Updates on Randy Orton and Sara Del Rey

On this past Friday night’s episode of Smackdown!, Randy Orton was injured at the hands of Alberto Del Rio, moments prior to his #1 contender match with The Big Show. ADR targeted Orton’s shoulder and ribs, ramming an equipment cart into the ribs before officials stepped in. Later that night, at the beginning of said match, ADR came out to Orton’s music and said that he was taking Orton’s place. Orton, although injured, managed to take ADR out before that happened and continue on with the scheduled match. However, the injury was too much, and Orton was dominated by Show, getting pinned after two chokeslams.

On WWE.com, exclusive footage was shown after the night’s taping ended, and ADR continued the assault on Orton backstage, injuring him in the process and putting him out for a couple of weeks.

However, for you Orton fans, all is not lost. In reality, this is merely a storyline to pull Orton off TV for a bit, at least in an in-ring role. Over the next month, Orton will be busy filming the new WWE Films production 12 Rounds: Reloaded, his first major role for the fledgling production company. Orton will not be appearing at this week’s TV taping, but should be back next week for the San Jose, CA taping. WWE will likely only have him in a speaking role in order to sell the injury during his appearances over the next month or so.

In other news, it was reported a while back that, if Sara Del Rey was signed to a WWE contract (she is now, officially), she would likely be put in charge of training the divas in NXT. Although a rumor at the time, this can now be confirmed, and SDR has already started her new position in WWE’s developmental territory. Recently, a picture and video has surfaced online, taken by current trainer Bill DeMott, and features “The Queen of Wrestling” alongside former WCW Hardcore Champion Norman Smiley and former WWE Tag Team Champion Joey Mercury, two of the promotions top trainers.

Although she will be training the female competitors in WWE’s developmental territory, that does not mean that will be her sole role with the company. Plans are still in place to make her a member of the active roster, and we could be seeing her on either Monday Night RAW or Friday Night Smackdown! by the year’s end. And, considering her former stablemates Antonio Cesaro and Kassius Ohno are in WWE and NXT, a reunion of the three is not out of the question.