If you’ve been wondering where Randy Orton has been since WWE’s Super ShowDown event, it turns out that the veteran Superstar has been sidelined with an injury.
Thankfully, however, it doesn’t appear to be serious.
It has been reported by Fightful that Orton has been dealing with a neck injury. The injury was evaluated last week after Orton supposedly aggravated his neck in a Live Event matchup on June 10th. He was competing against SmackDown’s Aleister Black.
Turns out that he already had some vacation time scheduled. Given that WWE had no immediate plans for Orton on TV, he was given an additional two weeks to fully heal and rest up.
Orton has dealt with neck injuries in the past, having missed time back in 2015 due to neck problems.
Extreme Rules
“The Apex Predator” last appeared on WWE programming competing against Triple H in Saudi Arabia during Super ShowDown. He would emerge from his lengthy match with a victory over “The Game.”
Orton would go on to compete in a series of WWE Live Events afterwards. This culminated in his match, and unfortunate injury, against Aleister Black.
Given their recent Live Event matches, it appears that Randy Orton could be returning to face Black. Could Orton be the one to answer his challenge at Extreme Rules?
Randy Orton went over on Triple H in a grudge match that dates back over a decade.
This contest was hyped as one of the top matches that took place at Friday’s (June 7, 2019) WWE Super Showdown pay-per-view event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on the WWE Network.
Heading into this match, WWE hyped it by stating that “The two Superstars have a storied past – from their time as allies in Evolution and during Orton’s association with The Authority to epic matchups as adversaries. Now, the latest chapter in their ongoing destructive conflict promises to be their greatest clash yet.”
Over the years, the two have had many battles inside of the squared circle. Most notably, they headlined WrestleMania 25 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas in 2009 for the WWE Championship.
This comes after Triple H beat Batista in a No Holds Barred Match at WrestleMania 35 in April. At this same show, Orton lost to AJ Styles in a singles match.
What are your thoughts on Randy Orton beating Triple H? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
John Cena was trolled by Randy Orton through the power of social media. The former WWE Champion sends out messages that are inspirational to followers on his official Twitter account. He did so yet again on Monday morning, which got the attention of Orton. You can see the exchange here:
Beware those who think you owe them happiness at the expense of your own well being.
Cena is currently off of WWE television as he continues to pursue a career in Hollywood. On the flip side, Orton has his next big match lined up as he’ll compete against Braun Strowman, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Baron Corbin, Andrade, Finn Balor, and Mustafa Ali in the en’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
This contest takes place at the Money In The Bank pay-per-view event on Sunday, May 19, 2019 in Hartford, CT at the XL Center.
The Revival Receive Hitman Approval
It turns out that WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart is a big fan of The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder).
In a recent post on his Instagram account, Dawson, who is a fan of the legendary pro wrestler, mentioned in a recent post that the former RAW Tag Team Champions have been “Hitman Approved.”
Randy Orton decided to take a shot at WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg after the news that he would be returning to WWE.
He’s signed a new contract with the company and will be making his return their next event in Saudi Arabia on Friday, June 7. The show will take place at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah and will air live on the WWE Network. The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar are the other big name stars on the show.
It’s been reported that since Goldberg doesn’t wrestle very often, he’s coming in for big money especially for such a controversial event in the country.
Thus, Orton took to his official Twitter account where he took a job at the former WWE Universal Champion for the money he’s going to earn. Orton wrote the following:
After twelve years away from the company, he returned to WWE in 2016 and headlined Survivor Series against Brock Lesnar, and Fastlane against Kevin Owens where he won the WWE Universal Championship. He lost the title to Lesnar at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, Florida.
Goldberg was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year during WrestleMania 34 weekend and was last seen on WWE television the night after Mania on RAW.
Bray Wyatt has finally returned to WWE TV. The former WWE Champion has been hosting “Firefly Fun House” segments on Monday Night RAW. Recently, Wyatt took to Twitter to share a clip from one of the segments, attaching comments regarding former on-screen ally Randy Orton.
Wyatt said he forgives Orton for burning down his “temple” and taking the WWE Championship from him two years ago. Earlier today (Wed. May 1, 2019) Orton responded to Wyatt’s comments by taking a shot at his new gimmick. Here’s what Orton had to say:
Recently, Firefly Fun House director Jason Baker offered some big praise for Wyatt’s performance of his new character:
“I’ve had the opportunity of working on films with Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Will Smith and a bunch of other people working here in the Pittsburgh film industry and his mindset for his character development is on par with those guys,” Baker said.
