WWE.com and Pat McAfee Show contributor Mark Kaboly comes up with who just might have been on the telephone with Randy Orton during last week’s episode of Raw that suggested that might be the person who put The Viper up to attacking Cody Rhodes.
THE SETUP
Last week on SmackDown, Randy Orton produced one of the most shocking and brutal betrayals of a friend in recent memory during a WrestleMania 42 contract signing with Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. Then on Raw, Orton took part in a mysterious cell phone conversation. Who was on the phone? To whom did The Viper say “appreciated you doing this,” and “I’ll see you soon.” This same person “with a brain” apparently reminded Orton of who he is, what he is, and why he did what he did. Mark Kaboly has some guesses on the subject.
1. “Cowboy” Bob Orton: The WWE Hall of Famer, and Randy Orton’s father, is the most logical choice, especially with Orton saying, “wrestling has more than one Royal Family” just moments after the call. Well, the Ortons might not be in the same ballpark as the Anoa’i Family, but their history is undeniable, including Randy’s grandfather The Big O’ Randy Orton Sr, his uncle Barry Orton and his legendary father. There is no doubt that the Orton name to be in synonymous with the business since the 1950s. It all makes sense, but what puts this at the top of the list is what The Viper said during his phone call: “It was good seeing you a couple of weeks ago, too.” Orton made an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” in Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago ahead of Elimination Chamber in Chicago. Bob Orton lives outside of St. Louis – a short one-hour flight from (or to) Indianapolis or Chicago. Hmmm.
2. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: We haven’t seen The Rock in more than a year. However, he does fit the description of who could be on the phone, another Royal Family who also had a significant part in Cody Rhodes’ last two WrestleMania appearances. The Final Boss had a main role in John Cena’s “bad guy” turn last year. Could he be involved in turning another well-loved legend? It makes complete sense and maybe the most sense of all.
3. Ric Flair: If Orton would listen to anybody, you have to believe it would be The Nature Boy. Flair took a young Orton under his wing two decades ago, dating back to Evolution, guiding him to his first World Championship, so, of course, he would listen to anything Flair would tell him. Flair could be one of the dirtiest players in the game when he wanted to, so to fill Orton will be the thought of him getting back to The Legend Killer status and taking what is his and becoming a 15-time World Champion. You could see that Flair would still be grumpy about Cena breaking his record last year and becoming the 17-time World Champ – one more than Flair’s 16. And if you want to talk about more than one Royal Family? Who is more royal than Ric Flair and his 14-time World Champion daughter, Charlotte Flair, who could be the key cog in all of this?
4. Kevin Owens: We tend to fixate on the words: “There’s more than one Royal Family,” and base our decisions on that. Maybe that’s just a smokescreen to throw us all off the scent? Who had more beef with Rhodes than Kevin Owens, albeit before Owens’ unfortunate injury has kept him out of competition for a little over a year now? Remember, Owens did almost the same thing to Cody that Randy did at the end of 2024, which also got Orton involved. It was hinted many times during their beef between Owens, Orton and Rhodes that The Viper was going to snap, yet it never happened. Now, it’s unknown when Owens will be back, but that doesn’t mean that Orton didn’t take a call for KO to give him advice, congratulate him, or suggest that what he did was best for everybody.
5. Randy Orton: Say what? So, Randy Orton was on the phone with Randy Orton? How in the world does that makes sense? It doesn’t, which piqued my interest since we all know that Orton sometimes hears those voices in his head, and it sure looked like to me that the cell phone wasn’t actually connected with somebody during the Michael Cole interview segment on Raw. So, maybe he was listening to those voices in his head but masked it by pretending to use a phone. Who knows how a madman thinks. Orton sure looked disturbed after his actions on SmackDown, and it wasn’t much better on Raw. We have all seen before that Orton can be unstable from time to time, and this, even though unlikely, has to be considered.
Wildcards: Rikishi, Haku, Batista, John Cena, Pat McAfee
