It turns out that Triple H was smart in announcing Randy Orton’s return to WWE before Survivor Series WarGames
On Monday’s episode of WWE Raw, Cody Rhodes revealed Randy Orton as the fifth member of his team for the men’s WarGames match against Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre at Survivor Series on November 25.
WWE fans are incredibly excited to see Orton back in action for the first time since he went down with a ‘severe’ back injury in May 2022. However, many have been left to question Triple H’s move to spoil his comeback, rather than keeping it as a surprise.
In explaining the reason for Triple H’s call, a new report has revealed that WWE’s Chief Content Officer made the decision because of one CM Punk…
Randy Orton will return at Survivor Series
After Drew McIntyre delivered a Claymore to Jey Uso a couple of weeks ago on Raw, it was clear that Judgment Day had a fifth member for their match at Survivor Series WarGames. However, Cody’s team was still one man short to call it even.
This week’s episode of the Red brand had Rhodes, Seth Rollins, and Sami Zayn scrolling through their contacts to find their fifth member for WarGames. While Jey battled Drew in an advantage match for the double-caged unforgiving match, Cody found his partner in an old friend.
Drew defeated Jey clean to get the advantage at WarGames. However, the tables turned when Rhodes & co. came out to announce their partner Randy Orton.
Orton was one of the front-runners for the spot, with John Cena also being considered, but many fans speculated Triple H may use the ‘mystery man’ role as an opportunity to bring back CM Punk, but that seemingly won’t be happening.
It’s strange for WWE to opt to not have Orton’s return be a surprise, considering how serious his injury was, so much so that people within WWE feared he may have to retire.
However, Fightful is reporting that Orton’s name being revealed was always the plan for Triple H. ‘The Game’ didn’t want the WWE Universe to presume that CM Punk would return as the fifth member of Team Rhodes, so to prevent fans from being angry when the former World Heavyweight Champion didn’t show up, HHH opted to reveal who the mystery man was.
Judgement Day could implode at WarGames
The likely main event of Survivor Series 2023, the Men’s WarGames match, seems to be very intriguing. With Judgment Day and Drew on one side having the advantage, and Rhodes, Rollins, Zayn, Jey, and a returning Orton on the other side, fans can expect to see a thrilling match on Saturday evening.
With Judgment Day having mild tensions among themselves, Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and Dominik Mysterio along with Drew losing their cool on the team captain, Damian Priest, and attacking him wouldn’t be too surprising.
Seth has promised to keep cool and stand alongside Cody for one night at WarGames. However, with the history between both men, Rollins and Rhodes having a couple of misunderstandings and beginning a rivalry after the PLE could be an avenue that Triple H looks to explore.
However, one man that nobody can trust at WarGames would be Orton. Given Jey was involved in keeping Randy off TV for more than 18 months, the tag team specialist’s reaction to Randy’s return announcement planted the seeds for an eventual feud.