WWE’s week of bad news just got even worse.
Several of the company’s top Superstars are currently off television for a variety of reasons. Roman Reigns is appearing less frequently. Brock Lesnar has been absent since WrestleMania 38. Cody Rhodes just had pectoral surgery. Sasha Banks is reportedly gone from the company and now it appears Randy Orton won’t be seen any time soon, either.
Randy Orton Injury Update
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select was the first to report that WWE fears Orton will be out of action for the rest of the year, a huge blow to the company.
Orton last competed on the May 20th edition of SmackDown, teaming with Riddle in a losing effort to The Usos in the tag title Unification match.
On the following Raw, Riddle revealed that Orton has been working through serious injuries and could “barely walk” prior to the tag title unification match.
Unfortunately, Orton’s physical ailments are legitimate. According to the Fightful report, Orton needed to “have work done” in order for him to be able to compete in the tag title unification match. Things have gotten worse since then and there’s fear he will be forced to undergo back surgery.
Randy Orton isn’t factored into creative plans for WWE at the moment, after being slated for a huge role this summer.
– Fightful Select
A Change of Plans
Losing Orton for the rest of the year could not come at a worse time for WWE which is already missing several major players.
It had been reported that Orton was the planned opponent for Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at Summerslam, but that match is seemingly off now.
With Reigns not competing at Money in the Bank, WWE will want to have a match featuring the “Tribal Chief” at their biggest party of the Summer.
Though Drew McIntyre remains active on the roster, he has already called out Reigns for a match at September’s Clash at the Castle event.
