NXT Superstar Tommaso Ciampa has shared who he was most looking forward to sharing the ring with during WWE’s last pay-per-view, Survivor Series. For him, the two Superstars he was eager to compete against were “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns and “The Viper” Randy Orton.

“[…] for me, personally, Roman has always kind of been a dream opponent and Randy has always kind of been more like a dream mentor just cause we’re so similar in style that I’ve always kind of visioned that if he could take me under his ring or tag with him or something, but either way just the idea of sharing a stage with those two dudes…”

Ciampa was quick to note that he wasn’t discrediting anyone else in the match. For him, however, Reigns and Orton were the two he was most looking forward to having some ring time against, no matter how long it might have been.

He added how his going against those two wouldn’t just have been great for him, but for his family as well. He explained how his dad, brother and cousins are all huge wrestling fans, and so for them to get the opportunity to see Ciampa wrestle against top names on such a large platform was “wild” to him.

Team SmackDown, which featured Roman Reigns, would eventually emerge victoriously from their Survivor Series elimination match featuring both Team RAW and Team NXT.

H/T to Wrestlezone for the quotes.

Mark Henry believes that WWE Superstar Randy Orton should be a prominent figure in WWE’s championship picture. The WWE Hall of Famer shared his thoughts during an episode of SiriusXM’s Busted Open Radio. 

“I like [the idea of Orton in the title scene] because of the historical reference of Randy Orton,” he said. “He comes from wrestling, he’s a third-generation guy, and when Randy Orton has a title, it’s more exciting because his finish [the RKO] can come out of nowhere.”

He argued how Superstars like Orton and AJ Styles are good for business when holding a championship belt, whether they compete in the championship scene as a heel or face. Henry explained how putting them in the main event helps to keep the show moving forward, adding drama for the audience.

Henry juxtaposed his argument with the current All Elite Wrestling World Champion Chris Jericho. He noted how much the AEW fanbase cares about Jericho, and it helped make sense to put the belt on him because of it. He stated how the WWE Universe “give a damn” about both Orton and Styles as well as Seth Rollins. Henry stressed how Orton could outwork 98% of those on competitive rosters, and that when he holds the title he “makes the title, rather than the title making him.” 

If you use any quotes from this article, please provide a H/T to SEScoops.

The main event of this week’s episode of Raw saw the United States Champion Rey Mysterio competing in a 6 man tag match. However, latest report reveals that he wasn’t originally slated to be competing during the bout.

According to reports from Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the original plans were for Randy Orton to team up with Humberto Carrillo and Ricochet to compete against the OC.

The idea was for Mysterio to interfere and help the faces in picking up a win but Mr. McMahon wanted The Viper to deliver an RKO out of nowhere to AJ Styles.

The Boss felt that Styles needed to be coming off a pin for this to work so he changed the plans at the producers’ meetings on the day of the event. This resulted in Orton deciding not to team with Ricochet and Carrillo.

Ricochet ended up taking the pin in the match because the Boss did not want Mysterio to be in the position. Humberto was likely exempted because he has been losing most of his matches since debuting on the brand in October.

No word yet on where this storyline is headed but it’s likely that we’ll see a match between Randy Orton and AJ Styles soon, presumably at the upcoming TLC PPV.

Randy Orton was a guest on Corey Graves’ “After the Bell” podcast this week. The show was recorded Monday morning, hours before Orton would take part in a Twitter thread that has been prevalent in headlines since. During his conversation with Graves, Orton revealed he couldn’t see leaving WWE during his latest negotiations with the company. Orton first stated that he’s more open to other styles of wrestling than he has been in the past.

“I’m not in the WWE bubble as much as I’ve been for almost the last two decades and I’m learning to appreciate other styles a little more instead of just quickly seeing something how I wouldn’t do it, or isn’t how I wouldn’t sell it, so it’s good, in its own way its good, you can’t please everybody.”

Then Orton commented that he never really saw himself leaving WWE.

