2025 was a rollercoaster of a year for Randy Orton, as he experienced a fair share of ups and downs in WWE. The Triple H-led creative also canceled a rumored WrestleMania 41 match for him.
The Viper was initially planned to face Kevin Owens at The Showcase of the Immortals this year. But the scheduled match was put on hold after the Canadian wrestler suffered a career-threatening neck injury.
As a result,Randy Orton ended up facingJoe Hendry in a relatively short match that ended with the latter getting squashed.
As exciting as this match was, WWE had considered other names as potential opponents for The Apex Predator, with chief among them being Aleister Black.
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Speaking toBleacher Report's Graham "GSM" Matthews onWrestleRant, the Dutchman explained why the rumored WrestleMania 41 match with Randy Orton didn't come to fruition.
"They were toying with a bunch of ideas. I know at one point there was this conversation about, 'Oh, maybe he's coming back to wrestle Randy Orton at 'Mania.' And that was an actual thing that was discussed, but that wasn't an isolated thing... It was more of a list of names. They were like, 'We don't want him to lose coming back at WrestleMania. That doesn't make any sense."
Black added:
"At that point, they already made the decision to bring me back, and then the Randy Orton thing came up, and they were like, 'No, let's keep it [on the post-WrestleMania SmackDown].' They wanted to give it the right attention in order for it to be specifically about me, which I'm really grateful for." (H/T -Bleacher Report)
You can check out the full interview below:
Despite not facing each other at The Show of Shows, the two men shared the ring during a Fatal 4-Way Match on the June 13, 2025, edition of WWE SmackDown this year.
The Viper emerged victorious that night and advanced to the semifinals of the King of the Ring Tournament. Since losing to Cody Rhodes in the Night of Champions finals, the 14-time world champion's booking has left fans scratching their heads.
He was most recently involved in a feud with Drew McIntyre before WWE took him off TV, citing personal reasons. There's no word on when he will return to television.
As of Aleister Black, hisrivalry with Damian Priest has reached its boiling point.
A rubber match between the two men could be on the cards post-Survivor Series: WarGames.
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