Randy Orton Set to Miss Significant Chunk of 2018

In his 15 years as a WWE Superstar, Randy Orton has made a concerted effort to personify his "Viper" moniker. In 2018 he'll be taking his snake-like mannerisms a step further as he's set to go into hibernation.

According to PWInsider, Orton is scheduled to miss most of February and March after working a light January schedule. While we'll likely see him at January 28th's Royal Rumble, the February 6th episode of SmackDown is Orton's last advertised appearance for quite some time.

The 37-year old is slated for the post-WrestleMania Smackdown on April 9th, but not WWE's European Tour in May.

This appears to be nothing more than some well-deserved rest and reprieve for the 13-time WWE Champion. The past 2 years have been rough on Orton as he's endured getting his head split open by Brock Lesnar and suffered a series of pay-per-view losses to Jinder Mahal. Orton did, however, win the Royal Rumble in 2017 and would go on to capture the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33 but all of that seemed to be overshadowed by a smelly program with Bray Wyatt that concluded with a categorically bad House of Horrors match.

However, regardless of usage, Orton is still one of the most talented Superstars. That, and he still has the most crowd-pleasing finisher in the company in his RKO. While he may be past his physical prime, something tells us that Orton has a few more main event runs in him.

But don't expect him to repeat as a Royal Rumble winner. And given that he'll be missing both February and March, we can't expect anything too significant from him at WrestleMania, either. However one day, the Viper will step back into WWE's brightest lights.