A new report has claimed that Randy Orton could be out of action for the rest of the year after it was discovered that he may require surgery.
Randy Orton hasn’t wrestled or been seen on WWE television since the May 20th episode of Friday Night SmackDown. On the show, Orton teamed with Riddle to take on The Usos, as the two teams attempted to become WWE’s Undisputed Tag Team Champions.
After a hard-fought encounter, it was The Usos who picked up the win, and all of the gold, after a little helping hand from Roman Reigns.
However, the action wasn’t done there. After the match, The Bloodline brutalised RK-Bro, leaving Orton laying after being hit with the ring steps, while Riddle was put through the announce table.
WWE later posted an update on Orton’s condition on social media stating that:
“Randy Orton is currently undergoing consultations with neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons to determine the extent of his injury and to recommend course of treatment.”
The new report from Fightful Select notes that WWE now fear that Orton could be out of action for the remainder of 2022. The star has been dealing with a back injury in recent months and had “work” done prior to the match on May 20th. It is unclear as to what this “work” was.
However, the injury has gotten progressively worse, and he may require surgery. Should this be the case a WWE source confirmed that he would be out of the rest of the year.
At time of writing, Orton isn’t factored into any creative plans going forward, and appeared on a recent internal injury report.
The news will come as a terrible blow to WWE, after it was recently confirmed that Cody Rhodes will be out of action for up to nine months.
It had recently been reported that Orton would be facing Roman Reigns in a huge showdown at SummerSlam on July 30th. The bout being Reigns’ first Premium Live Event appearance since Wrestlemania Backlash on May 8th.
In Orton’s absence, Riddle has been teaming with Shinsuke Nakamura in an effort to get revenge on The Bloodline. This had led to the Original Bro securing a Universal Title match with the Head of the Table on the June 17th edition of SmackDown.