Randy Orton's King of the Ring aspirations were dashed at WWE Night of Champions, further compounded by a recent defeat that jeopardized his Undisputed WWE title rematch against John Cena. On the July 4th SmackDown,

McIntyre was last seen on the May 24 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event, where he lost a steel cage match to Damian Priest. The two finished off their feud that also saw them compete in a Sin City Street Fight at WrestleMania 41, which McIntyre won.

WWE Superstar Randy Orton provided some insight this week into what he was going through physically and mentally while on the shelf with a back injury for a year and a half from 2022 to 2023.