On this week’s episode of Monday Night RAW, Randy Orton competed in a singles contest against Riddle. Despite the dominance shown throughout the match, he was ultimately defeated by the former United States Champion in one of the most shocking losses of his career. But that’s not the only bad news for him coming out of the show.
Randy Orton went for the RKO following his pendant ring-draped DDT off the second ropes but Riddle converted it into a crucifix pin to earn one of the most notable wins of his career. Before the finish, there was another spot where Orton blocked an exploder and fought back in a way to save his shoulder. There’s an injury update regarding this matter.
According to the reports of Wrestling Observer, Randy Orton was dealing with a hurt shoulder during the match and hence wanted to protect it by any means possible,
“I don’t know the extent of what happened, but Randy Orton hurt his shoulder. He was fighting out of the corner and Riddle went to give him an exploder.
Randy didn’t take an exploder. He blocked it and he pulled back and did this very dramatic punch and he punched him and then from that point forward he could no longer use his right arm.
He was throwing forearms with his left arm, it looked horrible. It was like that one day when he punched the mat and his shoulder went out.”
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Randy Orton could head into a time-off
It was earlier reported that Randy Orton was scheduled to take a time off from WWE after getting done with his feud with The Fiend Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 37 Night Two. Although he has been appearing since after the Show of Shows, it appears that the hiatus could begin, sooner due to the shoulder injury. No official update regarding the 14-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion has been provided.
Over the weekend, WWE announced that Braun Strowman would face Randy Orton in a singles competition this week on RAW but that match was eventually pulled off without any explanation. This was supposed to be a first-ever singles contest between the two of them as they’ve never met in a one-on-one capacity.
Wrestling Observer Newsletter later reported that Vince McMahon had made numerous changes on the match card of Raw before the show,
“This all could change because Vince McMahon showed up and made a number of changes in the show,” wrote Dave Meltzer.
According to another report from PW Insider, Randy Orton vs Braun Strowman was canceled by the time the production meeting for RAW, and Randy Orton vs Braun Strowman match had been removed by Vince McMahon, himself. No reason was specified for the sudden change.