Orton vs. Wyatt
Orton and Wyatt feuded back in 2017 over the WWE Championship. “The Viper” took the WWE Championship from “The Eater Of Worlds” at WrestleMania 33. In their rematch at the Payback pay-per-view (PPV) a month later, the pair competed in the infamous House of Horrors match.
As for Orton, he went on to drop the WWE Championship to Jinder Mahal, feuding with “The Modern Day Maharaja” for several weeks.
What do you think about this brief back-and-forth between Orton and Wyatt?
Chris Jericho and Xavier Woods mentioned on their social media accounts that they had the chance to reunite while on an airplane.
Jericho noted on his official Instagram account that he was able to switch seats with someone in order for them to hang out together on the flight. You can see their posts here:
Jericho will headline Double or Nothing, which is the inaugural show promoted by AEW, against former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega in the headliner at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 25, 2019.
Randy Orton Reaches Milestone
Former WWE Champion Randy Orton has reached a milestone under the WWE banner as WWE’s Twitter account mentioned how today (April 25th) marks the 17th anniversary of “The Viper” making his main roster television debut.
Back in 2002, Orton made his debut on an episode of SmackDown when he beat Bob Holly in a singles match. Although this marked his TV debut, he actually wrestled Tommy Dreamer in a losing effort at the WrestleMania 18 Axxess event a few weeks earlier, which marked his main roster in-ring debut.
WWE posted this video from Orton’s debut on SmackDown:
AJ Styles defeated Randy Orton last night at WrestleMania 35. In a match many fans had pegged as a potential show-stealer, there was a lighting issue which resulted in many fans having a bright yellow light shining in their eyes.
Orton took to Instagram to comment on the light which reduced fans’ visibility of the match:
WrestleMania 35 was the 16th time AJ Styles and Randy Orton have met in single’s action when house shows are factored in. Styles leads the all-time series 13-3. Orton won the first 3 matches the two had in 2017 but Styles has won the last 13.
With house shows taken out of the equation, Orton and Styles are now 1-1 against each other. Orton had previously defeated AJ Styles on the March 7th, 2017 edition of Smackdown.
Much of the build-up towards AJ Styles vs Randy Orton last night had to do with Styles’ signature phrase of referring to Smackdown as “the House that AJ Styles built”. Orton took exception to this, noting that while Styles was competing for TNA Wrestling and NJPW, Orton was in WWE, building Smackdown.
WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry spoke about a certain match that he thinks could end up being the WrestleMania 35 main event and it’s not the obvious options.
For a few weeks now, many people believe that Seth Rollins challenging Universal Champion Brock Lesnar or WWE RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair will be the headliner.
In the eyes of Henry, he thinks the match between Randy Orton and AJ Styles at Wrestlemania 35 could be the headliner. The reason for his mindset is due to both guys being champions several times. Henry pointed out that Styles has carried the SmackDown Live brand for the past two years and Orton is closing in on being the Mount Rushmore of all-time greats.
He thinks that many people don’t look at the match as filler. He agrees that the matches listed above are main event worthy but also believes Orton and Styles are as well.
“So why wouldn’t this be in the conversation as a main event match at WrestleMania.”
WWE presents the WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view event on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium that will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
Former WWE Champion AJ Styles has given his reaction to facing fellow former champion Randy Orton at WrestleMania 35. He did so by writing the following his official Twitter account where he reacted to the news:
“I’ve been holding down this house way before I came to @WWE. The lights may not have been as bright, the audience may not have been as big…but a ring is still a ring. And any ring I step into belongs to me. #WrestleMania”
WWE presents the WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view event on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium that will air on the WWE Network.
DX Member Appears At NXT Event
2019 WWE Hall of Famer Sean “X-Pac” Waltman made a surprise appearance at the NXT live event on Thursday in St. Petersburg, FL at the St. Petersburg Armory.
He did so by coming out to the ring to cut a promo. Waltman has been working as a guest trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando this week.
After cutting promos on each other recently on Smackdown, AJ Styles and Randy Orton are scheduled for WrestleMania. WWE recently confirmed the two will face each other in single’s competition on the show.
“At WrestleMania, AJ Styles will take on Randy Orton in a battle to see who has the right to call SmackDown LIVE their house,” a WWE press release reads.
