Since Friday, WWE has been hyping up Randy Orton vs. Braun Strowman for RAW in their first-ever singles match. However, that didn't take place last night, and we now know why. The company has a bad habit of advertising matches which they then scrap with no explanation, but we do have some backstage news on the reason for that decision.
Before we get to that, though, there's some bad news for Orton following his match with former United States Champion Riddle. Talking on Wrestling Observer Radio today, Bryan Alvarez explained that, "I don’t know the extent of what happened, but Randy Orton hurt his shoulder. He was fighting out of the corner and Riddle went to give him an exploder and Randy of course didn’t take an exploded."
"He blocked it and he pulled back and did this very dramatic punch and he punched him and then from that point forward he could no longer use his right arm. He was throwing forearms with his left arm, which looked horrible," Alvarez continued. "They still did manage to do a top rope superplex...it was like that one day when he punched the mat and his shoulder went out."
As of right now, we have no word on the seriousness of Orton's injury.
Regarding The Viper's planned match with Strowman, PW Insider reports that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon arrived late to the building and proceeded to make changes to the script. He decided to write the Monster Among Men into Drew McIntyre's feud with T-Bar, Mace, and WWE Champion Bobby Lashley.
Needless to say, fans were disappointed that the originally advertised match didn't take place, but it's feasible WWE is saving this for a future PPV rather than having it take place on a random RAW.