“I never really saw myself leaving WWE. I started here, my father was here, my grandfather wrestled for Vince’s father, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of history here. Yeah, I could have left and I could have come back but why? I’ve made it here this long and I really shouldn’t have. Against all odds, I’m still here and Vince and I were able to come to terms and like I said at the begging of the interview, I am happy.”

Orton’s comments can be heard in the player below:

Things got interesting between Randy Orton and AEW President Tony Khan when they exchanged words on social media. 

It began when Khan replied to a tweet by CM Punk, who was hyping his appearance on Tuesday’s WWE Backstage on FS1. Punk says “no one is safe” when he talks about the good and bad of pro wrestling. He tagged Tony Khan in the tweet, along with Vince McMahon and the Backstage team.

Tony Khan fired back with a reference to WWE’s recent travel issues in Saudi Arabia.

The response by Khan got the attention of Randy Orton, who just signed a new longterm deal with WWE. Orton replied with a negative article about Khan’s father, businessman Shahid Khan. Tony called out Randy Orton for using AEW as leverage for a bigger WWE contract and referenced a recent story about Randy Orton allegedly using inexcusable racial language during a Twitch video game stream.

AEW Chief Brand Officer Brandi Rhodes commented on Tony Khan’s response to Randy Orton.

Update: Cody Rhodes has since chimed in on the thread, while Randy Orton got the last word in by calling Tony Khan, “Jacksonville Dixie.”

Randy Orton Staying With WWE

Orton had teased on social media that he could be leaving WWE for the rival promotion, AEW (All Elite Wrestling) before making a decision about his future. 

The WWE veteran stayed with the company that helped him turn out to be a big star when he signed an extension with WWE. 

This new deal will keep him under contract with WWE for the next five years. It was reported that the former WWE Champion had been weighing his options in the final months of a 10-year WWE contract.

In recent years, he has worked a more limited schedule for the company. 

• CM Punk Vows To Pull No Punches On WWE Backstage

John Cena recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to talk about a wide range of topics. 

This interview was done to promote his partnership with the FitOps Foundation, a nonprofit committed to training and certifying veterans as personal trainers. 

In the interview, he talked about being able to vaguely relate because of his experience away from WWE.

“I’m so grateful to be doing some amazing things right now, but I still miss WWE and still ask myself, ‘Who am I?’ when I am not active with WWE. My identity was so closely tied to WWE for so long.”

Cena was then asked about Randy Orton challenging him to a match at WrestleMania 36 on Sunday, April 5th, 2020. “I wasn’t even aware of that,” said Cena.

He continued, “I never make the matches, I’m just grateful to be able to perform in WWE. Every day away from it, I miss it more and more and more. I’m becoming more honest with myself about how much I miss it. I’m very eager to get back into a WWE ring soon.”

It’s no secret that Cena understands how pro wrestling is intended for younger talent, which is part of the reason why he has taken a step back from pro wrestling while focusing on his acting career. 

While he’s not around as much as he used to be, he does plan on being at WrestleMania 36. Whether that will be in a match or an appearance remains to be seen. 

Cena continued, “And on the subject of WrestleMania, I can tell you this—I haven’t missed a WrestleMania since my first appearance at WrestleMania 19, and I do not plan to miss a WrestleMania for decades to come.”

Cena didn’t wrestle at this year’s WrestleMania 35 event but did do an in-ring segment with Elias that ended with him laying out the WWE Superstar.

He hasn’t wrestled at the biggest event of the year for the company since 2018 where he lost to The Undertaker in a quick match. 

RAW Superstar Randy Orton has openly teased his interest in a high-profile matchup at WrestleMania 36. In an upload to his social media, Orton shared an image of a magazine featuring John Cena on the cover. The cover reads “Up for a challenge.”

Orton accompanied the image with the following caption: “I’m on a flight to London and see this striking young man asking me a question. Why yes @johncena I am up for a challenge, are you? Let’s say ohhhh I dunno, #Wrestlemania36 maybe? Or does Hollywood have you booked solid? #WM36”

Elite Tease To A Five-Year Contract

‘The Viper’ recently teased his interest in All Elite Wrestling, uploading a picture of himself next to a sign that clearly read “Elite.” His former allies on SmackDown, The Revival, added further speculation to his post by suggesting they were also interest in jumping to AEW. Despite this, however, it was revealed that Orton had signed a new five-year deal with WWE.

