WWE Superstar Randy Orton seems to be on a collision course for yet another face turn, as he is set to do so within the next few months. The fact that the “ RKO Outta Nowhere ” vines have made him more popular was just a helpful tool for WWE. The idea to turn Orton face has been in the plans for quite a few months now. This is why at Hell in a Cell, we have a match pitting The Viper against John Cena inside Hell in a Cell.
Whoever wins gets a match with “The Beast” Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Due to the fact that we have seen Cena face Lesnar twice already, the concept currently is that Orton will win at Hell in a Cell on Sunday and go onto to face Brock for the title potentially at Survivor Series. The reason this is significant is because Lesnar is easily the heel going into this.
While the concept of a heel versus heel is fine, the thought never works. Fans eventually choose someone to cheer for. That means that Orton will get cheered due to the fact people already like him more than a part-time Brock Lesnar. This allows Orton to turn face and be a victim to Lesnar. Orton would finally get his one on one match for the World Title, but he’d lose potentially due to Seth Rollins or some sort of help. The problem is that Lesnar is good enough to beat Orton without help, so a face Orton could lose cleanly unless WWE wants to build him up.
While all of this seems great, it may not happen at all.
This past Monday on WWE RAW , Orton appeared to get injured when Dean Ambrose jumped off the announce table onto everyone. While Orton did not appear to be unable to finish the performance, he was looking a bit off to some.
The story gets a little merit as it was said that Orton told a WWE doctor…
“The ruptured disc in my back is f—ed.”
This would be the first time anyone has heard of Orton being hurt. The interesting part of this is that if Orton had a disc issue, he has not shown any signs of a problem in any performances. It could be that ones such as this past week could bring out more pain for him. It is uncertain which disc is ruptured…but the most common areas are the lower back and neck. We can imagine that if he is wrestling still, WWE does not see the injury as a hindrance to his work
WWE is known for making top talent continue to perform despite injury, due to need. When top guys in wait such as Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan go down, WWE has to use their current flock of top names to help them. That means if Orton is hurt, it doesn’t matter, he’s wrestling. A ruptured disc can require surgery, but most doctors try to avoid doing it as much as possible.
Usually in order to avoid it, they will advise strengthening the muscles around the injury to avoid more pain. They also would give medication, such as inflammatory medications. Your standard Aleve pain medication could help this. The problem is that Orton would have to abide by WWE Wellness Policy rules.
The give and take of WWE with their Wellness Policy and the company itself is idiotic. They do not want people to abuse drugs. However, who would not be in intense pain with a ruptured disc? Then you go out and continue to fall on such a disc a number of nights a week. You’re then suddenly expected to not abuse the drugs a doctor has given you. It is completely stupid on WWE’s end. Most would imagine WWE would give Orton time off to avoid any major issues, however they need him so they will pretty much tell him to stay. They’ll “ask” in a sense, but it will pretty much be a demand.
Despite the issue, we will probably not see any less of Orton on TV. He may not wrestle every RAW show, but he will be on the shows and PPVs until WWE feels he cannot compete or Orton simply cannot do so.
If Orton is truly hurt, he is not letting on about it in the ring. There has been rumors of him getting a less intense WWE schedule and even having more time off. That could be a case on WWE’s part by having him work less dates but still manage to work TV and PPVs, where they truly need him around. Orton has declined that his deal with WWE allows such and he has worked many live events, but going off of the fact that he could be working hurt….we can imagine that it would be smart on WWE’s end to take him off of non-televised events as much as possible.
[IMG Credits: voicesofwrestling.com, wwe.com]