Randy Orton has been out of action with a back injury since RK-Bro lost the Raw Tag Team Championships to the Usos in a unification match. Orton was reported to have consulted with a neurosurgeon about his injury. It now appears it is more serious than many fans initially believed.
WWE announced Orton’s injury, although they did not go into specifics on how long The Viper might be on the shelf. A new report from behind Fightful’s paywall indicates that it may be worse than anticipated. Randy could miss the rest of the year.
“Fightful has learned that Orton has been dealing with a back injury for quite some time, to the point he actually had work done to improve his condition before the tag team title unification match, though we aren’t sure of the extent of the “work” that was done. We’re told that things have gotten progressively worse, and WWE fears that Orton will be forced to undergo a surgery. WWE sources that we spoke to said that if that happens, Orton would likely be out of action the rest of 2022. Thus far the exact injury is unknown.”
WWE’s creative team is not currently including Randy Orton in any future plans. Randy has been showing up on internal WWE injury reports and has been off TV since losing to the Usos. Orton was originally planned to challenge Roman Reigns but has since been replaced by Matt Riddle.
The original plans for SummerSlam included Randy Orton in a major role. Those plans will not likely come to fruition. If Randy needs surgery, it could be a long time before fans see him again.
The injury bug has been rearing its head all over pro wrestling. AEW has been dealing with several top stars being out of action as well. Hopefully, Randy Orton can make a quick and full recovery.
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