WrestleMania season just took a major hit. On Friday night’s WWE SmackDown, Kevin Owens delivered a heartbreaking update: he’s undergoing neck surgery and will be sidelined indefinitely — including missing out on a highly anticipated showdown with Randy Orton at WrestleMania 41.
SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis opened the segment, setting a somber tone and reminding fans why WWE always warns against trying this at home. Aldis then brought Owens to the ring so the former Universal Champion could break the news himself.
Owens revealed that he’s been quietly battling a neck injury for the past four months but only recently discovered the full extent of the damage. The diagnosis? Surgery is required — and the timing couldn’t be worse. Owens admitted that missing WrestleMania stings, especially since he was set to face a legend like Randy Orton on the grandest stage of them all.
In an emotional moment, Owens thanked WWE for letting him speak directly to the fans, unsure of when he’ll be able to perform in front of them again. He expressed his gratitude and apologized, visibly emotional as he walked away.
But the moment didn’t end there.
As Owens made his exit, Orton’s music hit. The Viper walked to the ring and locked eyes with Owens on the apron. No words were exchanged — just a silent, mutual moment of respect. With Owens gone, Aldis told Orton the reality of the situation: with Owens out, Orton has no WrestleMania opponent.
Orton’s answer? A thunderous RKO to the General Manager.
While Owens begins his road to recovery, the question now looms large: what’s next for Randy Orton heading into WrestleMania 41? And more importantly, when — or if — we’ll see KO back in the ring.
Stay with Wrestling News Blog for updates on Owens’ recovery.
Pwinsider is reporting that according to multiple WWE sources, the situation is serious, with Owens likely needing surgery — potentially spinal fusion.
Men’s Elimination Chamber: John Cena def. CM Punk, Drew McIntyre, Logan Paul, Damian Priest, and Seth Rollins
Cody Rhodes refuses to sell his soul to the Rock… but John Cena is more than happy to.
WWE’s Road to WrestleMania took a jaw-dropping turn at Elimination Chamber 2025, delivering brutal showdowns, a monstrous return, and one of the most shocking betrayals in recent memory. With two Chamber matches determining title challengers for The Grandest Stage of Them All, the night was already destined for fireworks—but nobody could’ve predicted the chaos that unfolded.
The Women’s Elimination Chamber match kicked off the night with six superstars vying for a chance to challenge for the WWE Women’s World Championship at WrestleMania. However, the match took a shocking turn before it could even get going.
Just as Liv Morgan and Naomi were set to start the match, Jade Cargill made her stunning return—and wasted no time making an impact. Instead of going after Morgan, Cargill viciously attacked Naomi, slamming her into the Lexan pod wall and leaving her unable to continue. As a result, Naomi was eliminated by forfeit before the action truly began.
From there, chaos reigned. Bianca Belair, furious over the attack on Naomi, tried to regain her focus while battling Liv Morgan, Roxanne Perez, Bayley, and Alexa Bliss. In a brutal series of eliminations, Bayley was taken out by Morgan, Perez fell to Bliss, and Morgan capitalized on an opening to eliminate Bliss.
The final two came down to Belair and Morgan, and despite Liv’s relentless offense, the EST of WWE proved why she’s one of the most dominant forces in the division. Belair planted Morgan with the KOD for the win, securing her spot at WrestleMania.
But the night wasn’t over for Belair. As she celebrated, WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley and IYO SKY emerged on the stage, staring down the new No. 1 contender in an intense moment that signaled the battle ahead.
Tiffany Stratton & Trish Stratus Score a Huge Win Over Nia Jax & Candice LeRae
The unexpected pairing of Tiffany Stratton and Trish Stratus proved to be a force to be reckoned with as they took on Nia Jax and Candice LeRae in tag team action.
Jax dominated early, but Stratton and Stratus worked seamlessly together to wear down their opponents. After an intense back-and-forth, Stratton sealed the victory by hitting the Prettiest Moonsault Ever on Nia Jax for the pin. With this win, Stratton continues to prove she belongs among WWE’s elite.
