Riddle Proves He Is Ready For Life Beyond RK-Bro On WWE Raw
RK-Bro has been one of the best parts of WWE programming for months now. Still, Riddle has proven he should be flying solo on Monday Night Raw.
RK-Bro has been one of the most entertaining and over acts on WWE programming since the tag team was formed back in April of 2021. The silliness of Riddle combined with the generally grumpy demeanor displayed by Randy Orton clicked immediately and has worked brilliantly for both superstars. Riddle gives Orton more of a lighthearted feel than he's had in the past, while The Viper makes Riddle feel even more dangerous than he already is.
There's been a lot of talk lately about who should turn on who to split RK-Bro up. The usual assumption is that Orton would turn heel and betray Riddle because he's almost always played a bad guy on television. He's the Apex Predator, after all, and has made a name for himself by portraying one of WWE's top heels in history. Orton's villainous acts are legendary, and turning on Riddle would just be another notch on that belt.
WWE fans have seen that song and dance all before, though. This is what makes the idea of Riddle instead being ready to perform as a solo act such an intriguing one. What if, instead of Orton hitting his partner with an RKO out of nowhere after they eventually lose their tag-team titles, Riddle strikes out on a singles run after a nearly year-long run alongside one of the best to ever do it. Riddle's performances in the ring have proven time and again he is box office and have marked him as ready for life beyond the now-iconic RK-Bro.
Wrestling doesn't get many happy endings, but the division of RK-Bro is a story that seems like it deserves one. Orton doesn't need the boost of a heel turn to feel like a bad guy moving forward. Either he would be, or he wouldn't be. WWE fans know that he has that gear, and it would only take one or two matches working heel for Orton to get back to his old ways if that's the direction creative wanted to go with him. He's over like rover right now, though, so chopping the legs out from under him in this regard doesn't make much sense.
Meanwhile, Riddle has shown over the last few weeks that he can stand independently and still generate great reactions. It feels odd to watch him walk down to the ring without Orton beside him, but that feeling fades quickly once he gets to work inside the squared circle. He's comfortable coming over the top or working from the bottom, has a fantastic sense of when to push the pace, and is hilarious on the mic. Given Riddle's background as an MMA fighter, he also has the chops needed to ratchet the physical intensity up when the time comes. Perhaps the road WWE should take, then, is just to allow these two to remain friends while doing their own things. It'd be reflective of how relationships in real-life work and would allow both men to maintain the tremendous amount of momentum they have garnered moving forward.
