What’s the story?
Randy Orton pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career by winning the 2017 Royal Rumble match after eliminating the 30th entrant, Roman Reigns. The betting odds had clearly favoured Orton going into the marquee main event and whoever put their money on The Viper would have surely enjoyed the good dividends.
The rumoured reason behind the unexpected victory seems to be Vince McMahon being high on Orton’s work as of late. As reported by GiveMeSport in September 2016, the boss was reportedly quite happy with how Orton took the bloody beating at the hands of Brock Lesnar. McMahon has been happy with how he didn’t complain about jobbing to the Beast Incarnate and has been a company man in all the subsequent angles.
This could be WWE’s way of rewarding Orton for his efforts. Reports have also pointed out that Orton could face Bray Wyatt for the title at WrestleMania 33. Bray Wyatt could win the championship at Elimination Chamber from John Cena, setting up the match that has been on the drawing board for a long time.
In case you didn’t know...
Randy Orton won his second Royal Rumble a few hours ago when he eliminated the universally hated Roman Reigns. He reversed a spear into an RKO and wasted no time in throwing the former Sheild member out of the ring.
This was after Goldberg got the better of Brock Lesnar again, The Undertaker eliminated Goldberg and Reigns sent the Deadman out, essentially kicking off a chorus of boos at the Alamodome. The fans were naturally left disappointed with the fact that Reigns entered at #30 apart from the lack of big name surprise entrants.
Nevertheless, Orton’s win was refreshing and surprising despite the spoilers.
The heart of the matter
Randy Orton took one of the most brutal beatdowns of his career at the hands of Brock Lesnar back at SummerSlam. The Beast busted open Orton to such an extent that a concerned Jericho came out to Gorilla position to enquire about Orton’s well-being.
For a man of his calibre, Orton didn’t complain about the prospect of lying in a pool of his own blood. Vince McMahon was quite impressed with this and the Rumble win could be seen as an obvious reward for his patience and perseverance.
What’s next?
Orton will go on to face the Champion in the main event of WrestleMania 33, and if John Cena still manages to hold on to the title after Elimination Chamber, then the tried and tested Orton-Cena feud could come back to the fore.
Orton could even challenge RAW Champion Kevin Owens, but that seems highly unlikely. The angle with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper is another interesting sub-plot that the WWE would explore on the road to WrestleMania.
Sportskeeda’a take
We can't argue with the fact that Randy Orton does deserve to be in the main event title picture. At the same time, we also feel that there are many other stars, up and comers especially, who could have benefitted much more from a monumental Rumble victory.
Nevertheless, Orton is all set to main event WrestleMania now and all we can hope for is for WWE to avoid Cena vs. Orton again and give the fans something fresh.
