Several weeks ago we noticed that there was strong consideration for having Randy Orton win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam so he could defend the title in a rematch against McIntyre at the Royal Rumble or at WrestleMania 37 around McIntyre giving the grand coronation to thousands of fans.
There’s still time for WWE to figure things out for Mania, but based on what WrestlingNews.co was told by WWE sources, there are still talks within the company about having Orton from SummerSlam with the title . If Orton wins, he would have done so without the help of Ric Flair, which would not make sense, because it would not help McIntyre if Orton got a clean slate on him.
However, Bryan Alvarez pointed out something interesting on Wrestling Observer Live. Alvarez speculated (note: he did not report this as fact) that the Flair corner on Monday Night Raw could be a wander with Flair returning to SummerSlam to help Orton. Alvarez pointed out that we actually never saw Orton’s foot make contact with Flair’s head as the lights went out. Fans must think the lights went out due to Retribution, but Alvarez speculated that Orton may have set things up for the lights to go out at the right time to make fans think he made contact with Flair’s head. Keep in mind that Orton attacked Christian several weeks ago, though he is not removed for bumps. Orton was trusted to deliver the point to Christian’s head without really hurting him.
Alvarez said: ‘Why would Randy hire Ric Flair now, as opposed to after the match with Drew McIntyre? If Drew McIntyre is going to win, then Randy Orton is going to hire Ric Flair the next day, the best way to get his heat back and he can blame Ric Flair. There are a million things you can do. I think Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre. If Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre, look how hard they shot Drew McIntyre. I think the only way Randy wins is with help. “I think this is a wanderer and that Ric Flair will be out at SummerSlam and he will help Randy Orton win the 14th world title and they will have been in cahoots and they are on their way to this gold that they are talking about.”
Alvarez went on, ‘Why do I say that? Because Randy Orton posted Christian a few weeks ago, right? Christian retired due to a head injury. Christian had too many listens and they will never delete him to wrestle again and you know what they are sure he will not do to him – take a point. That what they did, it’s a carpet show and they shot it in such a way that Randy Orton’s foot sat between the camera and Christian’s head. He was probably a foot away from Christian’s head, but he made the point and they edited in the sound effect and they shot it from the perfect angle and it looked like he was picking the man up and killing him. Well, guess what, Ric Flair can also not take physical punishment. It was a carpet show, they could have used sound effects, they could have done the same thing, but they did not. Instead, Randy went for the point and he started running and the lights went out and when they came back, Ric Flair was apparently dead. We do not know, just as Zelina Vega asked, what evidence do you have as a viewer that Randy Orton actually placed Ric Flair? Zero proof. I think these two guys are collaborating and they wrote Ric Flair after all from the storyline, but at SummerSlam Flair will be back and he will screw Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton will win him RKO and win the title and they are all in cahoots. I hesitate to say this, but think about it, it all makes sense! But we’ll see what happens at SummerSlam. ”
Alvarez said the lights that go out can be easily explained and it has nothing to do with Retribution. He speculated that Orton and Flair could have gotten everyone from behind (i.e., “Frank the Janitor”) to turn out the lights at the right time.
The tagline for SummerSlam is “You’ll Never See It Coming” so that implies that something will be done to the show to shake fans up so we will see if this or anything else shocking happens on the show.