Orton and Styles have only wrestled one single’s match on WWE programming previously. Orton defeated Styles on the March 7th, 2017 episode of Smackdown in a match which earned him a future title shot. They’ve since wrestled several times on house shows recently, however.
“WWE.com has since learned that this match will indeed that place on The Showcase of the Immortal, Sunday, April 7 at 7 ET/4 PT on the award-winning WWE Network.”
WrestleMania 35 – April 7th, 2019 – Lineup
Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (c) vs Seth Rollins
RAW Women’s Championship Triple Threat
Ronda Rousey (c) vs Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch
No Holds Barred
Triple H vs Batista
Kurt Angle’s Farewell Match
Kurt Angle vs TBD
Shane McMahon vs the Miz
AJ Styles vs Randy Orton
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Buddy Murphy (c) vs Tony Nese/Cedric Alexander winner
The show takes place from Metlife Stadium, April 7th, 2019.
A new match has been announced for WWE WrestleMania 35. On Thursday, WWE confirmed that AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton would take place at the biggest event of the year for the company.
This has been a match that had been teased by WWE for a few weeks now on SmackDown Live through backstage segments. The two former World Champions have also been working dark main events the last two weeks.
WWE presents the WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view event on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium that will air on the WWE Network. WWE will be announcing more matches for this show in the coming weeks.
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair is expected to headline the show. Here is the updated card:
Updated WWE WrestleMania 35 Card
WWE RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair – Triple Threat Match
WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Batista vs. Triple H – No Holds Barred Match
Kurt Angle vs. TBA – Angle’s Farewell Match
Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles
Shane McMahon vs. The Miz
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Buddy Murphy vs. TBA
What are your thoughts on this match being added to the card? Sound off in the comment section.
What began as a small issue quickly escalated this Sunday at WWE’s Fastlane event. Now, AJ Styles and Randy Orton are seemingly WrestleMania bound. The two started a war of the words this past Tuesday on SmackDown Live.
In an effort to insult Styles, Randy Orton would compare their career paths. He stated that: “In 2005, AJ was down in Florida getting a tan with Dixie Carter while I was here, facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania.”
This was in reference to AJ’s time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, now Impact Wrestling, and its former majority owner, Dixie Carter.
Turns out that Dixie Carter heard her name dropped during this promo.
A fan on Twitter made her aware she was trending on Twitter after being mentioned. This prompted her to make a tongue-in-cheek response:
“.@AJStylesOrg & I never had to tan as we were always golden. My historical recollection is different than yours @RandyOrton. #SDLive”
AJ Styles is just one of many current WWE Superstars who honed their craft and made a name for themselves whilst at TNA. The current United States Champion, Samoa Joe, is another TNA alumni who has found a place within WWE, as are Bobby Roode and New Day member, Xavier Woods.
Are you looking forward to an AJ/Orton feud? Do you think each man could have had a better opponent or storyline going into WrestleMania?
WWE held it’s post-Fastlane episode of SmackDown Live last night (Tues. March 12, 2019). The professional wrestling juggernaut continues to lay the groundwork for April’s Wrestlemania 35 pay-per-view (PPV) card from New Jersey. Following last night’s SDL and 205 Live tapings, WWE put on a dark match to send fans home happy.
In what could very well be a WrestleMania 35 preview, former WWE World Champs AJ Styles and Randy Orton went head-to-head. “The Phenomenal One” defeated “The Viper” to send fans home happy. Check out a photo from the match here:
Styles vs. Orton is one of several rumored match-ups expected to take place on this year’s “Show Of Shows.” WWE has already confirmed a number of matches for the event. Those include a No Holds Barred bout between Triple H and Batista, and the RAW Women’s Title main event between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair. Check out the confirmed card for WrestleMania 35 thus far here:
RAW Women’s Championship: (C) Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair
Universal Championship: (C) Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
Cruiserweight Championship: (C) Buddy Murphy vs. TBD
No Holds Barred: Triple H vs. Batista
Farewell Match: Kurt Angle vs. TBD
The Miz vs. Shane McMahon
What did you think about last night’s episode of SmackDown Live?
Former WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns has reacted to his big win alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins in the reunion of The Shield in a six-man tag team match Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin at WWE Fastlane. He wrote the following on his official Twitter account:
Randy Orton has landed a significant role as a member of the cast of Changeland.