Orton and Cena are familiar with one another as opponents, having feuded numerous times over the years. This suggested challenge, however, would see them clash on the grandest stage of them all at WrestleMania 36.

WrestleMania 36 is set to take place on April 5th, 2020 from the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Chris Jericho opened up in an interview with SportsKeeda about why he didn’t think that Randy Orton was actually going to end up in AEW after all.

This comes after Orton had teased on social media that he could be leaving WWE for the rival promotion. That speculation came to a close when he signed a new deal with WWE. 

According to Jericho, he never thought that Orton would leave and it all comes down to money unless Orton was dead set on leaving. 

“I can’t say anything about it because I don’t know anything about it, no-one’s calling me to tell me about these things. But I know this – nobody is getting out of WWE, especially Randy Orton, because unless he’s very, very committed to saying ‘I don’t care if you pay me 20 gazillion dollars I’m leaving’ that’s not what he’s doing. I mean, obviously Vince is going to pay millions and millions of dollars to not have Randy Orton go.”

Jericho would sidetrack away from Orton to talk about how there are some guys who do want to leave WWE. He brought up how AEW is trying to avoid becoming old-school TNA where practically every notable WWE star to be release would come to the promotion. He brought up how Jon Moxley did make the move because he was done and ready to go.

“If you’re using AEW to make more money off of Vince, go for it! That’s great too but it’s not like we’re taking everybody that’s going to leave WWE to come to AEW.”

The reason for that is due to the guys working for WWE now got huge raises instead of going to the independent circle to make 500 bucks a night.

“The point is that Vince just doesn’t want anybody to leave WWE because it looks like an exodus if they do and makes us look even cooler. We do things our way, we’ve got a great roster of guys and if somebody becomes available that really wants to be with us and we think that they fit our vibe then we’ll take them.”

Randy Orton Signs 5-Year WWE Contract Extension

Jericho stated that it doesn’t mean that talent will be getting millions and millions of dollars to come because that’s not what AEW is doing. He thinks AEW has assembled an awesome roster with at least ten to twelve potential main eventers. 

Jericho knows that AEW will have to build all those guys up first to build up all the mid-card guys and so on to create stars. 

“But if a Randy Orton became available and said ‘I’m leaving I don’t care what’ then I’m sure we’d be really interested in talking to him and we could do great stuff. I’ll tell you what; he’ll probably be more over with us in a month than he has been in the last ten years with WWE.”

WWE legend Randy Orton is staying with the company for 5 more years. The news was first reported by PWInsider and later confirmed by the Viper himself.

Orton re-signing with WWE was a hot topic of conversation behind the scenes at Monday’s RAW from Long Island, NY.

Randy Orton Leveraging His Options

The 13-time World Champion was said to be weighing his options in the final months of a 10-year WWE contract.

As seen below, Orton posted a photo on Instagram in front of a sign that prominently featured the word, “elite” just two weeks ago. He tagged several superstars in the photo, including AEW Champion Chris Jericho and AEW Executive Vice President Cody Rhodes.

The “tick tock tick tock” caption led to speculation that Randy Orton was teasing a possible jump to AEW when he was set to become a free agent.

• Randy Orton Challenges The Rock To a Match at WrestleMania 36

Randy Orton joined WWE developmental back in 2001 and first appeared on WWE television in April 2002. Under his new deal, Orton is poised to achieve 20 years as part of the WWE family.

Randy Orton is set to appear at Crown Jewel in the 10-man tag team match where he will be part of Team Flair against Team Hogan.

Meanwhile on this Monday’s episode of WWE Raw, Orton delivered a RKO to Ricochet, who is going to be against Ortons team. Bully Ray and Mark Henry discussed this topic on SiriusXM’s Busted Open radio and gave their opinions on whether both the Superstars could do a program together.

Bully Ray wondered and asked Mark Henry if Ricochet could be right guy to work with Orton. Bully believes that finding the right guy to compliment Orton is difficult.

