Published: 3 hours ago by Jamie Toolan | Last Updated: 9 hours ago by Jamie Toolan
Jamie has been covering the world of wrestling for four years and currently holds the position of Assistant Editor of WrestleTalk.com. During his time working for WrestleTalk.com he has written and published over 4,000 news and feature articles covering events and happenings from WWE, AEW, TNA and a variety of international and independent wrestling promotions.
WWE
Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes’ near year-long WWE feud appears to be nearing its final stage, with each man holding one win over the other.
With Orton costing Rhodes his spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match last Friday on SmackDown (October 7), “The American Nightmare” will be likelier than ever to finally pull the trigger and deliver that much-teased punt kick to his former mentor.
To avoid that happening, “The Viper” may need himself some backup from the WWE locker room.
Forming his first faction in over 15 years, here are three WWE stars that could join a new Randy Orton faction.
Carmelo Hayes
Carmelo Hayes was unsuccessful at regaining his United States Championship from Baron Corbin in his hometown of Boston
There is arguably nobody on the WWE roster that has been misused as much as Carmelo Hayes in 2026. After winning his first United States Championship at the very end of 2025, Hayes spent the first three months of the year building upon what Ilja Dragunov had started, and that is putting the US Title back on the map with consistent title defenses week after week.
And what was Hayes’ reward for putting on banger matches every Friday? Dropping the title to Sami Zayn on the eve of WrestleMania 42 and missing out on the Las Vegas card altogether.
With Hayes now going almost two months without an appearance on SmackDown, it’s time for WWE to reintroduce him in a prominent role, and what better a spot for him than Randy Orton’s his next protégé.
Hayes turning heel and aligning with Orton would elevate him to a top spot on SmackDown and he could take out all his frustrations on the babyfaces on the blue brand, such as Cody Rhodes and current US Champion Trick Williams.
Myles Borne
Myles Borne has often been compared to Randy Orton throughout his WWE career.
Ever since he first broke into NXT, Myles Borne has been receiving comparisons to 14-time world champion Randy Orton.
As well as a physical resemblance, Borne’s style in the ring has often been compared to a young Orton and that’s certainly a major compliment.
Now that Borne is playing a cold-blooded heel on NXT, it feels like we’re approaching the time when WWE could potentially unite Borne and Orton together in a student/teacher alliance.
The former NXT North American Champion has plenty unfinished business in NXT, such as: winning the NXT Championship and his feud with Tavion Heights, but after those things are wrapped up, we could see him finally unite with Orton.
BirthRight (Lexis King, Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo, Uriah Connors, Charlie Dempsey & Arianna Grace)
A five-in-one entry concludes our list, as the entirety of BirthRight would make for fitting allies of Randy Orton.
Orton is one of WWE’s most successful multi-generational stars, and someone BirthRight would aspire to replicate as they look to honor their respective families’ lineages in WWE NXT.
The group has a lot of potential to translate to main roster eventually, and given the breadth of second and third generation stars across Raw and SmackDown, we could see some new members join, or even take over the group.
Orton is too big a name to follow anyone’s lead, but what he could do is steer BirthRight much like he did with the similarly themed Legacy group back in the day.
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