The film is written, directed and starring longtime pro wrestling fan Seth Green that will be released on June 7th. Orton will be playing one of those characters and is billed as a co-star in the film, which marks Green’s live-action feature film writing and directorial debut.
It should be noted that Green’s production company Stoopid Buddy Stoodios produced the WWE Network animated series Camp WWE on their streaming service, WWE Network. Also, Green has appeared on WWE Monday Night RAW years ago as a host.
According to Deadline.com, Changeland will tell the story of “Brandon (Green), an unexceptional guy who prepaid for an exotic second honeymoon to save his failing marriage. On the eve of his anniversary, he discovers his wife’s long affair and runs away with his best friend Dan (Meyer) to avoid conflict and figure out what comes next. As they share breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime experiences meant for a happy couple, their friendship is exposed as potentially strained as Brandon’s marriage. The characters they encounter will impact Brandon’s life forever.”
There have been rumors that WWE is planning a program between Former WWE Champions Randy Orton and AJ Styles. The company has started planting seeds for this feud over the past two weeks of SmackDown Live.
WWE did a backstage segment during Tuesday’s WWE SmackDown Live episode in Wilkes-Barre, PA at the Mohegan Sun Arena with Orton and Styles.
With the card looking to be finalized for Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view event, it appears that this match won’t take place at the final big show before WrestleMania 35. Instead, WWE will save it for the biggest event of the year.
The two stars worked the dark match after Tuesday’s SmackDown Live where Styles picked up the win to send the crowd home happy. It was noted by fans in attendance that there were a lot of empty seats when this match took place.
Randy Orton just came out for the dark match… if you’re a lip reader he was asking ‘where the f—k is everybody?’ and pointed to his wrist tape like a watch 🤣. Facing AJ Styles in the last match of the night. #WWEWilkesBarre#SDLivepic.twitter.com/SiXRTYo3FG
— Bill Pritchard (WrestleZone.com) (@bpritchard152) March 6, 2019
This has been a match that Styles had wanted since joining the WWE back in 2016. During several interviews in the past in which he discussed the star he wants to face in the WWE, Styles has named Orton.
WWE presents the WrestleMania 35 pay-per-view event on Sunday, April 7, 2019 in East Rutherford, NJ at MetLife Stadium that will air on the WWE Network.
Not for the first time, Zack Ryder has harnessed social media in order to express his frustrations at his current position.
This time, however, it was via a reply to WWE’s Viper, Randy Orton.
Orton recently uploaded a video of himself at, what appears to be, a photo or video shoot. His post was captioned “Another day at the office.”
Ryder, seeing this, would comment “They never ask me to do these shoots. Congrats man!”
It would be easy for the response to be lost in the deluge of comments made by the WWE Universe, but somehow Randy Orton saw it.
Randy would reply with words of encouragement to Ryder, saying, “‘their’ loss broski. I am sure someone will recognize your talents one day. Always considered you to be a very elite worker.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuPzyZuhxIy/
A Loaded Comment
With the burgeoning promotion, All Elite Wrestling, continuing to spark excitement by providing an alternative, The Viper’s response can, of course, be construed to be somewhat loaded.
With talent asking for — and getting — their releases, and major shake-ups occurring within WWE, it wouldn’t be out of the question for Ryder to do the same. But if he were to do so, would he end up in AEW?
Either way, it’s high praise indeed to be recognized by someone of Orton’s talent and long-standing stature.
Kofi Kingston was announced last night as Daniel Bryan’s opponent at Fastlane. His booking over the last couple of weeks has reminded some of the time from nearly 10 years ago when he also appeared to be in line for a major push. As it turns out, Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston may have referenced this time from 2009 last night.
In 2009, Kingston looked to be a breakout star. There are rumors his push was stopped after Orton was less than pleased with his performance during a match on RAW, however. Last night on Smackdown, that incident was referenced during the main event 6-man tag.
A user on Twitter put the two events back to back in the following video:
Tommy Dreamer commented on Edge and Christian’s podcast about Kofi’s lack of a push that year. He said it still bothers him.
“I am still angry about a few things in professional wrestling,” Dreamer said. “Great things which were either dropped or messed up. One of them being when Kofi Kingston send Randy Orton through the table at Madison Square Garden and they never went full board with it, am still upset about that”.
When asked about the incident from 2009, Kingston told Smack Talk Radio in 2012 he wasn’t too bothered by it. He said much of what Orton was doing was being in-character at the time.
