Randy Orton will make his in-ring return after months on the sidelines at this Saturday’s WWE Survivor Series premium live event by working the likely main event.
In the Men’s WarGames Match, Orton will team Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Jey Uso, and Cody Rhodes against The Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio), Drew McIntyre, and JD McDonagh.
The former WWE Champion has been out since last May due to a back injury, which caused him and Matt Riddle to lose the RAW Tag Team Titles to The Usos before taking a break. This put an end to WWE’s plans for an Orton-Riddle feud, as Orton would later require back fusion surgery. Riddle came out a few months ago.
Orton’s return was announced ahead of Survivor Series in order to dispel rumors of CM Punk’s return at the show in Chicago. Rhodes made the big reveal during the final moments of Monday’s RAW.
WrestleNomics’ Brandon Thurston noted that the reaction from fans to the reveal was notable, as the video on YouTube has now surpassed a million viewers in just over 24 hours.
In the ratings, RAW had 1.459 viewers and a 0.49 in the key demo rating. Despite competing against a historic NFL game, RAW had its highest P18-49 viewership since September 4.
The final segment, which featured Drew McIntyre vs. Jey Uso and included the expected announcement, increased total viewership by +7 and key demo rating by 5%. RAW’s third hour is notorious for dropping in the ratings, and ratings were dropping throughout the hour this week before the final segment.
Now surpassed 1,000,000 views on WWE's official YouTube channel:
"Cody Rhodes reveals that Randy Orton will compete at WarGames: Raw highlights, Nov. 20, 2023"
1,006,752 views pic.twitter.com/WqlfitAC5c
— Wrestlenomics (@wrestlenomics) November 22, 2023
