aforementioned injury, the feud came to an abrupt end. In fact, in storyline, Bray was responsible for Orton’s injury. So, it looks like we could be seeing a revenge storyline begin on Tuesday night.

[Image via WWE]

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