“Everyone knows Randy kinda has an attitude,” Kingston said. “So that’s Randy being Randy. What everyone doesn’t remember is that we were in a heated rivalry so a lot of what you saw was him being his character and him kinda playing to that.”
Randy Orton is gearing up for a big weekend but that hasn’t stopped him from having some fun with fans.
The former WWE World Heavyweight Champion is no stranger to having some interesting interactions with hardcore fans as photos have surfaced of them taking a snapshot of him at various locations around the world. Whether this is at airports, restaurants, gyms and other locations.
Throughout the years, fans are known to pop up at various places in order to get a picture or autograph from WWE stars. Orton made sure to tell fans where he’ll be on Saturday through the power of social media. He wrote the following on his official Twitter account:
“This Saturday 2/16 in Dallas, Texas I’ll be at the Dallas Autorama from 1-3. Instead of airports, restrooms and restaurants you can get your photo with me here! @HotRodShows @wwe #dallas.”
Orton beat WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, Kofi Kingston, and Jeff Hardy this past Tuesday on an episode of SmackDown Live in a Gauntlet Match that ended up serving as the main event.
As a result of winning this contest, he’ll enter the Elimination Chamber Match at this pay-per-view event on February 17, 2019 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on WWE’s streaming service, WWE Network.
After pinning former WWE Champion AJ Styles in a Gauntlet match that served as the main event of SmackDown Live, Randy Orton achieved a cool WWE milestone. Orton is now tied in third place for most number of WWE television matches with Chris Jericho. The Big Show is currently in front of him with this record with 798 matches on television. Orton reacted to the milestone that was brought up by a fan with this tweet:
During a commercial that aired on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, it was revealed that new episodes of “Miz and Mrs” will air on the USA Network beginning this April.
Last August it was announced that the USA Network had picked up Miz And Mrs for a second season. The show premiered in July 2018 where it pulled in 1,473,000 viewers for the first episode. The second episode did 1,303,000 and third episode drew 1,225,000 viewers.
This would continue to be a trend for the remainder of the season as it did good viewership numbers. This is a reality show about the relationship of The Miz and Maryse. It featured the married pair, known for being larger than life both in and out of the ring as the Superstars, become parents for the first time and much more.
Earlier this week, there was a report from Fightful stating that Randy Orton has been ‘openly discussing’ his willingness to negotiate with All Elite Wrestling. AEW has already landed former WWE Superstars Chris Jericho and PAC (Neville), but Orton would be the biggest name by a long shot.
On Busted Open Radio, Mark Henry and Bully Ray spoke about the prospect of Orton jumping to AEW when his WWE contract is up. Both of them think it’s something he should seriously consider.
“He’s always been a good businessman,” said Mark Henry. “He’s always, you know took the backseat when he should have said, ‘Hey guys, I’m not doing that.’ He’s always been a good businessman. So why wouldn’t he be a good businessman and say, ‘You know what? I need to entertain this conversation.”
Henry added, “It’s not about the money, it’s about creative control. I think that it would be more creative control and time off with Randy.”
All Elite Wrestling is a well-financed venture. They’ve already proven their willingness to offer big money to secure world class talent. Chris Jericho has stated that his contract with AEW is the most financially lucrative deal he’s ever signed.
The WWE locker room is reportedly taking notice on their newfound negotiating leverage. In addition to big money, AEW is offering something that WWE might not be able to: creative freedom and a lighter schedule. Bully Ray thinks this might be what lures in top talent from WWE, such as Randy Orton.
“They have money,” Bully said of AEW. “They will offer more creative freedom. They will have a much more wrestler friendly schedule. [Orton’s] done it all where he is now, why wouldn’t he be open to it?”
Listen to Busted Open Radio on weekday mornings on SiriusXM Fight Nation Channel 93.
"They have money. They will offer more creative freedom. They will have a much more wrestler friendly schedule. He's done it all where he is now, why wouldn't he be open to it?"
Mustafa Ali suffered a gnarly black eye after a match with Randy Orton on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live.
The 32 year-old showed off his injury on Instagram after last night’s show writing, “Just trying to catch your eye. #SDLIVE”
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bth0s-snJes/
Orton put Ali on the announce table early in the match but Ali was able to fight back and dropkicked Orton instead on the table.
Ali went with the offensive to finish the match with the 054 Splash but Orton pulled him off the ropes for an RKO and won.
Ali will be competing in the upcoming Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship against Randy Orton himself, Samoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, AJ Styles, and champion Daniel Bryan. The event will take place from the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas on February 17.
