Randy Orton received medical advice from neurologists indicating that he would need to cease his wrestling activities due to his back injury. Subsequently, Orton took a hiatus in May 2022 and underwent spinal fusion surgery. He returned to the ring in November 2023 at Survivor Series: WarGames.
In a recent appearance on the “WrestleBinge” podcast, the 14-time World Champion recalled neurologists warning him that he would have to stop wrestling.
Orton said, “Oh yeah. I had top neurologists telling me that, you know what, you use a great career, you have a life after wrestling, and you want to be comfortable. You don’t want to be in pain the rest of your life. We’re gonna fix your back, but you’re gonna have to stop wrestling. The six months that I was out, I had that in the back of my head, and it was tough. It was mentally very challenging, and I didn’t really know what the future held for me. But I was able to find a couple doctors that had done the exact surgery that I needed on some MMA guys that went back to the octagon, competed and were successful and had longer careers. So I knew that these were the doctors that I needed to have put me under and go under the knife with.”
Orton will take on Tama Tonga in the semifinals of the ongoing WWE King of the Ring tournament this Friday on SmackDown.
