Randy Orton has been making a stir of late. It’s fairly well known that the multi-time WWE world champion and former WrestleMania main eventer is in the last year of his WWE contract. Orton actually signed a crazy 10 year deal at the start of 2010 that, perhaps through injury, has seemingly been extended to June of 2020 in some reports. He made some headlines earlier this year when it got out that he’d turned down some massive offers to extend his contract.
Recently, Orton posted a picture of himself on Instagram clearly designed to get people thinking about his jump to AEW. He went as far as to tag Cody Rhodes and Chris Jericho, along with other people noted for having their contracts coming up soon and wanting out, Luke Harper and The Revival. Additionally Riddick Moss and Elias were tagged, perhaps hinting that they too are nearing the end of their deals.
Orton’s open flirtation with AEW also extended to a recent gaming livestream of his, where he openly acknowledged having watched the Dynamite premiere and praised the show.
It should be noted that Randy Orton has a long established relationship with AEW EVP Cody Rhodes dating back to their days in Legacy together.
And of course he’s known Jericho a long time as well. Additionally, Orton is known to be close with Shawn Spears, the former Tye Dillinger. Orton actually encouraged Spears to make the jump from WWE to AEW himself.
As of those on his list, The Revival in particular were making tons of waves for actively wanting out of the company, refusing to sign new deals even after being put through the wringer of humiliating burial angles. When that didn’t work, they tried pushing them instead, and even now they’re SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Even so they haven’t changed their tune one bit, and it seems all too clear that they’d wanna jump to AEW.
Orton and Revival funnily paired together on-screen over the course of the Summer, with Dash and Dawson backing up Orton in his feud with Kofi Kingston, turning it into a trios feud with the New Day. It’s pretty clear in hindsight that the three just really wanted to be allies and it seems it was done to pacify them. But with the three of them still not signing new deals, they were split up in the Draft.
None of them are too pleased with it, judging by the below Twitter exchange:
https://twitter.com/ScottDawsonWWE/status/1187534456615079936
https://twitter.com/DashWilderWWE/status/1187535240086073347
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) October 25, 2019
It should go without saying that the contracts for all three men expire in 2020.
With AEW’s emphasis on tag wrestling already far surpassing anyone else’s (WWE’s lack of focus on tag teams being the Revival’s main gripe) and a ready-made feud with the Young Bucks after years of build-up, it looks like a no-brainer for Dash and Dawson on paper. The Bucks even helped the Revival build a brand for themselves. FTR either stands for “F*ck The Revival” if you ask Cody and the Bucks, or “Forever The Revival” if you ask Dash and Dawson. Either way, they’ve trademarked the phrase and even worn it on their ring gear in the past.
To me it seems likely that FTR would end being the name the team would use in another promotion… all in all, Revival’s motivation for jumping is easy to understand.
Orton on the other hand is an interesting case.
By all rights, it’s easy to assume that Randy Orton is a WWE-lifer. He basically began his career in their developmental system nearly 20 years ago. He’s been on prime time TV on their main roster since 2002. He grew up in front of our eyes in WWE, soaring through the midcard ranks. In different spells he’s been the #1 heel on Raw and the #1 babyface on SmackDown. He’s been a key component in the WWE machine for most of his adult life.
As he nears his 40th birthday, it just seemed a given that he would stick with them until his retirement. But of course… this is pro wrestling, and nothing’s a given.
An easy thing for skeptics to latch onto, and rightfully so mind you, is that Orton could simply be playing both sides to get the best deal for himself. At the end of the day WWE would almost definitely be able to throw the most money at him – assuming Tony Khan wouldn’t wanna dip into his own billionaire funds to pay Orton himself – and there’s no better bargaining chip than threatening to become a big asset for the competition.
And make no mistake, Orton would be seen as a massive, massive coup for AEW. One of the most identifiably WWE guys on the whole roster, once painted as Triple H’s top protege and John Cena’s greatest rival, appearing on AEW television? To even be sitting here contemplating it feels surreal. And if he did so with the Revival in tow, I mean we’re looking at the Outsiders jumping to Nitro here. It’d be huge.
(My own fantasy booking would have them form a Four Horsemen-like stable, allying with Shawn Spears and all four being managed by Tully Blanchard, but that’s a story for another day…)
WWE can offer great pay, AEW’s schedule must be tempting.
Randy Orton’s WWE contract is already a cushy one as it stands, and part of that is having significantly less dates than most people. However, given that this is WWE we’re talking about, he’s still wrestled 62 times before we get to November. It’s not impossible he ends up in the 75-80 range when the year is out.
Looking at AEW’s current schedule, focused entirely on TV, YouTube and PPV, and the max cap for them would appear to be a little less than 60 dates in a year. And I doubt they’d be booking Orton every single week even if they could. By default, you’re getting a much lighter schedule, in addition to creative freedom. And if there’s one thing Orton clearly likes to do, it’s whatever the hell he wants.
