Randy Orton Set To Face WWE NXT Rookie In St. Louis

At the top of this week's "WWE NXT," General Manager Ava made some announcements regarding the October 8 episode in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to the return of Rapper Sexyy Red, Ava revealed that "The Apex Predator" and STL native Randy Orton will not just be appearing on the show, but he will also be wrestling there. Following this development, Orton confirmed that he will be competing against one of WWE's newest talents — Je'Von Evans.

With the CW Network debut episode of "NXT" quickly filling up, Evans approached Ava backstage with a proposition, specifically one that would see him featured on the subsequent show in St. Louis, one week later. Unbeknownst to Evans, he would soon be pitted in a match against Orton. "Hey Je'Von – Want to know who your opponent is?" Orton wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). "See you in St. Louis on October 8th kid."

Hey Je'Von – Want to know who your opponent is? See you in St. Louis on October 8th kid #wwenxt

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) September 18, 2024

For Orton, this will mark only his second match in "NXT," with his first airing on March 27, 2013 against Damien Sandow. For Evans, this will arguably serve as one of the biggest matches of his career thus far.

Evans, a former tag team and singles champion on the indies, arrived to WWE earlier this year, with his "NXT" television debut taking form against SCRYPTS on April 9. Since then, Evans has notably challenged for the NXT Heritage Cup as well as the NXT Championship. Meanwhile, Orton's WWE career has boasted 14 world championships, in addition to tag titles as well as the United States and Intercontinental Championships.