“I’ve been saying it for a long time, when it comes to Randy Orton, the problem is not Randy Orton. It’s finding the right guy to compliment Randy Orton. Do you think Ricochet could be that guy to have a good program with Randy?”

Henry answered that he sees Ricochet and Orton having a successful program together. Henry believes that Orton could bring Ricochet out of his shell as Randy Orton can be a devastating man with his words and he doesn’t care.

“I do. I think that it’ll have legs, I loved him and AJ Styles, but I think that this would be even more,” Henry answered. “Randy would bring Ricochet out of his shell. He’s going to have to, because if you’re in the ring Randy is going to talk about your mama, man, Randy don’t care. He will talk about your wife and kids, he’ll talk about ‘Oh, I saw you out there with that girl, was that your girlfriend or was that one of your side pieces?,’ Randy don’t care, he’ll bring it out of you.”

“For those of you don’t understand, when you say Randy Orton doesn’t care – you know the real Randy Orton, and I know the real Randy Orton – Randy truly does not care. Like, he will say and do just about anything. Randy don’t give a f–k,” Bully said.

Henry agreed and advised Ricochet to not piss Orton off. Henry also added that it could be a test for Ricochet to show his compatibility skills while wrestling Orton.

“And Ricochet, hey, people are not gonna blame Randy Orton if this s–t doesn’t go right. They’re gonna blame you. Because ‘You couldn’t work with Randy?’ ‘You couldn’t elevate yourself with Randy Orton?’ ‘I don’t know if you can after that.'”

Finally, Henry gave his opinion on Ricochet saying that he hasn’t been tested well before and working with Orton will be his ultimate test. Orton will try to gauge Ricochet and see what he has to offer.

“I think Ricochet is confused about what leadership is because he’s young,” Henry said. “He hasn’t had a dancing partner where the dancing partner says ‘Hey man, you call it, I want to see what you got,’ and Randy is going to do that. Randy is going to try him, Randy’s going to see, like, are you just a one-trick pony.”

WWE Hall of Famer Booker T has addressed Randy Orton’s recent teasing over his interest in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Speaking on his podcast, The Hall of Fame, Booker T addressed the photo Orton uploaded of himself next to a sign that read “Elite Level.”

“Look at the talent they [AEW] has,” Booker said. “Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Randy Orton is an elite level player. I always said Randy Orton is an elite wrestler, an elite superstar.”

He continued, “He’s my guy, I always said that and one thing about Randy is he’s always been a rebel, he’s always been a guy that walks to the beat of his own drum. If anybody was to do something crazy it would be Randy.”

Booker T explained how AEW is “on the edge,” pointing to Jon Moxley as a prime example of somebody pushing the envelope, rebelling, and finding a platform that supports him.

Ultimately, however, he believes that Orton will end up staying with WWE. He explained how “Randy Orton is safe and he’s taken care of very well in the WWE.”

Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder of The Revival recently added to Orton’s Elite tease. They had been briefly associated with Randy Orton on WWE television prior to the WWE Draft separating them. 

This isn’t the first time that Orton has addressed AEW. He was recently heard praising All Elite Wrestling’s premiere episode of Dynamite whilst streaming a video game.

It’s worth noting that Orton is coming to the end of a 10-year contract with WWE. Unless a new deal has been negotiated in that time, Orton will become a free agent in early 2020.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Randy Orton posted a message to his followers on Instagram recently and tagged several members of the Elite. Orton posed outside of a sign which read “Elite” on it.

As you can see in Orton’s Instagram post below, the 13-time World Champion tagged The Revival, Chris Jericho, Cody Rhodes, Luke Harper, Riddick Moss, and Elias in the post.

Randy Orton’s 10-Year WWE Deal

Orton signed a 10-year contract with WWE in January of 2010. Unless the 39-year-old Superstar quietly agreed to a new deal with WWE, Orton is due to become a free agent in early 2020.

