Je’Von Evans knew about his match against Randy Orton before WWE intended him to.
Evans faced Orton on the October 8, 2024 episode of WWE NXT, but the match was originally supposed to be revealed to him as a surprise. Speaking on the latest INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet podcast (full episode below), Evans explained how he figured out what was happening before the official reveal.
Evans said the first clue came when he asked about getting new gear for the show. Things became even more suspicious when Orton suddenly followed him on Instagram ahead of Evans’ tag team match alongside Cedric Alexander against No Quarter Catch Crew.
“So honestly, they tried to surprise me, but I knew before it was gonna happen, and I’ll tell you why. So before the match, and not before the match announcement, maybe a couple days, we had promo class at NXT, and I’m talking to the writer, and I’m like, ‘Hey, do I get new gear for this show?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, we’re working on something…’ Whatever, whatever. All right, cool. Say less.’ Then it was me and Cedric vs. No Quarter Catch Crew, I believe, and before the match, Randy Orton follows me on IG,” stated Evans. “Alright, that’s cool, that’s cool.’”
The surprise was officially spoiled when fellow NXT star Harlem Lewis showed Evans a social media post announcing the match before Evans had been told about it.
“Then I’m about to go out, and I’m not gonna say their name. Actually it already happened, right? I think it was just Harlem Lewis. Maybe it was just him. But he’s like, ‘Yo, did you see this post?’ And I’m like, ‘What post?’ ‘You going against Randy Orton?’ This was before the match. I’m like, ‘I am?’ He shows me the post, and I’m like, ‘Okay, that’s fire, whatever.’”
Evans said he then went through his scheduled match and was instructed afterward to stay in the ring and react to what appeared on the screen.
“Then I go have the match, and then the ref is like, ‘Hey, stay here, just react to whatever’s on the screen.’ I was like, ‘Alright, cool’ and then I look at the screen. It’s the post that I saw before the match, and I was like, ‘Yeah!’. So, Harlem Lewis, it’s your fault, and you’re probably gonna get hit for it.”
Evans also reflected on getting to use a variation of Orton’s signature move against him during their eventual match.
“Exactly, which is pretty insane.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Evans looked back on a scary moment from his January 2026 WWE Raw match against El Grande Americano. Evans said the two collided heads shortly before a commercial break, leaving him briefly seeing stars.
“So basically, I think before we went to commercial, me and Americano butt heads, and for a couple seconds I was seeing stars. But I’m from the indie scene. You get hurt, you keep going unless you can’t go no more. So we butt heads, and I was kind of stunned for a little minute.”
Evans initially wanted to continue the match and told the referee that he felt he was okay. However, once he mentioned experiencing symptoms following the head collision, medical personnel had to become involved.
“But then I continued, and then we went to break, and so I went to the ref. I’m like, ‘Hey, look, I’m seeing stars, but I’m good.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ And then I’m like, ‘I was seeing stars, but I’m okay.’ He said, ‘Do we need to call medical?’ I’m like, ‘No, no, we don’t. I just got here, dude. I’m okay.’”
Evans said WWE ultimately had no choice but to stop the match due to the nature of the injury.
“Then he’s like, ‘No, we gotta call medical because it’s a head injury.’ So we got medical, and then they were asking me questions, and I was like, ‘I promise, I’m okay.’ But because we hit heads and because I was seeing stars, they had to call it.”
