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After landing his first one-on-one loss to Gunther at King and Queen of the Ring since his return at Survivor Series 2023 in Chicago, Illinois, Randy Orton has been keeping a close eye on the “Ring General,” looking for his chance to strike one of the heaviest hitters in the WWE on his home turf at Bash in Berlin.
No, on paper, the prospect of wrestling Gunther for the World Heavyweight Championship in Germany is about as daunting as wrestling Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship at Bad Blood in Atlanta, Georgia, as the pride of Vienna, Austria, almost never loses matches, especially when he returns to Europe, but Orton didn't return from a potentially career-threatening injury to just get a few shots in as part of six-man tags; he returned to fight for the all-time World Championship record currently held by John Cena and Ric Flair.
But is Orton even healthy enough for such a war of attrition against the leader of Imperium? Well, in an interview with The Independent, Gunther was asked just that and let it be known that he is feeling as good as he ever has despite his age and injury history.
“I was able to do things in the gym that I hadn't done since I was in my 20s, and since I had my back fixed, I was able to strengthen it. That gave me new life. That gave me stability – almost like body armor, so to speak that I had never had before,” Orton told The Independent.
“Ever since I had my back fused, it's like a new lease on life… I believe [Gunther vs. Orton] is the biggest match I've had since returning. You know, it's crazy to say, but I feel like I'm still in my prime in the profession that I'm in. That really excites me.”
Turning his attention to the task at hand and what it's like to have a chance to become a 15-time World Champion at Bash in Berlin, Orton noted that after earning a chance to return to the ring when it looked like he wouldn't be able to, he's firmly focused on cementing his legacy as one of the greatest WWE Superstars of all time.
“The amount of world championships that I've won, that does mean a lot. But I think after the doctors told me it was time to end my career a couple of years ago, in that moment, those titles didn't mean much of anything. I wanted to just continue to do what I have passion for, and that's getting in that ring and doing everything I can to get a reaction out of these fans,” Orton noted.
“And I think the longevity to me is going to be a big part of my legacy. The fact that I've had more pay-per-view [appearances] than any WWE Superstar I can think of in 20 years. There's no one around that's going to touch any records for a very long time. When it comes to those kinds of statistics, my titles, the amount of times I've won… all that means a lot to me, don't get me wrong, but I think longevity for me right now is the No 1.”
Can Orton overcome the odds and become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, inching himself one step closer to his ultimate goal in Berlin? Only time will tell, but if Orton does truly feel as good as he did in his prime, Gunther will have to bring his absolute A+ game to keep his title reign alive, as anything less could see the match with an RKO than a 1-2-3.
Is NXT Europe dead? Dave Meltzer talks the WWE project's future
Speaking of WWE's efforts in Europe, on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer commented on the as-of-yet unlaunched NXT Europe, which was supposed to replace NXT UK a few years back. Is the project still happening? Potentially, but at this point, the Wrestling Observer scribe won't hold his breath, as he believes the project is currently off the table.
“Remember when they closed NXT UK, this was a couple of years ago now, and they were immediately gonna re-open NXT Europe. And then they fired almost everyone except certain people like Oro Mensah and the Gallus boys, Blair Davenport, Lyra Valkyria, who they brought in, some of the top people. But most of the people that were working in NXT UK were fired, and I thought, if you're really gonna do NXT Europe like you say, why are you firing people? Because these people were under like $25,000 a year contracts, it's not like they're paying giant money to these people. The cost savings was negligible.
“Other people were telling me, ‘They're never gonna do this Europe thing; they're saying it because they never want to admit to shutting down the UK thing because the UK thing was their original idea to offset that ITV show that Grado was a big star in and Davey Boy Smith Jr was a big star in, which failed. That thing had died, so they didn't really have a reason, and they weren't really doing any shows, so they shut down the UK thing. I always hear, ‘We're doing the European thing', but it's been years now and I hear less now than I heard years ago. I remember Paul Levesque doing the idea, a real idea they were gonna do, have a European outpost, NXT Europe, NXT Middle East, NXT Japan, NXT Mexico, or Latin America. His vision was NXT outposts, regional stuff all over the world to develop young talent, and the best talent from all of these places would end up on the main roster at some point. But that idea's years and years and years old, and the original thing was it was slowed down due to Covid. Well, we're years out of Covid, and I've heard nothing about it. Maybe someday we'll hear about it, but now there's new ownership; maybe they are not down with that.”
There was a time when NXT Europe, NXT Japan, NXT Latin America, and the like seemed like fantastic ideas, with WWE taking a page from the MLB to open academies around the world from which they could farm for big league talent, but now that Paul “Triple H” Levesque has become more open to partnering up with promotions like TNA, Marigold, Pro Wrestling Noah, and beyond, it's worth wondering if that is even necessary anymore. Why? Because why pay a few dozen recruits in Japan to be part of NXT Japan when Marigold will happily work with WWE for free?
The launch of NXT Europe is seeming less likely than ever:
"Remember when they closed NXT UK, this was a couple of years ago now, and they were immediately gonna re-open NXT Europe. And then they fired almost everyone except certain people like Oro Mensah and the Gallus boys,… pic.twitter.com/qNE8U9otX9
— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) August 29, 2024
