Randy Orton and Kevin Owens are both expected back in WWE very soon, with Orton potentially returning within the next week. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported the major update this morning.
According to the report, Orton had told people he was not hurt and was simply taking the summer off, when he was in fact dealing with an injury. The back problem traced to his WrestleMania 42 loss to Cody Rhodes in April, the last time Orton competed. Commentary even referenced the injury during that match. A 14-time world champion, Orton has not appeared on WWE television since.
The Observer added that Orton was originally slated to beat Rhodes at that WrestleMania before the back issue forced a rethink. Rhodes went over instead, and the change reportedly reshaped several plans that were built around the original result.
Orton later played the situation down on social media, framing the time away as a summer off before a push toward what would be the 15th World Championship of his career.
Owens, a former Universal Champion and a WrestleMania main eventer, has been sidelined even longer, out since March 2025 with a neck injury that required fusion surgery. The last major program before the injury was a heated WWE Championship feud with Rhodes. The layoff cost him the last two WrestleManias, including a WrestleMania 41 grudge match with Orton that never took place.
Owens and Sami Zayn main evented WrestleMania 39, beating The Usos for the tag team titles on one of the signature nights of his career. According to the newsletter, Owens has dropped weight across a recovery described as lengthy and frustrating. During the time off, Owens coached on the third season of WWE LFG and turned up in a handful of WWE digital videos to stay in front of the audience.
The Orton feud remains unfinished. Owens had turned on Orton months earlier and piledriven him, an attack that wrote Orton off television for a stretch and built toward their WrestleMania 41 grudge match. The neck injury scrapped the bout, and Orton faced Joe Hendry in an open challenge on that card instead.
Meltzer floated a scenario tied to the timing of Orton’s comeback. With the door left open for a Rhodes versus Orton match down the line, he suggested Orton could cost either Rhodes or CM Punk in the WWE Championship picture to keep one of them out of it. Rhodes stood out to him as the more likely target.
Punk defends the Undisputed WWE Championship against Rhodes at SummerSlam this weekend, which places both men at the center of that picture. A returning Orton would arrive with the title scene already in flux. SummerSlam runs Saturday and Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, and the television shows that follow would hand both veterans an obvious runway back into the mix.
Randy Orton returning within a week would be perfect timing, landing right as SummerSlam reshuffles the entire WWE Championship picture. A healthy Orton chasing a 15th world title is a threat to everyone in that main event scene, and the RKO can end a title reign in a heartbeat. Few stars have ever been better at slithering into a hot program at exactly the right moment. Timing has always been Orton’s sharpest weapon.
Kevin Owens coming back in the same window only sweetens it, with an unfinished Orton feud still sitting on the shelf from two WrestleManias ago. Owens returning as a sympathetic babyface after neck fusion surgery writes half the story on its own. Two of the most reliable main event hands in the company are about to walk back through the curtain at once. WWE’s second half of 2026 just got a lot more dangerous.
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