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This past Monday on RAW we finally got to see Christian in one more match, although it wasn't exactly what many people were hoping for. Instead of a triumphant return to the ring like his best friend Edge, Christian was talked into an unsanctioned fight against Randy Orton. He was subsequently on the receiving end of a low blow from Ric Flair and a punt from Orton himself before he was taken out on a stretcher.
Right now, the big question after the main event this past Monday is what's next - for both Randy Orton and Christian. Is this leading to the true in-ring return of the former World Champion or was this simply done to bring more eyes to the USA Network this week?
Will we see more of Christian?
In the latest Dropkick Discussion Podcast, Tom Colohue made things pretty clear:
"Christian is not cleared to return to wrestling. Cannot stress that enough."
Now when I reached out to Tom for more information he did note that Christian may be cleared one day in the future, but as of this writing, he is not.
Captain Charisma wasn't the only legend we saw on RAW this week. We saw the return of the aforementioned Nature Boy, and The Big Show randomly showed up to help the Viking Profits clear out the ninjas. Colohue says bringing in established stars is just one of Vince McMahon's ways of getting the ratings back up.
"Also another one of Vince's go-to's is leaking information. The Christian information was leaked early in the day and almost everybody had it. In the hours preceding RAW, almost every wrestling journalist was talking about Christian... and they weren't being subtle about it. At all. I'm confident that information was meant to get out, to get the ratings going. And by the look of it, it did pay off."
The RAW ratings did increase this week to 1.94 million viewers, up from 1.737 million the week prior.
So where does Randy Orton go from here?
Randy Orton is arguably doing some of the best work he's ever done throughout his entire tenure with WWE. So with Edge suffering a torn triceps muscle and his altercation with Christian appearing to be a one-off, where does Orton go from here?
Tom Colohue says The Viper may find himself in the WWE Title picture once again.
"McIntyre has suggested in interviews that he wants to be taking on Randy Orton for SummerSlam. That's certainly possible. Although Brock Lesnar is of course an option (for McIntyre).
There have also been rumors of a major WWE Superstar wanting to work on NXT. Colohue notes this is true of a lot of people on both RAW and SmackDown, whether they are looking at a brief stint or brand change altogether. The Viper interestingly enough has recently been critical about the style of wrestling on Wednesday nights and has traded jabs with Tommaso Ciampa on Twitter.
So what is next for the Apex Predator? Well, only time will tell.