Orton and Cody Rhodes have a long history together. Cody was a member of Orton’s Legacy faction from 2008-2010. He had the following to say on Orton’s impact on his career in the below Tweet:

In February of 2018, Orton commented on there being a Legacy reboot sometime in the future in response to Cody taking a shot at a fan on Twitter:

Randy Orton Calls Out The Rock

• Randy Orton Wants To Confront The Rock On SmackDown

Earlier this month, Orton called out the Rock on social media.

39-year-old Randy Orton was recently drafted to the RAW brand. He will be apart of Team Flair against Team Hogan at Crown Jewel.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has responded to the challenge sent out by Randy Orton for a match at WrestleMania 36 in 2020. 

Although The Rock did react to the challenge, it’s not the answer that Orton was hoping to hear from the former WWE Champion. Over the weekend, The Rock was active on social media and commenting on his most recent appearance on Friday Night SmackDown. 

This is when The Rock wrote the following on his official Twitter account: 

“@RandyOrton U think Bob O Sr & Chief Maivia along with our pops’ Bob Jr & the Soulman ran up and down those roads for decades taking bumps just so we can sell out WM36 so you can RKO my ass thru the earth. My body’s still recovering from that Evolution beatdown you gave me at WM20.”

Orton saw the tweet and responded with, “My man. So I guess that’s a ‘no.’”

The Rock Kicks Off WWE Friday Night SmackDown

The chances of this match happening weren’t great due to The Rock already confirming that he’s retired from the pro wrestling business. 

Although never say never in wrestling, The Rock is a busy man these days with his acting career and would have to set time aside in order to train, make television appearances and work the match. 

WrestleMania 36 will take place Sunday, April 5th, 2020 from Tampa, FL at the Raymond James Stadium and air on the WWE Network.

The People’s Champion The Rock will be returning to SmackDown Live this week and it appears that the former World Champion Randy Orton wants to have a confrontation with the Great One this Friday Night.

Orton recently made a tweet in which he called out the former World Champion and said that they should have a discussion on who is the greatest third-generation superstar in the history of wrestling.

Not only that but the Legend Killer went on to suggest that they should settle this affair by competing at the upcoming WrestleMania 36 event from Tampa, Florida:

Randy Orton was present on this week’s episode of Raw where he was chosen as the team captain of Team Flair for their upcoming Crown Jewel match against Team Hogan.

However, this rivalry is expected to conclude at the upcoming PPV in Saudi Arabia and Randy is not involved in any other feud at the time. There is no word yet on what Orton will be doing after the show or what the plans are for his WrestleMania opponent.

While it doesn’t appear to be a very likely scenario, it would be interesting to see if Randy Orton actually confronts the Rock at this week’s SmackDown episode and if the segment leads to the match which the Viper wants.

Kofi Kingston has remained on top of the mountain in the WWE as “The Viper” wasn’t the man to end his reign as the WWE Champion in this bitter rivalry. 

Kingston retained the WWE Title in one of the key matches at the WWE Clash of Champions pay-per-view event in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Spectrum Center over Orton. 

The two stars have been feuding since July once Kingston issued a challenge for SummerSlam. 

WWE Clash Of Champions Results (9/15)

This was a rematch between the two stars. Kingston and Orton went to a double count-out at the SummerSlam event in Toronto, Ontario at the Scotiabank Arena last month. 

Post-match, Kofi hit Orton several times with a kendo stick. As a result, Kingston retained the WWE Title. 

The premiere episode of WWE SmackDown Live on the FOX network will be a 20th Anniversary special on October 4th from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.

This show comes two days before the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event. WWE is also starting another draft the week after Hell in a Cell. Unless WWE just wanted to do a one-off feud, it appears that Kingston vs. Orton will continue at Hell in a Cell.

What are your thoughts on Kofi Kingston retaining the WWE Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.

Randy Orton noticed an interesting tweet sent out by Bray Wyatt on his official Twitter account and decided to have some fun. 

Wyatt noted in a post that he could come face to face with The Rattlesnake, which is a tease about WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin appearing on Monday Night RAW. He would then quote Sister Abigail.