Kevin Owens Survives a War with Sami Zayn, Only to Face the Viper’s Wrath
In what was nothing short of an all-out war, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tore each other apart in an Unsanctioned Match that saw steel chairs, tables, and even barbed wire come into play.
Owens ultimately secured the win after a brutal apron powerbomb, but the violence didn’t stop there. KO continued his assault on Zayn post-match, ripping the protective mats off the floor—only to be interrupted by Randy Orton!
The Viper stormed the ring and dropped Owens with an RKO, teasing an even more vicious attack. As Orton geared up for his infamous Punt Kick, a swarm of WWE officials and security rushed in to prevent him from delivering the final blow. A frustrated Orton took out several security guards with RKOs before finally leaving the ring, setting the stage for what could be a heated rivalry in the weeks to come.
John Cena Outlasts the Men’s Elimination Chamber, But His Night Was Far From Over
The Men’s Elimination Chamber match featured some of WWE’s biggest names battling for a chance to challenge for the WWE Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania.
The match started with Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins, but as the chambers opened, Damian Priest, Logan Paul, John Cena, and finally CM Punk entered the fray.
Eliminations came fast and furious, with McIntyre and Priest both taken out early, followed by Logan Paul falling to Punk’s Go to Sleep. After an intense exchange, Rollins was eliminated by Punk, leaving Cena and Punk as the final two.
In a shocking turn of events, Cena locked Punk in the STF, forcing a referee stoppage to become the No. 1 contender. But his night wasn’t over yet.
As Cena celebrated, Cody Rhodes made his entrance, setting up a dramatic face-off for the WrestleMania main event. However, what happened next stunned the entire WWE Universe.
John Cena Shocks the World, Aligns with The Rock in Brutal Betrayal of Cody Rhodes
Just as it seemed like WrestleMania’s main event was set in stone, The Rock made his way to the ring, offering Cody Rhodes a chilling ultimatum—either embrace him as his champion, or watch his dreams die again.
Rhodes, showing his signature defiance, responded with a full-throated rejection, telling The Rock to go f* himself.** The crowd erupted, but what followed was pure chaos.
Cena—who had just earned his shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship—blindsided Rhodes with a vicious low blow. The 16-time world champion then went on a rampage, repeatedly assaulting Cody with his own wristwatch, a microphone, and finally, the championship title itself.
With The Rock watching on with a sinister smile, Cena wrapped Cody’s tie around his throat and choked him, bringing back haunting memories of his past brutality.
To add insult to injury, Travis Scott, the WWE Hardcore Champion, got in on the assault, landing stiff shots on Cody. The Rock then took Rhodes’ weight belt—engraved with the date of Dusty Rhodes’ passing—and whipped Cody mercilessly.
As Cena, Rock, and Scott stood tall on the ramp, the camera lingered on Cody—a bloody, broken mess in the ring, staring up at the championship that had just been stolen from him.
The message was clear: John Cena is no longer the hero WWE fans once knew. With WrestleMania 41 on the horizon, the biggest question now is—how will Cody Rhodes respond to this unthinkable betrayal?
Final Thoughts: The Road to WrestleMania Just Got Personal
With Elimination Chamber 2025 in the books, the Road to WrestleMania has taken a dramatic, violent turn. Bianca Belair and John Cena have secured their title shots, but the bigger story is the Cena-Rock alliance and their merciless assault on Cody Rhodes.
With WrestleMania 41 fast approaching, WWE’s top stars are locking in their spots for the grandest stage of them all. Now, a new report suggests that Randy Orton could soon be back in the mix, just in time for the event in Las Vegas, Nevada.
According to PWInsider Elite, Orton is expected to return to WWE by March, potentially making his in-ring comeback during WWE’s Road to WrestleMania tour in Europe. This timeline would put “The Viper” on track to compete at WrestleMania itself, marking his 19th appearance at WWE’s biggest event.
