Several weeks ago we noted that there was strong consideration being given to having Randy Orton win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam so he could defend the title in a rematch against McIntyre at the Royal Rumble or at WrestleMania 37 to give McIntyre the big coronation in front of thousands of fans.
There is still time for WWE to figure things out for Mania but based on what WrestlingNews.co was told by WWE sources, there is still talk within the company about having Orton walk out of SummerSlam with the title. If Orton does win then he would have done so without help from Ric Flair, which would not make sense since it would not help McIntyre if Orton got a clean pin on him.
However, Bryan Alvarez pointed out something interesting on Wrestling Observer Live. Alvarez speculated (note: he did not report this as fact) that the Flair angle on Monday Night Raw might be a swerve with Flair returning at SummerSlam to help Orton. Alvarez pointed out that we never actually saw Orton’s foot make contact with Flair’s head because the lights went out. Fans are supposed to think that the lights going out happened because of Retribution but Alvarez speculated that Orton may have set things up for the lights to go out at the right time to make fans think that he made contact with Flair’s head. Keep in mind that Orton punted Christian several weeks ago even though he is not cleared for bumps. Orton was trusted to deliver the punt to Christian’s head without hurting him for real.
Alvarez said, “Why would Randy turn on Ric Flair now, as opposed to after the match with Drew McIntyre? If Drew McIntyre is going to win, Randy Orton turning on Ric Flair the next day is the best way to get his heat back and he can blame Ric Flair. There’s a million things you can do. I think Randy Orton is beating Drew McIntyre. If Randy Orton is beating Drew McIntyre, look at how hard they have pushed Drew McIntyre. I think the only way that Randy wins is with help. I think that this is a swerve and that Ric Flair is going to come out at SummerSlam and he is going to help Randy Orton win the 14th World Title and they will have been in cahoots and they’re on their way to this gold that they talked about.”
Alvarez continued, “Why do I say that? Because Randy Orton punted Christian a few weeks ago, right? Christian retired due to a head injury. Christian had too many concussions and they will never clear him to wrestle again and you know what they sure aren’t gonna clear him to do – take a punt. So what they did, it’s a taped show and they shot it in such a way that Randy Orton’s foot was in between the camera and Christian’s head. He was probably a foot away from Christian’s head but he did the punt and they edited in the sound effect and they shot it from the perfect angle and it looked like he punted the guy and killed him. Well, guess what, Ric Flair can’t take any physical punishment as well. It was a taped show, they could have used sound effects, they could have done the exact same thing but they didn’t. Instead, Randy went for the punt and he started running and the lights went out and when they came back on, Ric Flair was allegedly dead. We don’t know, just like Zelina Vega asked, what proof do you have as a viewer that Randy Orton actually punted Ric Flair? Zero proof. I think these two guys are working together and they allegedly wrote Ric Flair out of storyline but at SummerSlam, Flair is going to return and he is going to screw Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton is gonna RKO him and win the title and they are all in cahoots. I hesitate to say this but guess what, it all makes sense! But we’ll see what happens at SummerSlam.”
Alvarez said that the lights going out can be easily explained and it has nothing to do with Retribution. He speculated that Orton and Flair could have gotten anyone from backstage (ie. “Frank the Janitor”) to turn the lights out at the right time.
The tag line for SummerSlam is “You’ll Never See It Coming” so that implies that there will be something done on the show to shock fans so we’ll see if this or something else shocking happens on the show.
