Randy Orton Blasts John Cena On WWE SmackDown
Randy Orton is back in WWE and he made sure to take a few shots at his old rival John Cena.
At WWE Elimination Chamber in Toronto, the heel turn of John Cena got a lot of attention, but it was also the night that Randy Orton made his triumphant return after Kevin Owens took him out with a Package Piledriver last November.
Owens beat Sami Zayn in a violent Unsanctioned Match at Elimination Chamber, so that’s when Orton decided to make his return. Owens was attempting to do more damage post match and Orton put a stop to it with an RKO on Owens. Owens got out of there after that, which led to Orton hitting four more RKOs on security guys, much to the delight of the Toronto crowd.
Randy Orton opened WWE SmackDown in Philadelphia with some thoughts about the man who is perhaps his greatest WWE rival of them all: John Cena. The two men started in WWE together as OVW trainees 25 years ago and both of them joined the main roster at around the same time in 2002. They combined to win 30 WWE World Titles while headlining dozens of major events in their careers.
Orton spoke about how a lot of crazy stuff happened since he’s been away from WWE. While specifically talking about Cena, Orton took a shot at his former rival by suggesting he’s become an ass-kisser of “The Final Boss” known as The Rock.
“For as long as I can remember, ever since I started in this business, John Cena has always been on the top of this profession. And now he’s just a bottom for Rock. I guess that gives a whole new meaning to the term Rock Bottom, doesn’t it John?”
Since 2025 is going to Cena’s last year as an active wrestler and Cena is now in a heel role, it seems likely that at some point this year, there will be at least one more Orton-Cena match.
Randy Orton Warned Kevin Owens On WWE SmackDown
The rest of Randy Orton’s SmackDown promo focused on his issues with his former friend Kevin Owens. Orton said that he admired Owens the wrestler, but he had a problem with Owens the man. Orton spoke about all that Owens has accomplished in WWE and wondered why Owens was never satisfied.
That led Orton to talk about hearing the “voices” again while teasing the return of the dreaded Punt kick to the head. Orton attempted it at Elimination Chamber, but he was stopped by officials.
“Last week at the Chamber when I came out to save Sami Zayn from getting a career-ending Piledriver on the concrete, I ran into the ring and I RKO’d Kevin Owens, and as I looked down on Kevin I thought man, what is this feeling coming over me? Something came over me that I haven’t felt in over a decade, and I liked it.
“You know what it was? The voices started talking to me again, and those voices, they told me to back up, measure my mark and kick Kevin Owens in the head so freaking hard that even his closest family members wouldn’t recognise his face.
“I am going to prove in short order that Pat McAfee is only the second greatest punter in the WWE.”
It appears as if Randy Orton is on a collision course with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 41 on April 19 & April 20. Before Orton gets there, he has a match with Carmelo Hayes on SmackDown on March 14th and it’s taking place in Barcelona, Spain.