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Ric Flair's consistent presence on Monday Night RAW over the past few weeks has surprised many fans as it just doesn't seem advisable to have the 71-year-old Legend at the tapings during the ongoing pandemic. Randy Orton was also absent on the most recent episode of RAW while Flair was in attendance to be the mouthpiece of the Viper.
However, why has Ric Flair transitioned to becoming Randy Orton on-screen manager?
On the latest edition of the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast, Tom Colohue and Korey Gunz discussed the reasoning behind WWE's decision to pair have Orton and Flair together on its programming
Why has WWE paired up Randy Orton and Ric Flair?
Tom speculated that the most obvious idea could be to book Randy Orton to close out the Legend Killer angle by punting one of the biggest legends in the business in Ric Flair. Tom noted that while it is possible, he isn't a big fan of it happening.
Tom then revealed that Randy Orton is on a limited-date contract with the WWE, which means that the former World Champion isn't contractually obligated to appear throughout the year. There would be times when Orton just isn't scheduled to be on TV. During such times, WWE would need someone to continue an angle—in the current scenario, having Ric Flair as Orton's short-term manager could be WWE's way of tackling Orton's contract situation.
It's interesting to note that Orton has just wrestled two matches in the past few months, and that's a big enough hint of the protected nature of his deal.
Tom explained the following in the Dropkick DiSKussions podcast which also focussed on the Swamp fight, Brock Lesnar's return match, COVID-19 updates and much more:
The most obvious suggestion from where I'm sitting would be that the WWE has brought back the Legend Killer, and want to close the angle out by punting one of the biggest legends in the history in the face. Certainly possible, wouldn't like to see it myself.
More importantly, though, Orton has a limited date contract, so there are times when he just isn't available for use, he only works a set number of dates, and while the lack of live events at the moment is freeing him up a little bit, they are being very picky, particularly as regards to the number of matches that Orton wrestles is very low. Since WrestleMania, he's in fact, only wrestled the WrestleMania match and The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever. There would be times when Orton isn't there, and that means that they need someone to be a mouthpiece in those moments.
Randy Orton is expected to take on Big Show at Extreme Rules and the reason behind WWE booking the match was also revealed earlier, in case you want to check that out.