Steve Austin & Loaded Lineup For Tonight’s WWE RAW From MSG

This is when Orton responded with a great tweet where he brought up how he thought he got rid of Abigail when he burned down Wyatt’s house during their feud a few years ago. Check out Orton’s tweet:

After Orton turned on Wyatt and beat him for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 33, WWE had Orton burn down the house as part of their storyline.

This led to a House of Horrors match being booked at the Payback pay-per-view event in 2017 in San Jose, California.

This finished up their feud that was a longterm program on SmackDown Live at the time. 

Orton is slated to challenge Kofi Kingston in a SummerSlam rematch for the WWE Title at the Clash of Champions pay-per-view event this Sunday.

Wyatt is slated to face the winner of Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman for the Universal Title at the Hell in a Cell show next month. 

Last night’s SmackDown Live began with an interesting promo segment between WWE Champion Kofi Kingston and his Clash of Champions challenger, Randy Orton.

Kofi spoke about the long-term issues between himself and Orton. Randy then interjected himself into the conversation, pulling out a letter supposedly written for him by Kofi’s son asking him to stop hurting his dad.

It turns out that Orton’s contribution was actually a throwback to a 1984 “Rowdy” Roddy Piper promo, as highlighted by WrestlingNews.co’s Angel Rodriguez:

“You Are A Mean Man, Mr. Orton”

Kingston admitted that the issues between the two Superstars have escalated after Orton made things personal:

“He made it very personal when he brought my family into it. He made it personal when he, alongside his new found buddies The Revival, tried to take out my friend, my partner, my brother, Xavier Woods.”

Orton then interrupted Kingston, repeatedly calling him “stupid.” It was at this point he pulled out the letter left for him under his hotel room door. He claimed the letter was written with heart before reading its contents:

“Dear Mr. Orton, stop hurting Kofi Kingston. Kofi is not stupid. Kofi is a good man, but you are a mean man, Mr. Orton. So mean that you make my hero Kofi Kingston cry at night. Do you want to know how I know this? Because Kofi Kingston isn’t just my hero. Kofi Kingston is my dad.”

The two will face off for the WWE Championship at Clash Of Champions on September 15th at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.  

Current WWE Champion Kofi Kingston is once again embroiled in a feud with long-time rival Randy Orton. The two have reignited their issues which stretch all the way back to 2009, during one of Kofi Kingston’s initial surges in popularity.

One moment, in particular, helped Kofi to stand out: destroying Randy Orton’s car. During the segment, however, Kingston recalled being worried the whole thing could have turned into a “Shockmaster” moment.

Speaking with Fightful.com, Kingston looked back at the damage he did to the car, and the moment he almost slipped live on RAW. 

“My God! I talk about that moment all the time. That was a career-defining moment for me, people are like ‘Oh my god, Kofi Kingston’s not just happy-go-lucky Jamaican guy, he’s doing some damage to this car.’ I feel like if I would have fallen, it would have been a Shockmaster-esque moment,” he admitted.

“It was almost slow motion for me. They told me the NASCAR was indestructible. They gave me a crowbar, with the first hit, it broke the window. That wasn’t supposed to happen, but it’s live TV. I keep on breaking it, I go and step, and now I’m on the dashboard.”

He continued, “I go to slam [the bucket of paint], and I feel myself falling. It’s like The Matrix. I’m like ‘No! My career! No!’ I stuck the pose, and it was really close. It could have went [down] really quick, but it went [up]. No multiple cars, no multiple buckets of paint. It was a one time deal. There’s no mirrors, I had to figure out ways to destroy it. I threw a crate into it, I used a crowbar to scratch up the paint job. Luckily it went the way that it was supposed to go and here we are ten years later, me and Randy going out there and doing it.”

The two recently wrestled to a double count-out during their clash at SummerSlam, leaving fans unhappy and wanting to see more. Given Randy’s attack on The New Day on RAW, followed by Kofi’s revenge on SmackDown, it appears the two are far from finished with each other. 

John Cena Comments On SummerSlam

John Cena won’t be taking part in this year’s SummerSlam pay-per-view event. However, that hasn’t stopped him from commenting on what many people consider is the third biggest show of the year for the company just behind WrestleMania and Royal Rumble. 

