Randy Orton Returns At WWE SummerSlam 2026

WWE

Randy Orton made his return to WWE at night one of SummerSlam 2026 tonight, Saturday, August 1 after being out since WrestleMania 42.

Mania in April saw Orton unsuccessful in his attempt to win the Undisputed WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes, though Orton attacked Rhodes after the match.

Orton was completely absent from WWE TV from then until tonight, as he interfered in Rhodes’ match against CM Punk.

With Punk defending the Undisputed WWE Title against Rhodes tonight, their match saw referee Charles Robinson taken out when Punk dodged an attempted Cody Cutter from Rhodes who ended up striking Robinson instead.

With Robinson and Punk both down on the outside, Randy Orton showed up and RKO’d Rhodes in the middle of the ring before quickly leaving.

Punk, unaware of what had happened, slid back into the ring and landed a Go To Sleep on Rhodes before following up with the pin once Robinson had re-entered the ring as well.

Will Randy Orton Be WWE World Champion Again?

Randy Orton currently stands at joint third on the list of all-time WWE World Championship reigns – at the top is John Cena with 17, second is Ric Flair with 16, and both Orton and Triple H are sat on 14.

Orton is evidently slowing his career down, with injury issues catching up to him over the past few years, resulting in his 18 month absence in 2022 and 2023 to this most recent absence between WrestleMania 42 and SummerSlam.

However, it does feel like he has one more top championship run in him, which would elevate him above Triple H on the all time list.

Hopefully Triple H holding all the creative control doesn’t let his ego get in the way here, and allows Orton to take that step and be on top of WWE as champion one last time.

Despite him having so many world title reigns, Orton’s last was back in 2020, so it’s been six years since he’s been at that level which means despite his lengthy tenure as a top player, it would actually feel like something fresh amid a scene that is starting to become a little bit stale with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes dominating for so long.

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• wwe
• cm punk
• SummerSlam
• Randy Orton
• Cody Rhodes

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