When WWE announced that Survivor Series would be coming to the greater Chicago area for a Thanksgiving weekend Premium Live Event at the end of November, no one pegged the day as the special return day for CM Punk, or even Randy Orton for that matter, either.
At the time, Punk was still a member of AEW, preparing for All In at Wembley Stadium, and as for Orton. Well, no one knew if he'd ever wrestle again, period, let alone appear in a match alongside Cody Rhodes and company against Drew McIntyre and Judgment Day. And yet, due to a confluence of events both predictable and anything but, the duo found themselves available and healthy at the right time, and WWE booked the latter for his all but officially announced return as a member of Team Cody, all the while knowing they had Punk in their back pocket as a special surprise for the end of the show.
Did Punk's debut, which overshadowed his own, anger Orton, who spent the better part of two years working on getting back in wrestling shape? Justin Barasso of Sports Illustrated asked “The Viper” that very question in the lead-up to Elimination Chamber, and interestingly enough, Orton had an answer that will raise eyebrows Rock-style of long-time fans.
“I was supposed to be a surprise in WarGames at Survivor Series. All these CM Punk rumors started a month prior, and everyone thought–since we were in Chicago for Survivor Series–that CM Punk would be the surprise. So they had Cody a week before WarGames say that he had a friend–me–that was going to come. The surprise was spoiled all because Punk was rumored to be there, and WWE didn't want people to be p*ssed,” Randy Orton told Sports Illustrated.
“The day of Survivor Series, I'm about to get my boots on, I'm feeling the nerves, it had been a year-and-a-half. Triple H is like, ‘Hey Randy, I've got to talk to you for a second.' I'm like, ‘Yeah, what's up, man?' So he told me a couple things. And then he went, ‘One more thing–Punk's returning tonight.' I thought he was f**king with me. I said, ‘You're joking,' and he was like, ‘No, I'm not. This is something that just happened in the last few days, yada yada yada.”
“I was so excited for this surprise return. That's never really been the case. They've always kind of stooged off the fact I was returning; they wanted those views. So I'd never had that surprise return. I could have been really pissed, and old Randy would have been pissed. It was a defining moment for me. I went out there, we had a great WarGames match, everybody was excited that I returned, everybody was excited that Punk returned, and neither return stepped on each other. It was a testament to how much I'd grown. It would have been an issue only if I made it one, so I was proud of the way I handled it.”
Long considered a performer who rarely tolerated you-know-what he didn't like, the old Orton likely would have taken major issues with Punk stealing his spotlight, demanding to have his own moment or to have something special, or else he'd show his dissatisfaction in the ring. Call it some newfound maturity, or credit it to having his career nearly taken away forever, but it's nice to see Orton has come full circle within his WWE career and now is just happy to entertain the fans who paid their hard-earned money to see him wrestle.
Randy Orton further comments on Vince McMahon's allegations.
While Randy Orton did comment on Vince McMahon's allegations elsewhere in his Sports Illustrated interview, the questions persisted when he stopped by the New York Post for another interview to hype up the Elimination Chamber, with his interview centered more on his former boss than anything to do with Perth.
While Orton again was willing to answer the question, this time, he did so in a more expansive way, noting that while he does appreciate everything Vince did for him, he also hates knowing that he could do so many bad things to others.
“I've seen the horrible things online that I don't want to believe because this man has done so many things for me. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been given second and third chances [in WWE]. I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in now if it wasn't for that man. So part of me wants to not believe it and then the other part of me understands that he could have done all these wonderful things for me and the business and created this amazing thing that will go on and on well after he's gone, but on the other hand he's human and he made some f**king terrible mistakes,” Randy Orton told the New York Post.
“There's three sides to every story. Their side, the other side and then the truth. I think a lot more has to come out before I can really speak on any of this. I think that would be the case for any talent that you ask, but I do know about Vince McMahon the man that I've known for the past 24 years personally and I owe him for everything he's done for me. I say that with conviction because I won't be in this position without a lot of help from him. But if these allegations are true, then it's some horrible s**t right there. I'm torn. It's hard.”
When it comes to “Vince McMahon Guys” in WWE who now have to grapple with the public learning of their former boss' inappropriate actions – actions they may or may not have known about – the challenges of grappling with the duality of the man they once looked up to has been fascinating to watch, with some, like Paul “Triple H” Levesque looking to focus on the positives while others, like Seth Rollins, have been more willing to speak openly. For Orton, it looks like his feelings fall somewhere in the middle, even if his words have been far more progressive than some fans may have expected.
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