Last night’s episode of SmackDown Live went down from Las Vegas, Nevada, and was the go-home show before this weekend’s Tables Ladders and Chairs (TLC) pay-per-view (PPV). In the main event of the night, Charlotte Flair and Asuka went one-on-one in a preview of what’s to come this weekend. They’ll be involved in the first-ever female TLC match. Asuka, Flair, and Becky Lynch will compete in a Triple Threat TLC bout for the SDL Women’s Title.
After SDL, WWE held its tapings of the second season of its Mixed Match Challenge tournament. This saw the teams of Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox, and R-Truth and Carmella punch their tickets to the tournament finals. The finals will also take place at this weekend’s TLC PPV in San Jose, California. The winners will earn the 30th entry spots in the men and women’s Royal Rumble matches this year.
Finally, after the conclusion of the SDL and MMC tapings, WWE held a dark match to send fans home happy. Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton after hitting a 619 and splash off the top rope. Mysterio and Orton will face off in a Chairs match at TLC this weekend as well. Check out a video from their dark match here below:
It appears that the feud between former WWE World Champions Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio will continue on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown Live in Minneapolis, MN at the Target Center on the USA Network.
Orton beat Mysterio on last week’s show which ended with Orton removing Rey’s mask. In a recent post on Instagram, Orton teased Mysterio with the mask by writing the following, “Packing for #smackdownlive hmm let’s see I miss anything.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqozOcUhQcL/
WWE Announces New NXT Events
On Monday, November 26, 2018, Triple H took to his official Twitter account to announce several upcoming NXT live events.
The black-and-yellow brand will do a three-day tour starting on Friday, Jan. 4, at the Center Stage in Atlanta. From there, NXT heads to the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 5. The tour wraps up Sunday, Jan. 6, when NXT comes to the Durham Armory in Durham, N.C.
Tickets for all four events will be available starting this Friday, Nov. 30, at 10 a.m. local time at NXTtickets.com. NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler, Undisputed ERA, Ricochet, Johnny Gargano, EC3, Velveteen Dream, Bianca Belair are all advertised for the show.
Randy Orton Reacts To Being Left Off Team SmackDown
As of this writing, Randy Orton will not be working Sunday’s Survivor Series pay-per-view event in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center on the WWE Network as he was left off the card. This is after him not being able to make Team SmackDown for the 5-on-5 Traditional Elimination Match. He recently commented on it when he responded to a tweet from James Ellsworth. As of this writing, there’s no word yet on why WWE did not include him on the card.
He wrote, “Me not being in the traditional #SurvivorSeries match for the 11th time even though I am the GOAT in that particular match. And @AJStylesOrg got kicked in the nuts. Again.”
WWE has officially confirmed Matt Riddle’s next match under the NXT banner as he’ll take on Kassius Ohno in a singles match that will be taped either at Thursday’s NXT TV tapings in San Jose, California or before Saturday’s NXT TakeOver: WarGames event in Los Angeles, California at the Staples Center. The match will air on next Wednesday’s episode of NXT TV on the WWE Network. WWE released this video from this week’s episode of the yellow brand from a segment with Cathy Kelley, Ohno and Riddle that you can see here:
Randy Orton had an interesting response when asked about John Cena’s decision to pull out of WWE Crown Jewel.
The WWE crew is currently in Saudi Arabia ahead of Friday’s pay-per-view event from King Saud University Stadium in the city of Riyadh. John Cena had been advertised to participate in the WWE World Cup tournament, but ultimately decided against attending.
Orton was approached by TMZ at the airport this week and said he was preparing for “a long flight, shitty airplane food and a hot plane.” He was asked how the WWE crew felt about going to the Middle East despite all the recent controversy. Orton said, “We’re at the airport, aren’t we?”
When asked specifically about the 16-time World Champion pulling out of the show, Orton threw some shade his longtime rival. In true heel fashion, Orton asked, “Does he still wrestle? I didn’t know he pulled out.”
He also commented his decision to wrestle at Crown Jewel, stating that it really comes down to being a company man and a father who has to provide for his family. “I’ve got 5 kids,” said Orton. “I gotta go make that dollar. If they want me in Saudi, I’m going to Saudi.”
Randy Orton will participate in the WWE World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel. He faces Rey Mysterio in the first round.
Watch Randy Orton react to John Cena pulling out of Crown Jewel