Randy Orton Next WWE Appearance Confirmed After SummerSlam Return

WWE

The next WWE appearance for Randy Orton has been officially confirmed following his return at SummerSlam this past weekend.

Orton made his comeback on night one of SummerSlam on August 1 during the Undisputed WWE Championship match between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, RKO’ing Rhodes while the referee was knocked out and allowing Punk to pick up the win.

Back in April, Rhodes defeated Orton in the WrestleMania 42 night one main event, which led to Orton attacking Rhodes post-match but then not appearing again until the aforementioned SummerSlam return.

Coming off the heels of that return, it’s now been confirmed that Orton will be appearing on the August 7 episode of WWE SmackDown, which takes place at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Xfinity Mobile Arena posted:

JUST ANNOUNCED! The Viper Randy Orton returns to SmackDown after RKOing Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam

Use code LASTCHANCE for 30% off select tickets. Offer ends Friday at 10:00AM.

Also set for the post-SummerSlam edition of SmackDown are appearances from CM Punk and Kevin Owens, who will have a match sometime soon for the Undisputed WWE Championship after Punk retained against Rhodes, and Kevin Owens became the #1 contender at SummerSlam.

In what was Owens’ first match since March 2025 after being out due to career threatening neck surgery, Owens won a four-way against Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and GUNTHER to earn the #1 contendership, so both he and Punk will address their upcoming match on SmackDown.

SmackDown will also feature Charlotte Flair vs Jade Cargill, as well as an appearance from new Interim WWE Women’s Champion Chelsea Green.

WWE To Right The Wrongs Of Cody Rhodes Vs. Randy Orton

In early 2026 when it became clear Cody Rhodes vs Randy Orton was the direction for WrestleMania 42, fans were excited to see their nearly 20 years of history together come full circle in a storyline built around Orton’s original mentorship of Rhodes and their time in the Legacy group together.

However, it didn’t play out that way, as forces higher up in WWE parent company TKO – namely CEO Ari Emanuel – shoehorned his client Pat McAfee into the story in a bizarre alliance with Orton, while more unnecessary celebrity involvement came from Jelly Roll in an alliance with Rhodes.

This led to frustration from talent and WWE creative staff, and led to the storyline not playing out how it was planned to.

Now that’s out of the way, it looks like WWE creative will have a clearer path to build to another Rhodes vs Orton match, but this time doing it how they wanted to do it to begin with, which is hopefully a better experience for fans as well and plays into that deep history between the two.

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• Smackdown
• wwe
• Randy Orton

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