By this weekend, it will be one full year since Randy Orton last took part in a WWE match. While there have been reports since that time that gave fans hope he’d be back in the fold in 2023, a recent interview given by his father, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, made it sound like his back issues may prevent him from resuming his in-ring career at all.
While speaking to Bill Apter of Sportskeeda Wrestling, the elder Orton said his son has been training for a return but may be weighing advice to retire.
He’s training, so we’ll see what happens. I don’t know if he feels like going back or he feels like he’s ready to go back. I think he might. Then again, he’s pretty well taken care of, I don’t think he needs to and I think the doctors have told him not to. But Randy will do what Randy is gonna do.
Fans last saw Randy Orton as part of RK-Bro with Matt Riddle. The duo won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship twice, including in March of last year.
That led to a program with The Usos that culminated on the May 20, 2022 episode of SmackDown, when Randy Orton and Riddle lost their titles to Jey and Jimmy, making the Usos the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. Reports quickly circulated that he would need back surgery that was expected to keep him out for the remainder of 2022, and sure enough, Randy Orton hasn’t appeared on TV since.
Certainly, it’s unlikely that WWE will have a no doubt Hall of Famer like the Viper ride off into the sunset without getting a chance to say goodbye. But Bob Orton’s comments have at least raised the possibility that next time his son makes an appearance, it could be to make a retirement speech.