Randy Orton to return on WWE RAW after 452 days and attack long-time rival? Analyzing the possibility

Randy Orton has been gone from WWE for a long time, but speculation about his return has also been rampant in recent weeks. With reports that the star is recovering, there's always the possibility that he returns sooner rather than later. When he does, there's a chance that he may attack former rival Drew McIntyre, and the reason is for what happened tonight on WWE RAW.

Orton's return has long been the subject of discussion among fans. Recently, Kurt Angle provided a hopeful update about his return, saying that he was doing good and recovered from back surgery.

“Doing good man [regarding Orton]. He recovered from his back surgery. He’s, I think he’s gonna come back pretty damn soon. He’s doing much better, yes.”

Since Orton has been gone due to his injury, there has been one casualty in WWE, and that's Matt Riddle. No longer really pushed as a top star, his run has been less than impressive since RK-Bro could no longer be a thing.

However, in recent weeks he has teased teaming up with Drew McIntyre. The two teamed up this week, and it appeared that talk of a tag team between the two was certainly not out of the question.

When Randy Orton returns, though, he may not take kindly to this. RK-Bro never officially broke up, and as a result, the star could expect that when he returned, Riddle and he would continue from where they left off. If Drew was partnering with Riddle at the time, Orton would be less than happy. Also, given the two had a rivalry in the recent past, there could be some animosity.

Thus, when Randy Orton returns, he could end up attacking Drew McIntyre in a feud that would be about his grudge for losing Riddle as a partner. It has been 452 days since The Viper's last match, which was on the May 20, 2022, episode of SmackDown.

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Bully Ray feels that Matt Riddle has not done well since Randy Orton was injured

The WWE Hall of Famer was vocal about what he felt was a bad run for Riddle since Orton had to take time away from WWE. He also credited Orton for the success of the team.

"I don't believe Riddle has found the past level of entertainment or the past glory he shared with Randy Orton. And I think we're seeing how important Randy was to that pairing. Everybody thought it was Riddle. It was Randy. Riddle's entertaining, don't get me wrong, but he was a lot more entertaining when he was with Randy. And I think they're trying to plug him in with Drew and pull off the same things."

It remains to be seen where this story goes and whether The Viper will return to action soon.