PARKS’S TAKE: Does Kevin Owens’ withdrawal from WrestleMania leave Randy Orton with any alternative options?

With Kevin Owens shelved indefinitely due to a neck injury, Randy Orton is now left without a dance partner for WrestleMania. It shouldn’t be that way for long, however. Orton is too big of a name to leave off the two-night card.

I briefly discussed potential Orton opponents on the most recent Tuesday Flagship episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast with Wade Keller. It’s so late in the game that they’ll either have to match him up with someone who wasn’t on the WrestleMania card, and thus is likely several notches below Orton’s standing on the depth chart, or they’ll have to insert Orton into a match already made. Neither of those two options are particularly appealing. Less appealing, though, is leaving Orton off the show entirely.

One of the biggest names right now without a match is Solo Sikoa. Sikoa’s Bloodline has taken a backseat recently on Smackdown, though group member Jacob Fatu has shined in his subordinate role, to the point that he has a match while Sikoa does not. There’s enough history between Sikoa, in his time as henchman for Roman Reigns, and Orton that they could pivot to that bout pretty easily. It’s not one that feels very inspired, though. The Miz and Shinsuke Nakamura are a couple of higher-level heels on Smackdown that could be quickly built into opposition for Orton. Nakamura could be intriguing, especially if he continues with his darker heel character.

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Though New Day and the War Raiders seem primed for a rematch at WrestleMania, I suggested on the Flagship that Orton could find a tag team partner to face New Day. They could frame it as Orton being upset at New Day’s treatment of Big E. New Day’s heel run is deserving of something big at Mania, and a match against Orton and friend would come off as a bigger deal than another match with Erik and Ivar. If there’s no one on Raw or Smackdown that makes sense to team with Orton (Sheamus, Otis, and Jimmy Uso would be among the contenders at the top of my list), WWE could decide to showcase an NXT talent in the role and get the rub from Orton on the Mania stage.

In terms of matches already made, though Orton is not on Raw, I’m sure Adam Pearce would be happy to make an exception for a legend like Orton and make the Intercontinental Title four-way a five-way. What’s one more wrestler in the match at that point? It does feel like there are enough other multi-person matches that adding Orton to an already-announced singles match would be Triple Threat overkill. Maybe he could be a part of the U.S. Title match with L.A. Knight and Jacob Fatu, or even the A.J. Styles vs. Logan Paul match. Those are bouts where the stories aren’t heated enough to the point that Orton couldn’t be added.

(Greg Parks has been a Pro Wrestling Torch columnist for nearly 20 years and a contributor for over 20 years. His full page feature columns appear exclusively in the weekly PWTorch Newsletter and on the PWTorch VIP (subscriber-only ad-free) website. Details on going VIP: CLICK HERE. He also presents the VIP-exclusive “Greg Parks Outloud!” weekly VIP-exclusive podcast and cohosts Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcasts and PWTorch Dailycasts on a regular basis.)