Why did WWE spoil Randy Orton’s return on Raw instead of surprise appearance at Survivor Series?

WWE spoiled the surprise return of Randy Orton by announcing it earlier this week to avoid CM Punk chants.

Why did WWE spoil Randy Orton’s return on Raw instead of surprise appearance at Survivor Series?

Randy Orton (via WWE)

Survivor Series 2023 is one of the most anticipated premium live events of recent times. The rumored return of Randy Orton was a huge contributor to the high-interest levels of the fans for the premium live event. While the fans believed Orton’s return would be kept a secret, WWE instead spoiled it by announcing his return in advance.

Cody Rhodes revealed Randy Orton as the fifth member of his WarGames team in the closing moments of Raw. According to the latest report, WWE announced the appearance of The Viper to keep the CM Punk chants at bay. The did it to quell any sort of suspense angle behind the final member of Rhodes’ team.

YouTube video

The American Nightmare didn’t directly name-drop Orton. He, however, referenced that the two have a shared legacy, alluding to the “Legacy” faction they once were a part of. Moreover, Cody Rhodes said words such as “Apex Predator” and “Hear voices” to imply the return of Randy Orton.

FS Video

The Viper’s awaited comeback was not kept a secret to keep people from expecting CM Punk. With Chicago being the latter’s home city, the crowd will likely anticipate the return of the Chicago-born superstar. Therefore, WWE announced Orton’s return as a precautionary measure so that fans wouldn’t expect Punk’s return.

WWE has seemingly dismissed all the rumors regarding CM Punk returning to Survivor Series 2023. WWE fans, on the other hand, strongly believe that the superstar that Shinsuke Nakamura has been calling out lately is none other than Punk. It will be interesting to see what transpires at the upcoming event.

Randy Orton’s return announcement saw a significant spike in ratings

On the recent edition of Monday Night Raw, Randy Orton was announced as the fifth and final member of the Cody Rhodes-led team at Survivor Series. While the WWE Universe erupted at the mere utterance of Orton’s name, the announcement appears to have garnered high ratings as well.

Randy Orton
Randy Orton (via USA Network)

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has recently noted that the latest Raw episode drew an average of 1.459 ratings. The final moment of Raw witnessed a +7 surge in viewership. This was the red brand’s highest viewership since September 4. Moreover, Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with Eagle vs. Chief, Monday Night Football. The latter was the most-watched football match in over 27 years.

In addition to this, the return announcement video of Randy Orton has amassed over a million views on YouTube. The same video attracted over a staggering 55k likes and 11k retweets on X. The coming Survivor Series marks the first-ever match of the Apex Predator in the last one and a half years.

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