Cena hasn’t worked a match at this show since 2017 where he beat Baron Corbin in a singles match. Cena posted the following on social media: 

Randy Orton Hypes WWE Title Match

Although Randy Orton hasn’t been featured on WWE television over the past two weeks to hype his current program, that didn’t stop him from building it up online. 

Check out our WWE SummerSlam Predictions.

The former WWE Champion took to his official Twitter account where he commented on tonight’s WWE SummerSlam event where he’ll challenge Kofi Kingston for the WWE Title. 

He wrote the following:  

“I haven’t been holding anyone down for 11 years, I’ve been making history for 18. At this event, in this building, I became the youngest WWE World Heavyweight Champion…and tonight I add another #SummerSlam win, another championship reign. #14Time.”

Orton and his wife Kim had been away on vacation in the Maldives during his vacation. With the bad blood and history that dates back to 2009, WWE had no problem with building up this program. 

A 9-time WWE Champion, and 4-time World Heavyweight Champion, Randy Orton currently places 4th in WWE’s list of most championship victories. He has left an indelible mark on WWE during his time with the promotion.

One person who considers Orton to be one of the best of all time is another multi-generational wrestler: Chavo Guerrero.

Speaking with the WINCLY podcast, the former WWE Superstar discussed working on Netflix’s show, GLOW, before turning the conversation to Orton’s in-ring skills—skills Chavo believes makes Randy “one of the best” that has ever performed.

“He’s so good; his timing is impeccable. His presence in the ring is so good. He’s got you from his entrance to his exit, and he commands the audience,” Guerrero observed. “I remember the first time I saw him do that Viper thing…I thought to myself, ‘Man, why didn’t I think of that? That’s so cool!’

He continued, “You can really feel it; he just connects with the fans so well. He’s special for sure.”

Dissecting Orton’s talent, Chavo commented that although he may only have a limited arsenal of moves, it’s the way he executes them so flawlessly that elevates “The Viper.”

“Randy does what he does; he does maybe 10 moves. But he does them really good and at the perfect time and with great presence…That makes him one of the best wrestlers, arguably, of all time.”

Randy Orton recently rekindled a long-running feud with rival, and current WWE Champion, Kofi Kingston. The two are scheduled to compete for the WWE Championship on August 11th at SummerSlam.

H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Randy Orton Jokes About SummerSlam Training

Although Randy Orton is in one of the biggest programs that he has had in recent memory, the future WWE Hall of Famer took it easy this past weekend. 

Orton and his wife Kim are currently on vacation in the Maldives. While away, Orton took to his official Instagram account where he joked about training for his upcoming match against WWE Champion Kofi Kingston.

Last week, WWE confirmed that Orton would challenge Kingston for the title at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event takes place on Sunday, August 11, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario at the Scotiabank Arena. 

Orton, who is expected to appear on SmackDown Live this Tuesday, wrote the following: 

Ballers Trailer Featuring The Rock

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is gearing up for the latest season of his HBO series “Ballers.” The official teaser trailer for the new season has been released. 

HBO ordered a fifth season on September 6, 2018 and it will premiere on August 25th. You can watch the entire trailer by clicking on the player below:

The synopsis for the new season listed in the description reads like, “Success hits hard. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in Ballers as a retired football superstar trying to reinvent himself as a financial manager for current players in sun-soaked Miami.”

After successfully retaining the WWE Championship, Kofi Kingston set his sight on the next block – WWE SummerSlam. Kingston wrote, “And we’re on to #SummerSlam…”

The man who is set to face Kingston for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam – Randy Orton, replied to the tweet, coldly reminding him that he’s coming for his title and how lucky he has been at SummerSlam events when it comes to title matches.

To this, Kingston snapped back and said that he’s not the same person that Orton was able to bury back in 2009. He warned Kingston that SummerSlam will be very different.

