On the February 13, 2012, episode of “Monday Night Raw,” Randy Orton suffered a concussion during his Match with The Big Show. World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan interfered in the Match by hitting Orton with the Championship. This led to The Big Show being disqualified, but Bryan was not playing favorites as he hit The Big Show with the World Heavyweight Championship as well. After the Match Orton was evaluated backstage. After being evaluated WWE Doctor Michael Samspon diagnosed Orton with a concussion. Samspon could not report on how long Orton would be out of action but he did mention Orton would be unable to compete at the Elimination Chamber. Since Orton will be out of the Elimination Chamber he will be replaced by Santino Marella.
The concussion is bad news for Orton who recently returned from a herniated disc. This also marks Orton’s second concussion in the past year. Orton’s first concussion came back in June of 2011 while competing in Spain. No time frame has been given for how long Orton will be out of action. No time frame is a major downside of a concussion. A Superstar could miss a few weeks to a year with post-concussion syndrome. That was the case with former WWE Superstar Christopher Nowinski. Nowinski decided to retire from wrestling after suffering from post-concussion syndrome for one year. Hopefully, Orton does not suffer the same fate as Nowinski and returns to the ring sooner rather than later.
In the meantime the WWE should start looking into banning all weapon shots to the head, not just chair shots. Especially since one of their top Superstars suffered a concussion after being hit in the head with a Championship.
Source:
Orton Injured
Santino Replacing Orton
Watching WWE Programming