Randy Orton opens up about sharing the spotlight at WWE Survivor Series.
WWE’s 2023 Survivor Series: WarGames marked the return of not one, but two of the company’s biggest names. 14-time world champion Randy Orton was the first to resurface, having been previously announced as the mystery WarGames partner for Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, and Jey Uso. CM Punk‘s comeback, however, came as a major surprise, as it marked his first WWE appearance since January 2014.
While speaking with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated, Orton revealed his reaction to finding out that Punk was also reemerging that night.
“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,” Orton said. And then he went, ‘One more thing–Punk’s returning tonight.’ I thought he was f—— 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. [WWE have] always kind of stooged off the fact I was returning; they wanted those views. So I’d never had that surprise return.”
Sign Of Maturity
While Orton was admittedly slightly upset at this development, as it coincided with his own return, he did not let the feeling overwhelm him. In the end, Orton came to enjoy the night’s events, and the buzzing reactions displayed for both returns.
“I could have been really pissed, and old Randy would have been pissed,” Orton said. “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.”
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