For the first time in months, there is a small update on Randy Orton’s WWE status following the former WWE Champion being away from the company for nearly a year.
Orton last worked a match when he and Matt Riddle dropped the Raw Tag Team Titles to The Usos in a Winner Take All match on SmackDown in May 2022. The initial belief was Orton would take time off due to a back injury before returning to turn on Riddle, leading to a feud between them.
Obviously, that didn’t happen, as the injury was worse than expected, and Orton had lower back fusion surgery last November. There has been a lot of concern regarding his WWE career among those in the company.
There had been a recent photo going around online of Orton looking jacked. At the time, some fans were speculating that he could be closing in on a return.
Randy Orton looks so happy…and JACKED! pic.twitter.com/icYEBmBggG
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) February 5, 2023
Mike Johnson of PWinsider Elite reported, “There’s been some rumblings about Randy Orton internally within the last week or so, where there hadn’t been any discussion about him internally in some time.”
It was also noted that nothing new was said about Riddle’s WWE status after going on hiatus when he was suspended due to a failed drug test for the second time in 2022 and sent to rehab in December.