Current Smackdown Tag Team Champion Randy Orton gave us one of the most (somewhat unintentional) iconic images and moments of the year when his gaping head wound caused SummerSlam to come to a close. He was on the shelf with a concussion for weeks after that, and since that time has been involved in stories with his now-stablemate Bray Wyatt.
Fans talked about the SummerSlam finish for weeks, and usually not in a good way. The finish of the Orton-Lesnar match has been second- and third-guessed by wrestling fans and insiders alike, but no one’s really gotten Orton’s take yet. In an interview with For The Win, Orton was asked whether he felt the SummerSlam ending was the right choice.
I think with Lesnar, it’s always going to be him coming in every few months as a monster who destroys guys who work 200 days a year … There is a tendency for that to get old. I could have looked a little better that night and that would have helped me a lot regardless of the finish and not hurt Brock’s character at all. But the fact that you’re asking me about it three-four months later, means we created a buzz. But the fact that I had a concussion and was out for three weeks and wasn’t able to do anything pissed me off.
We say this a lot in the back when someone gets hit harder than intended, we knew what we were signing up for. It’s a rough sport. It’s a rough business and very physical. A few more people need to respect how things can go sour out there.
As usual, Orton manages to thread the needle between toeing the company line and tossing out more shade than a patio umbrella. He thinks it “gets old” when part-timer Brock beats up all the full timers … something that will only receive more scrutiny now that the person to finally beat him is Goldberg, who is an even more part-time part timer.
Orton manages to get in that talking point, talk about how the match could have been done better, and say he was “pissed off” about his concussion, all while phrasing it just well enough to mostly get lost in a lame “well we’re talkin’ about it right now, so it must have worked” platitude. Who says he’s not a brilliant worker?
