Depending on how quickly Randy Orton can recover from his injury (worst case scenario seems to be six months out, best case six to ten weeks), WWE may still have him feature in January’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view match as a surprise late entry. The Rumble is taking place in Orton’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri and the original plan discussed was to have him win the event and take on the SmackDown World Heavyweight Champion (whether that be Daniel Bryan, Mark Henry, Big Show or whomever else) at WrestleMania 28 from April 1st.
WWE are right now looking at different ideas on how to handle Orton’s injury creatively. If they can get him to cameo at the end of the Rumble and perhaps win the event and find a way of keeping him out of the ring building towards WrestleMania 28, and maybe have him work a little in a tag match to ease the pressure off of him at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in February then that is one plausible route.
source – F4W Online
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