Orton’s Road to Recovery and a Potential Owens Feud
Orton has been out of action since November 2024 after WWE says he suffered a cervical cord neurapraxia following a brutal piledriver from Kevin Owens. The injury put a sudden halt to Orton’s momentum, but with WWE officials reportedly expecting his return soon, the speculation has already begun about what his WrestleMania match could look like.
One likely scenario? A showdown with Owens. The two superstars initially teamed up heading into WrestleMania 40, joining forces with Cody Rhodes to battle The Bloodline. However, after Owens turned on Rhodes at Bash in Berlin, he also betrayed Orton, setting the stage for a heated rivalry. With Owens already set to face Sami Zayn in an unsanctioned match at Elimination Chamber this weekend, Orton could make his return soon after to reignite their unfinished business.
Orton’s WrestleMania Legacy Continues
If Orton does compete at WrestleMania 41, it will further solidify his status as one of WWE’s most consistent performers on the grandest stage. With 18 previous WrestleMania matches, he trails only Triple H (23 WrestleMania appearances) and The Undertaker (27 WrestleMania appearances) in all-time history.
Despite missing WrestleMania 32 (2016) and WrestleMania 39 (2023), Orton has been a fixture at the event ever since his first appearance at WrestleMania 20 in 2004. Whether he faces Owens or another top WWE star, his return would add another major name to an already stacked WrestleMania 41 card.
With March right around the corner, Orton’s return could be imminent—will he get revenge on Owens, or does WWE have another plan in store for “The Viper”? Stay tuned as the Road to WrestleMania heats up!
Fightful Select is reporting that after being out of action from WWE for a year and a half before returning to WWE at Survivor Series last weekend, he might end up sticking around for longer than originally expected.
Orton was teasing free agency for the first time in 2019, before ultimately putting pen-to-paper on a new five-year WWE contract at a time when the company was mass-signing several talents to long-term deals. One particular WWE source noted he would be surprised if the company didn’t extend Orton’s current deal.
The original WWE contract for Orton was scheduled to last until the Fall of 2024, which would put him around one-year remaining. After missing nearly 18 months, there is a strong possibility that WWE could add “injury time” to the deal, which would keep him locked up by the company until 2026. Having said that, it is not a guarantee that this is how things will play out.
There have been similar situations in the past where talents were injured but didn’t have time added to their existing contracts because they worked in other roles, or in some other capacity that involved company-related projects or efforts. It is believed that the situation with Orton right now is not like those, however, and that it is ultimately up to the company as to whether or not they go the former route or the latter.
The WarGames team of Drew McIntyre and The Judgment Day may have the advantage to start out the match at Survivor Series, but the team is also going to up against a viper.
McIntyre took on Jey Uso in a WarGames Advantage Match on “WWE Raw,” and won clean with a Future Shock DDT. With the win, The Judgment Day’s team will have the numbers advantage at the beginning of the match on Saturday. After the match and subsequent beat down, however, the opposing team ran down to the ring to help out their teammate. After they cleared the ring, Cody Rhodes got on the mic and announced that a friend with whom he has a “legacy” with would be joining their team. Rhodes said their final teammate is an “apex predator,” and while he didn’t outright say it would be Randy Orton will be backing them up on Saturday, he did hear the crowd’s “Randy” chants and add, “They’re right.”
Orton has been out of action for well over a year with a lower back injury that required surgery. Sidelined since May with an injury that had doctors telling him he would never wrestle again, Orton will make his return at the premium live event, which will emanate from the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.
It’s been almost 17 months since fans saw Randy Orton in a WWE ring, but if the latest murmurs are true, “The Viper’s” extended absence is coming to an end. Fightful Select is reporting that Orton and WWE are circling Survivor Series, which takes place November 25 in Chicago, as the date for the former WWE Champion’s return. Fightful previously reported that Orton was seen at the WWE Performance Center in September.
Orton last wrestled on the episode of “WWE SmackDown” that took place on May 20, 2022. That was the night “SmackDown” Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso defeated Orton and Matt Riddle for the “Raw” Tag Team Championship, resulting in the titles being unified (still the case as of this writing). Orton and Riddle were beaten down by The Bloodline after the match, which served to write Orton off television. If November 25 is truly his return date, “The Apex Predator” will be back exactly one year after it was reported that he had undergone back fusion surgery.
