WWE veteran details how Randy Orton showed strategic brilliance during the opening segment of SmackDown (Exclusive)

A former WWE manager and on-screen personality spoke about how Randy Orton was the star of the opening segment of SmackDown this week.

The veteran in question is Dutch Mantell. Nick Aldis invited all the competitors of the Fatal Four-Way match out to the ring to sign the contract one by one on SmackDown. AJ Styles, LA Knight, and Randy Orton came out and put pen to paper. However, Paul Heyman came out in place of Roman Reigns and announced that the champion would not be signing.

Styles and Knight got on the mic and started insulting Heyman. However, it soon turned personal, and the two stars started fighting each other. Randy watched the action quietly in the ring.

During this week's Smack Talk podcast, Mantell stated that Orton played his character to perfection. He mentioned that it was typical of the veteran to let the other two men fight it out before he got in a word with The Wiseman.

"That fits his character anyway, he's not gonna get involved in that. He said, 'Let them handle the problem, take each other out, which makes his job easier.' He just stood there in the corner the whole time which is classic Randy Orton. So, I liked it too." [From 19:48 t0 20:03]

Check out the entire episode here:

During the main event, Randy Orton defeated Solo Sikoa. He also planted Roman Reigns with an RKO after The Tribal Chief signed the contract for the match.

Do you think Orton will be the one to dethrone Reigns? Sound off in the comments section below.

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You can catch the full results of SmackDown here.

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