Kurt Angle confirms Randy Orton almost retired due to back injury

Randy Orton is booked for Survivor Series’ men’s WarGames match tonight (Nov. 25), his first in-ring action since May of 2022. Wrestling tonight will mean he’s worked at least one match every year for the past 21 years, an amazing feat of longevity.

But we heard several times during his absence that the Viper might have to hang up his boots for good due to an injured back. With the third generation star hours away from beating that prognosis, Kurt Angle — someone who knows a thing or six about wrestling injuries — shared what Orton told him about the situation.

It’s from the latest edition of The Kurt Angle Show podcast:

“I’m just glad he did [return] because I was communicating with him for quite some time when he was out with the injury because Kim [Orton, Randy’s wife] and [Angle’s wife] Giovanna are best friends.

“He was telling me, ‘Hey, man, it’s not looking good. I don’t know how my back is going to heal if my back’s going to heal.’ So he was a little worried about it for a while and eventually it started to heal up and now I think he’s okay, but it was pretty serious for some time. They didn’t know [if Orton would return].”

Word is that the 43 year old Orton’s goal is to wrestle until he’s 50, which Angle seems to think is attainable:

“Randy, he’s young, too. I mean he’s in his 40s, but he’s still pretty young. [Compared to] me and other guys that are wrestling like Sting in his 60s and Chris Jericho in his 50s. So yeah, he’s still young. He still has a good six or seven years if he stays healthy.”

The road to that milestone starts tonight.

H/t Fightful

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