World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton poses for photographers during the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Super Showdown event in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah late on January 7, 2019. (Photo by Amer HILABI / AFP) (Photo credit should read AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Photo credit should read AMER HILABI/AFP via Getty Images

Randy Orton challenged Roman Reigns for his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Royal Rumble during Friday’s edition of SmackDown.

Reigns rejected the challenge, telling him to go back to the end of the line where he belongs.

Reigns had held the title belt for 1,202 days after defeating then-champion “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman at Payback in Aug. 2020.

Orton missed 18 months of action from May 2022-November 2023 due to a near-career ending back injury that required a spinal fusion.

WWE wrote Orton off television after the May 20, 2022 episode of SmackDown, when he and Matt Riddle fell to the Usos due to interference from Reigns. Afterward, the Usos put Orton through the announce table.

Orton returned after 18 months at Survivor Series as he teamed with Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, and Sami Zayn to defeat Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre. His feud with The Bloodline was reignited after Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa attacked him the following week on SmackDown.

Now Orton wants a piece of Reigns. He almost got in an RKO on the Tribal Chief, who just snuck out of it in time.

At any rate, Orton has thrown down the gauntlet:

However, other challenges are out there, including LA Knight, who made his thoughts known to Orton later in the evening:

We’ll see who challenges Reigns for the belt at Royal Rumble soon enough with the event taking place on Jan. 27 from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

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