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WWE star and Alpha Academy member Chad Gable recently spoke about one of his matches with Randy Orton.
The Alpha Academy was in a long program with RK-Bro back in early 2022. Riddle & Randy were the RAW Tag Team Champions, while Gable & Otis were looking to win the gold. The duo managed to win the titles on the January 10, 2022, episode of RAW but dropped it back to RK-Bro on the March 7 edition.
This week on After the Bell, Gable spoke about learning from greats like Randy Orton. He recalled the Spelling Bee segment where The Viper challenged him. He claimed that although it was a silly angle, Orton was always in character and made it work. The Olympian claimed that it was a learning moment for him.
"Everybody puts Randy over. I've done it before, I know, he's the greatest of all time. But man, playing off of him in the ring. There was one moment specifically, I remember. It was after the spelling bee when they got the best of us. I spelled a word wrong and Randy challenged me to a match. I looked in his eyes and he was so in the moment, like in character but in the moment. He was screaming at me like he's challenging Chad Gable. The veins in his neck and his eyes were bloodshot from screaming at me. There was sweat dripping down. It was so surreal. He looked so pumped to go into this match. He was so invested in this storyline." [16:58 - 17:45]
Randy Orton has been out for over a year
The WWE Universe has not seen Randy Orton compete in the squared circle since May 2022. The Viper was last seen on an episode of SmackDown taking on the Usos in a Tag Team Championships Unification Match.
Jimmy and Jey defeated Riddle and Orton to become the Undisputed Tag Team Champions. After the match, the twins attacked Randy and laid him out. This was done to write the veteran off TV since he needed time off to take care of his back issues.
Since then, there have been rumors here and there about a possible return, but there are still no concrete reports. With SummerSlam just weeks away, The Viper could make a surprise appearance at WWE's Biggest Event of the Summer.
Would you like to see Randy Orton back in WWE? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you use the quotes from this article, please credit After the Bell and add a H/T to Sportskeeda for the transcript.
