Bob Orton Provides the Latest Injury Update on Randy Orton

Randy Orton still hasn’t been back on WWE TV since May 2022, suffering a serious back injury that saw him undergo spinal fusion late last year. Updates on “The Viper’s” status have been sparse ever since, though WWE did reportedly bring him to Los Angeles for WrestleMania 39 weekend last month. WWE Hall of Famer “Cowboy” Bob Orton gave an update on his son’s condition in a recent interview with Wrestle Binge, speculating that doctors instructed Orton to not get back in the ring (while also pointing out that likely won’t stop him from doing so). 

“He’s training. We’ll see what happens,” the wrestling legend told Bill Apter (h/t Fightful). “I don’t know if he feels like going back or, when it feels like he’s ready to go back, I think he might. Then again, he’s pretty well taken care of, I don’t think he needs to. I think the doctors have told him not to. Randy will do what Randy’s going to do.”

When Does Randy Orton Want to Retire From WWE?

Despite being in the WWE for over two decades, Orton still had plans to stay with WWE for quite some time prior to his back injury. He told The Ringer in January 2022, “I’m 41 (now 43). By the time I’m 50, I think I’m done. But I’m not like, I’ll do auditions every once in a while, but I almost only do them because my wife says ‘oh do them, because what if you don’t? Then you’ll wonder what if you did.’ So I do auditions here and there, crossing my fingers that I don’t get a callback because I love what I do. I don’t want to stop. I don’t want to have to stop, because of my body.

“So I’ve taken it upon myself to make sure I’m doing everything I can on the daily that physically I’m able to continue. But if it was up to me, and I knew physically it wouldn’t be a problem, I’d say I’d wrestle until I’m 50 years old. And I would go out and have that last match when I’m 50 and be able to say I did it on my own terms. That’s 9 years from now. But I don’t see an end to my career any time soon. I’d like to continue to go,”