Who should face Randy Orton at WWE WrestleMania 41? The question has been proposed since Kevin Owens pulled himself out of his scheduled bout against the Viper. For those unaware, Owens broke the news of his neck injury to the world on the April 4 episode of SmackDown before bowing out of the WrestleMania match against Orton.
KO would explain the nature of his injury during a recent interview, noting he might’ve jarred his neck during a match at the beginning of the year. “In the match, two things happened that really jarred my neck. That’s when the issues started. I knew there was something. We ended up doing an MRI this week and found out it’s serious. I think that match in January is what did it because I had an MRI a month before that and everything looked fine,” he said.
Owens further revealed he was shocked when the doctors told him he wouldn’t be able to compete against Randy Orton at WrestleMania, noting he almost stopped listening to them when they told him how bad the neck injury was.
“When the WWE doctor called me to tell me about it, I was so shocked because I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t expect it to be so wrong that I couldn’t do WrestleMania. I thought we’ll take care of it after WrestleMania. When he told me I couldn’t do it, I was so shocked that I stopped listening to him almost.”
WWE hasn’t announced Randy Orton’s WrestleMania opponent
Randy Orton’s WrestleMania opponent hasn’t been revealed at the time of this writing. Orton had been chasing after Owens for months. It’s a travesty that fans won’t be able to see the match at WrestleMania 41. Both men wanted the match. Owens was visibly emotional during the SmackDown promo. Here’s hoping he has a successful surgery and heals as quickly as possible.
That said, there was a major moment that happened after Owens had left the ring: Orton’s RKO out of nowhere on Nick Aldis, second RKO on the SmackDown GM to be exact. Aldis took a picture-perfect RKO almost two years ago. Orton paid the fine for putting his hands on authority. It seems the extra fifty grand was for the RKO we saw last week.
Ideally, the angle would serve as the genesis for Randy Orton versus Nick Aldis at WrestleMania 41. Casuals fans may see Aldis as an authority figure but he was a wrestler, and extremely good at his job, before Triple H booked him to run SmackDown. As a matter of fact, the former Magnus drove AJ Styles out of TNA a decade ago.
Kevin Owens’ injury could create a butterfly effect
Injuries can create a massive butterfly effect in WWE. We’ve seen that happen at 2022’s Day 1 event. Roman Reigns was originally supposed to defend his Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar at the PPV. Reigns caught COVID and Vince McMahon, instead, booked Lesnar in a fatal five-way match for the WWE Championship. The rest, as they say, is history.
Can Owens’ injury create a similar butterfly effect? It’s still too early to tell, especially with the fate of Randy Orton’s WrestleMania match in the air. Triple H can’t just deny Orton his WrestleMania opponent. On the contrary, WWE’s Chief Content Officer may already have planted the seeds for Randy Orton vs. Nick Aldis for WrestleMania 41 with last week’s angle.
Aldis has previously talked about his aspiration for wrestling in a WWE ring. He told Chris Van Vliet four months ago that he has two contracts with the company: one for the producer and a talent contract for the GM role. He also expressed his desire to get back in the ring.
“…I would like to lace ‘em up; don’t care if it’s on a regular basis but, I’ve earned it, once. I don’t know (if that means more than once). If it was one more time, so be it. Like I said, I feel like I meet the criteria to be on that canvas at least once… (My bicep is) 100 percent,” said Aldis.
Randy Orton vs. Nick Aldis needs to happen at WWE WrestleMania 41
Nick Aldis may just be the perfect replacement for Kevin Owens against Randy Orton at WrestleMania. This writer can give you two reasons why the match needs to happen on the Showcase of the Immortals. Number one, RKO’s out of nowhere. And Number two, Aldis’ own background as an accomplished wrestler. He’s won titles around the world, including the NWA and Japan.
WrestleMania 41 is the best stage for Nick Aldis to make his WWE in-ring debut. Plus, there’s no better opponent for Aldis to go up against than (arguably) one of pro wrestling’s all-time greats. As for Orton, he gets to relive his iconic feud with the authority (in Aldis) that made him WWE’s Apex Predator in the first place. It’s a win-win for both men and the fans. All eyes will be on SmackDown this week.
WWE could always go with a surprise and have Orton face a returning Rusev or Malakai Black. There’s also the option of giving him a squash segment against Austin Theory or Grayson Waller, who have been on the receiving end of some recent celebrity attacks. This would surely pop the crowd, but there’s no story other than ‘RKO Outta Nowhere.’ At least with Aldis, there’s some history here, and the situation lends itself to a good story.
WrestleZone will have full coverage of 4/11 WWE SmackDown as it airs.
