Randy Orton has been out of action since May 2022, suffering a serious back injury that forced him to undergo spinal fusion. WWE brought “The Viper” to Los Angeles for WrestleMania 39, but outside of the occasional photo posted by his wife, Kim, he’s been pretty much radio silent on social media. Kim’s latest photo showed Randy giving her a foot massage, and fans couldn’t help but notice how jacked the 14-time former world champion looked.
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Insider BWE hinted at WWE prepping for Orton’s return “shortly,” and there’s plenty of speculation as to what he’ll be doing when he gets back. He was, up until the injury, reportedly planned to be Roman Reigns’ opponent at SummerSlam 2022 and it was The Bloodline’s attack that initially wrote him off television, so WWE could always insert him in as Reigns’ next challenger for his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. There’s also a chance he could either reunite with Matt Riddle and continue their incredibly successful run as RK-Bro or have him turn on his former partner.
Prior to his injury, Orton stated in interviews that he wanted to keep wrestling until he turns 50. 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,” he added.
