Wrestling veteran discusses what led WWE to announce Randy Orton's return in advance (Exclusive)

Veteran wrestling journalist Bill Apter recently spoke about WWE's strategy behind announcing Randy Orton's return at the WWE Survivor Series 2023 Premium Live Event.

This week on RAW, WWE Official Adam Pearce gave Cody Rhodes and the rest of his team an ultimatum that he needed to come up with the name of the fifth member before the end of the show. After the main event, Cody announced that The Viper would be their fifth and final member.

During this week's episode of The Wrestling Time Machine, Bill Apter mentioned that WWE announced Randy in advance because it helped to sell the show. He also said that there would be CM Punk chants anyway since the event is happening in Chicago.

"Well, I think they announced that because it strengthens the pay-per-view gate so to speak. I really do. I think people want to see Randy back again and I think, no matter what, it's Chicago, and CM Punk chants are gonna go on anyway." [From 08:15 t0 08:34]

You can watch the full video here:

Randy Orton is scheduled to be in action for the WarGames match against The Judgment Day. This will be his first match since May 2022, when he and Matt Riddle lost the RAW Tag Team Championships to The Usos.

Are you excited for Randy Orton's return? Let us know in the comments section below.

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