Randy Orton’s Classic WWE Raw Promo On Ric Flair Was Edited For Time | Exclusive

A great Randy Orton promo may have been even better.

Fightful sources indicated to us that the acclaimed promo that he cut on Ric Flair two weeks ago was heavily edited for time.

The initial report on Fightful Select provided more details:

We’re told that the emotional finish to WWE Raw last week went way longer than what we saw on TV. Fightful learned that Randy Orton’s promo was much more than what was actually broadcast, with multiple people in attendance saying there were “minutes” of material that didn’t end up getting used. When we spoke to others in WWE, we were told it was an edit simply to fit time and didn’t have anything to do with quality.

The segment ended creatively, with Orton punting his longtime mentor and friend, while the lights went out.

In addition the filming for WWE Raw Underground went extremely late at some of the tapings, which all took place in early August.

We’re told the filmings for last week’s Raw Underground segments went much smoother than the first batch that were taped the same day. One source indicated to Fightful that they found their footing a little bit more, but they were still producing content past 1 AM at those tapings.

This story first ran on Fightful Select, before releasing in our Fightful Wrestling Weekly. Subscribe to Fightful Select for exclusive news, podcasts and more.