According to a new report, there’s a possibility that Randy Orton will get some unexpected assistance from on-and-off ally Ric Flair — who was written off television on this week’s Monday Night Raw — as he gets booked to win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre at the SummerSlam pay-per-view later this month.
As cited by WrestlingNews.co on Tuesday night, Bryan Alvarez offered his thoughts on the upcoming title match on Wrestling Observer Live , speculating that the aforementioned angle on Raw , which had Orton punting Flair in the head and ostensibly ending their most recent partnership, might be a setup for some sort of surprise.
“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 went on to explain why he believes this might be the case, pointing out that Orton supposedly punted Christian several weeks ago, despite the fact that the latter retired due to concussions and isn’t likely to ever be cleared to make a return to the ring. He suggested that since Monday Night Raw has oftentimes been taped in advance in recent months, the footage may have been shot in such a way that Orton’s foot looked much closer to Christian’s head than it actually was, with WWE’s production team adding sound effects to make it appear as if he made contact.
Considering that the lights went out at the very moment Orton was supposed to have attacked Flair, this might have been something fans could have blamed on the RETRIBUTION faction and its well-documented penchant for causing chaos. However, Alvarez explained that Orton and Flair could have easily asked a backstage worker to turn off the lights at just the right time.
In addition, WrestlingNews.co wrote that SummerSlam’s tag line for this year is “You’ll Never See It Coming,” thus potentially lending credence to Alvarez’s theory of a swerve.
Although the outlet also made sure to stress that Alvarez’s comments are merely speculation at this point, rumors have been hinting since last month that WWE wants Orton to emerge victorious at this month’s big event. As previously reported by The Inquisitr , this is purportedly part of the company’s plans for “The Viper” to resume his feud with Edge, which was halted when the Hall of Famer suffered an injury at the Backlash pay-per-view.