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As PWInsider.com reported yesterday in the Elite section, the decision to remove Randy Orton from last night's Backlash PPV was something that the company had been discussing over the last 7-10 days, so the plan to go with Kane as the substitute had been in place as a "Plan B" and was not a last second decision. This was not a situation the company didn't see coming.
Sources have described the situation with Orton as being concussion-related. The belief of several that we have heard from is that thus far, that Orton has not consistently been able to pass the company's medical testing to the point where WWE's medical staff is comfortable with Orton taking bumps. Orton did execute a RKO last night but beyond that, was not physically involved.
Orton was injured in the finish of the Brock Lesnar Summerslam match and has not wrestled since. Orton was spotted late last week in Pittsburgh, the same city that Dr. Joseph Maroon, who oversees the WWE Wellness Policy is headquartered. Orton was not on the road for the Smackdown live events this past weekend, coming in specifically for the Backlash PPV.
As we noted yesterday on PWInsider.com, should Orton not be cleared by 9/24, his highly promoted rematch against Brock Lesnar at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, IL is also in jeopardy.
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