It’s difficult to overstate how much WWE has changed in the time Orton has been gone, a period that has included Vince McMahon’s retirement, Vince McMahon’s return, and the merger of WWE and UFC into TKO Group Holdings under the broader umbrella of Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor. As a result, it’s unclear what role a returned Orton would play in the current landscape — even Riddle, his tag team partner for more than a year before his injury, was recently released from the company. But it’s worth noting that creative plans for Orton before he was put on the shelf reportedly involved an Undisputed WWE Universal Champion match with Roman Reigns at SummerSlam 2022, and Reigns’ title reign is, ironically, one of the few things that hasn’t changed in Orton’s absence.
Randy Orton has been spotted at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, FL in recent weeks.
According to a report from Pwinsider, numerous people training at the Performance Center have seen Orton at the facility over the past few weeks. The Viper has been spotted in the building and is often seen working out in the gym at the facility.
It’s worth noting that as of August, Orton had not been cleared for a return.
Finally, it was added that WWE has a very strict rule that talent who are returning have to work out in some capacity. As of this writing, there is no word on when Randy Orton will be making his return to WWE television. Of course, it’s obviously a good sign to see that he’s back at the Performance Center and beginning to work out again.
Randy Orton has been out of action for over a year now, but there’s been more buzz recently regarding his return.
Within the last week, WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle mentioned on his podcast that Orton has recovered from the lower back fusion surgery he had in November and he believes “The Viper” will be back in action soon now that he’s feeling better and has been more active on social media.
To add to that, WRKD Wrestling tweeted that Orton is nearing his return and listed Saturday’s Money in the Bank premium live event as a possibility for his first appearance. It should be noted that there’s been no other indication that this is for certain.
For what it’s worth, Dave Meltzer reported in April that Orton was “nowhere close” to stepping back in the ring despite reports of him contacting his boot maker to have new boots ready. The multi-time world champion was also said to be at WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles, although that has not been confirmed either.
Orton’s last match took place on the May 20, 2022, episode of “WWE SmackDown” where he and Matt Riddle lost the “Raw” Tag Team Championship to The Usos in a unification match. The tag team titles have remained unified ever since, while Riddle transitioned over to singles competition. “The Original Bro” had his own hiatus that lasted a number of months, but he is now set to challenge GUNTHER for the Intercontinental Championship in London.
It’s been a while since Randy Orton was last seen in a WWE ring, but his injury troubles might be more serious than originally presumed. In an interview with WrestleBinge with Sportskeeda, his father, Bob Orton Jr., revealed that medical professionals may have encouraged “The Viper” to retire from the squared circle, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Orton plans on listening to them.
“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 wants to do.”
Orton has been sidelined with a back injury since November of last year. It’s been reported that he underwent surgery to fuse his lower back, but the procedure in question means that he’ll be out for a long period of time. A recent health update revealed that Orton is nowhere close to returning to WWE, though his father’s revelation has created doubts on if he’ll ever step into the squared circle again.
That being said, Orton Jr. said that his son’s determination to return reflects the mindset of many wrestlers who find it difficult to call it quits before they feel their time is up. “Wrestling, you know when you get in there and you got some people going crazy, you just love it. So it’s hard to leave,” he said.
However, while his son’s in-ring career appears to be in the balance for now, Orton’s old man said that he has a good family life. “He’s got two beautiful daughters and his wife’s a lovely lady.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to Sportskeeda WrestleBinge
It was reported last week that Randy Orton was in Los Angeles, CA for WrestleMania Weekend festivities. This sparked rumors of Orton possibly making his return at WrestleMania 39, or on RAW after WrestleMania. However, The Viper never appeared at either event.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter is reporting that Orton’s back injury is not healed to the point that he can be medically cleared for an in-ring return. WWE sent out the information to dismiss any speculation about Orton making a surprise appearance.
Orton last competed on the May 20, 2022 episode of WWE SmackDown.
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