You can see their interaction below:

• Related: Kofi Kingston Chooses His Opponent At WWE SummerSlam

Orton still didn’t stop with his jabs and posted a pic in a jocular vein from his vacation with his wife in the Maldives. The caption read, “Day 3 of my #WWE Championship winning workout regimen. I can already feel the gains, and yes I am tan af. Today was balancing while intoxicated and tomorrow @kim.orton01 will help me with my oxygen deprivation training.”

The back and forth between Kingston and Orton has been entertaining so far and it only builds up well towards their eventual meeting in the ring. Meanwhile the current card for the event looks something like this:

• WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins
• WWE RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch vs. Natalya
• WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Ember Moon
• Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon – If Owens Loses He’s Forced To Quit WWE
• WWE Champion Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton
• Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt

Randy Orton offered up some advice for IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Will Ospreay on Twitter recently. Orton was responding to a Tweet of Ospreay’s when he made his comments. By the end of their interaction, the two were teasing a match with one another.

Orton offered up the following in response:

Ospreay then seemed amazed another WWE wrestler was responding to his comments:

Orton then invited Ospreay to attend Smackdown.

Ospreay wasn’t interested in going to a WWE show, however.

Randy Orton vs Will Ospreay in 2017

This isn’t the first time these two have traded jabs on Twitter. They did so back in 2017 as well. Orton re-Tweeted some comments about independent wrestling made by Rip Rogers that started a stir online.

The Tweets by Orton in 2017 are below:

Ospreay responded to Orton and Rogers’ comments with the following:

Ospreay also decided to market some shirts with “…dive” written on the front:

Orton then issued an apology:

Ospreay would later comment on the …dive controversy with Orton:

• Will Ospreay: “I would like to show people that what I do is professional wrestling”

“I thought it was really funny, I do agree a bit, quite a lot of it. I do feel like wrestling has become very similar [in style], but just listen to that crowd from New York. It is that format, and everyone was going insane. I don’t know what to say but … dive.”

Seth Rollins On Wrestling Brock Lesnar At SummerSlam

Seth Rollins has given his reaction to wrestling Brock Lesnar yet again for the WWE Universal Title. He earned the opportunity for this rematch at the SummerSlam pay-per-view event on Monday’s Raw. 

Rollins beat Roman Reigns, Baron Corbin, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Randy Orton, and SmackDown Tag Team Champion Big E in a Cross Brand All-Star Battle Royal on Monday’s Raw. 

Rollins took to his official Twitter account where he wrote, “Its been my mission since Rumble to bring that title back to Raw and to the live events every week..and to defend it with passion. Lesnar is my Everest, and with your support….at Summerslam I reach the summit.”

Interesting Randy Orton Stat

Speaking of the Cross Brand All-Star Battle Royal, WWE’s Stats & Info Twitter account shared an interesting note on Randy Orton. 

That stat was the fact that this match marked the first time since 2015 that Orton worked a match on the flagship show of the company as he has been used on SmackDown Live over the course of time. You can see WWE’s tweet with the stat here: 

Randy Orton returned to in-ring action after being sidelined. 

The former WWE Champion wrestled Aleister Black in a singles match that saw Black go over at the WWE live event on Monday in Glenn Falls, NY at the Cool Insuring Arena. 

This marked his first match since June 10th live event against Black. As we noted earlier on the site, it’s been reported that Orton has been dealing with a neck injury.

It wasn’t a serious injury as he already had some vacation time scheduled and with WWE not having plans for him on TV, he was given an additional two weeks to fully heal and rest up. Orton was last seen on WWE programming last month when he beat Triple H in a match at the Super ShowDown pay-per-view event. 

• Randy Orton Returning Soon From Neck Injury

WWE Glenn Falls, NY Results

• The New Day defeated The B Team. 
• Asuka and Kairi Sane defeated WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions The IIconics in a non-title match
• Chad Gable defeated Shelton Benjamin
• Chad Gable defeated Buddy Murphy
• Matt Hardy and Ali defeated The Authors of Pain
• Aleister Black defeated Randy Orton
• Ember Moon defeated Liv Morgan and Charlotte Flair in a Triple Threat
• WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor retained over Dolph Ziggler