Randy Orton’s potential WWE return date revealed
Randy Orton could be on his way back soon.
He is advertised as appearing at the December 5 SmackDown taping in Austin, Texas, which would be just over two months since his last appearance on the show. Orton took a curb stomp from Seth Rollins and a Tsunami from Bronson Reed in the main event of the October 3 SmackDown and has been gone from WWE programming since.
The November 21 SmackDown will be a double-taping, also including matches for the November 28 show, which will be the go-home episode for WWE Survivor Series: War Games in San Diego the following day.
Orton is currently on the ballot for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame. As featured in this week’s edition, Orton received 31.6 percent of the vote. He received above 60 percent of votes among retired wrestlers, finishing sixth in that category. The current issue is available for subscribers here.
Ian Carey is the editing manager at F4WOnline and a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. His work has appeared in award-winning publications including NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and moved into the editing manager role in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.