5 possible matches for Randy Orton at WrestleMania 34 

This time last year, Randy Orton was riding high. He had just won the Royal Rumble match and was set to challenge the WWE Champion at WrestleMania (at the time, John Cena, later to become Bray Wyatt). He was involved in one of SmackDown's main storylines- an ongoing feud with Bray Wyatt, which had just seen The Viper 'join' the Wyatt Family and everything was looking pretty good for the third generation superstar.

Fast forward 12 months and Randy is lost in no man's land. His WrestleMania match and subsequent title run were a dud, with Randy going on to have a string of laughably bad matches, including the infamous 'House of Horrors' match, and several title matches with Jinder Mahal.

The rest of 2017 was rather forgettable for Orton. He had a short-lived feud with Rusev over the summer, before finishing the year with a series of random tag matches with Shinsuke Nakamura, often against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.

Despite all this, Randy still remains one of the company's biggest stars and it seems unlikely that they would not want to put him on the card in New Orleans. With Fastlane, SmackDown's pre-WrestleMania pay-per-view, a matter of weeks away, the company is likely to put the wheels in motion for some sort of WrestleMania program for him very soon.

Let's take a look at who could face The Viper at this year's WrestleMania

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#5 Baron Corbin

A WrestleMania match with Orton could help the Lone Wolf get back on track

Like Orton, Baron Corbin's 2017 was a year of extremes. After winning the Money in the Bank Briefcase back in June, it looked as if Corbin was destined for great things on SmackDown Live. This all went wrong, though, when Corbin failed to cash in his briefcase on the SmackDown before SummerSlam, and the Lone Wolf has struggled to recover ever since.

Corbin was given a run with the US Title but that was brought to an abrupt and surprising end at Clash of Champions when he was dethroned by Dolph Ziggler. Corbin has not even been in the conversation for a US Title shot since then.

Corbin is in desperate need of a worthwhile feud at the moment, and he and Orton could prove to be the perfect match for each other at WrestleMania. Following his early exit from the Rumble, Corbin looks to have become a more aggressive character once again and his bullying of lower level mid-card wrestlers could prompt Randy Orton to come out and confront him, setting up a feud between the pair in the process.

#4 Shane McMahon

Could the Commissioner turn on on his ally?

Cast your minds way back to last summer and you'll remember that this was one of the earliest rumoured matches for WrestleMania 34.

Shane McMahon loves to inject himself into a top-level match at WrestleMania, and a high profile encounter with Randy Orton could be just the kind of bout Shane is looking for.

While Shane is embroiled in a feud with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn at the moment, this wouldn't take too much time to set up. Shane has effectively been using Randy as hired muscle in recent months and all Randy would have to do is demand something in return, only for Shane to refuse and force The Viper to retaliate.

Shane's abuse of power has already been well established, so seeing him use it against another superstar that isn't Kevin or Sami wouldn't be seen as too much of a jump for the WWE audience.

#3 Kevin Owens

Could Randy fight to defend Shane's honour at KOMania?

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been at the centre of one of SmackDown's most talked-about rivalries for the past several months, with the Canadian duo locked in a battle for supremacy with SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon.

Where this is all heading remains to be seen but if the most recent episode of SmackDown is anything to go by, it looks as though the company is trying to force Shane O'Mac and Daniel Bryan out of focus going forward.

If that is the case, then Shane calling in Randy to fight for him at WrestleMania wouldn't be too much of a leap. Randy has spent the last few months wrestling on behalf of Shane McMahon, so a match with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania would, at the very least, make more sense than some of the other options for this never-ending feud.

#2 Bobby Roode

A glorious US title match could be in the works for Orton

Randy Orton has achieved nearly everything there is to achieve. His Hall of Fame-worthy career has seen him win 13 World Championships, 2 Tag Team Championships, the Intercontinental Title, the Money in the Bank Briefcase and 2 Royal Rumbles. Finding something new for Randy to do is difficult, so it would make sense, as he approaches the latter stages of his WWE career, that he would chase the one belt he has never won in the company.

Plenty of superstars have dropped from the main event to the upper-mid-card to compete for the US title, with John Cena, Roman Reigns, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and AJ Styles all having US Title runs in the last two years. It can be a great way to give a main-event superstar something to do and it can also be a great way of pushing upper-mid-card talent towards the main event.

Bobby Roode is a future main eventer in the WWE and a big WrestleMania feud, and victory, over Randy Orton could be just what the Glorious One needs to give him that extra little nudge towards the top of the card.

#1 Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles

Is this too 'New Japan' for Vince's taste?

As much as it pains me to write this, this option shouldn't be ruled out. The WWE teased the idea of having a triple threat for the WWE title at last year's WrestleMania, with AJ Styles desperately trying to force his way into the title match between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt.

The WWE is not one to shy away from repeating previous storylines at this time of the year, and Randy could easily ask Shane to repay his loyalty and insert him into the WWE Title match at WrestleMania 34.

Of course, Randy would have to earn that shot and a match against Shinsuke Nakamura at Fastlane seems like exactly the kind of bout the pay-per-view is looking for.

There would be a huge fan backlash to this decision but does it really seem that implausible that Vince McMahon would want to put a 'WWE guy' in a match at WrestleMania against two superstars who made a name for themselves elsewhere.

Having a WWE Title match at WrestleMania between two 'non-WWE/New Japan' superstars does seem like a bold move from Vince McMahon, so don't rule out him getting cold feet at the last moment and putting Randy Orton in the bout as well.