It’s been over a month since Randy Orton last stepped inside of a WWE ring, but that is finally about to change on this week’s Monday Night Raw. Orton was last seen trying and failing to earn a spot in the Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match and was pulled from television for reasons that still haven’t been fully confirmed. In his absence, Riddle has continued the R-K-Bro storyline, first by trying to earn Orton a place in the MITB Ladder Match on his own and later by feuding with Raw Tag Team Champions AJ Styles and Omos. All signs point to the two teams squaring off at SummerSlam in a couple of weeks.
“The Viper is back!” WWE.com wrote in its announcement. “Randy Orton will make his highly anticipated return to Raw tonight. The Legend Killer took to social media earlier today to let the WWE Universe know that he will be gracing them with his presence. There will no one happier to see Orton than his recent RK-Bro running mate, Riddle. The Original Bro has dedicated his performances to his ‘best friend Randy’ but suffered a setback at the hands of the colossal Omos last week. What will Orton have in store for his return?”
Been away for a bit, but tonight, I’m back on #WWERaw … and I won’t keep you waiting, I’m kicking off the show. #ViperIsBack https://t.co/doKobmWF4F
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) August 9, 2021
Riddle explained how he came up with the idea of the unlikely partnership earlier this summer in an interview with TalkSport, saying that Orton was supportive of the idea from the beginning.
“He was like ‘Hey, this RKBro thing you mentioned, it actually sounds pretty cool.’ And I was like [speechless expression]. Nobody else thought it was cool, the only people who really thought it was cool was Randy and me. And I was like ‘no way!’ So then we pitched it and I don’t think it was supposed to have legs or last that long, but kind of like with me and Pete Dunne as the Broserweights, people saw our chemistry together in backstage segments, they know we can both go in the ring for days and here we are,” Riddle said. “T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, backpacks, merch for days, bro. We got multiple shirts, it’s insane. I can’t even keep up! It took off. Vince [McMahon] loves it. Bruce [Prichard] loves it. Everybody at the office loves it. The boys love it. They love it so much, they’re starting to hate it [laughs]. That’s how much they love it. It was a team that nobody knew they wanted and now they need it.”
