Randy Orton returned to action at WWE’s Survivor Series WarGames, and after a strong effort that helped his team win the match, Orton would make his returns to Monday Night Raw and SmackDown throughout the following week. That resulted in a bidding war between the two brands to sign him, and ultimately that ended up going Nick Aldis’ way (much to the chagrin of Paul Heyman). Orton has looked fantastic in his return, and John Cena took to social media to celebrate Orton’s return to the ring and the fact that SmackDown was able to sign him.
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On Twitter Cena shared the video of Orton’s SmackDown return with the caption, “Absolutely incredible to see @RandyOrton continue to excel after such a storied career. A massive pickup for #Smackdown and a word to the wise … watch out for that RKO!”
Cena recently made a return of his own to WWE during the Actors’ strike, and from the get-go, he was open about the fact that he wouldn’t be able to compete in the ring when the strike ended, as he would have to return to various productions. That led to a match against Solo Sikoa at Crown Jewel, where Sikoa took Cena down in dominant fashion. While we very well could see Cena again before he is officially retired from wrestling, this is probably one of the last times we’ll see Cena for that long of a run.
As for Orton, SmackDown featured Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis battling for Orton to sign with their respective brands, and Pearce came out swinging, telling Orton, “I’ll give you the winner of Jey Uso and Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship.” That was a huge offer, and up next was Aldis, who told Orton “You sign with SmackDown, and I can give you the guys that took you out.”
That’s when Paul Heyman came out and brought up the fact that it was The Bloodline who sidelined Orton in the first place. That led to Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso coming out to persuade Orton to go somewhere else, but it royally backfired. Orton was brought down by the numbers advantage at one point, but he got some help from LA Knight, another superstar who has had several run-ins with The Bloodline and Roman Reigns.
Orton then delivered a statement RKO to Jimmy Uso and took both contracts to go over. He threw the Raw one to the side and signed with SmackDown, staring at Heyman right after. Then Orton signed off by telling Heyman to call Reigns, leaving off with “and you can tell him Daddy’s back.”
WWE NXT Deadline:
- WWE NXT Championship Match: Ilja Dragunov (C) vs Baron Corbin
- Men’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Dijak vs Trick Williams vs Josh Briggs vs Bron Breuker vs TBD
- Women’s Iron Survivor Challenge Match: Tiffany Stratton vs Lash Legend vs Blair Davenport vs Kelani Jordan vs TBD
- North American Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (C) vs Wes Lee
NXT Deadline takes place on Saturday, December 9th.
What do you think of Orton signing with SmackDown? Let us know in the comments and as always you can talk all things wrestling with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!
