Randy Orton is slated to be the next challenger for Roman Reigns and his Undisputed WWE Universal Title.
The lead-up
On Friday’s episode of SmackDown, Orton “joined” the SmackDown brand following his return at last week’s Survivor Series, where he worked the Men’s WarGames Match, his first bout in over a year due to him needing to undergo back fusion surgery.
Orton was reportedly one of the names considered to be Reigns’ opponent at the Royal Rumble on Saturday, January 27, 2024, from Tampa, FL, at Tropicana Field. WWE started the build to that match on Friday’s SmackDown when Orton laid out members of The Bloodline.
The stats
Orton and Reigns have only worked one single match that aired on PPV/PLE. In fact, CageMatch.net notes they’ve only worked two singles matches ever together, with one being on a 2014 episode of WWE Raw, while their only PLE match was at SummerSlam that same year.
Both matches saw Reigns go over Orton, as their first encounter ended in a DQ, while Reigns went over clean at SummerSlam. They’ve worked plenty of tag team and multi-man matches over the years. The last time they shared the ring was in May 2022 for a six-man tag team match against The Bloodline at Backlash.
Randy Orton & Roman Reigns have only ever had ONE 1 vs. 1 PPV match in @WWE.
The matchup is certified fresh. pic.twitter.com/f5vfQ4sK8F
— Wrestle Features (@WrestleFeatures) December 2, 2023
