Randy Orton Reportedly Set for Long-Awaited Dream Match with Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 42

Randy Orton is on track to face his longtime friend Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania in what could end up being one of the most emotionally driven feuds in a very long time.

Randy Orton Reportedly Set for Long-Awaited Dream Match with Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 42

Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes on SmackDown [via- WWE]

Randy Orton, despite the level of star he is, wasn’t a heavy favorite to win this year’s Elimination Chamber match. But he still ended up being the last man standing by pinning Cody Rhodes. ‘The Viper’ is now set to compete for the Undisputed WWE title in the main event of WrestleMania 42, which will be his first since 2014. Who is he going to face? Drew McIntyre or someone he has a ‘legacy’ with?

BodySlam is reporting that WWE started holding discussions for holding Orton vs. Rhodes at WrestleMania in the beginning of February to shake things up for its tentpole event in Las Vegas. Another motivation behind leaning toward this direction was to give the fans that long-awaited payoff to those umpteen teases between Orton and Rhodes in the past couple of years or so.

The report noted that the current plan seems to have Drew McIntyre take on Jacob Fatu at WrestleMania. ‘The Chosen One’ is also set to start filming for The Highlander immediately after the two-night wrestling spectacle in April. It’s starting to look more likely that McIntyre wouldn’t be entering WrestleMania as the Undisputed WWE Champion, as he’s expected to drop the belt to Rhodes on this week’s SmackDown, as per PWInsider.

The same outlet has independently confirmed that WWE wants to deliver what it had been holding off for a long while, a full-blown feud between Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton.

PWInsider noted in its report that this isn’t a slap in McIntyre’s face. ‘The Scottish Psychopath’ ousted ‘The American Nightmare’ on the 1/9 edition of SmackDown in Germany to win his fourth world title in WWE and his first since WrestleMania XL.

Fightful has reported that one of the reasons why WWE took the title off of Rhodes was to free him up for partaking in the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber matches to add to the draw of those shows.

Circling back to what PWInsider had in its report, the outlet claimed WWE thought pivoting to a singles match between ‘The QB1’ and ‘The Apex Predator’ would give the fans something they weren’t expecting to have this year.

For a long period of time, the dirt sheets remained steadfast on a Rhodes vs. McIntyre rematch being the planned direction for WrestleMania. But the plans have changed several times of late, and there’s still uncertainty about where it’d leave McIntyre on the card.

He might end up facing Jacob Fatu in a non-title match, or the Scot could even be on a collision course with the SmackDown GM Nick Aldis. The latter option doesn’t seem plausible, as it would leave Fatu out of the fray, and Aldis hasn’t wrestled a match in almost three years.

What to expect from the lucrative Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes feud?

Considering that a Randy Orton/Cody Rhodes feud is the way forward, what would it look like in terms of the character dynamics? The fans are anticipating a heel turn, but it’ll be very interesting to see who has to go down the dastardly route. WWE analyst Sam Roberts recently noted on his podcast that he wants to see ‘The Prodigal Son’ turn heel.

Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton
Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton [via- WWE]

Roberts explained that the fans naturally siding with Randy Orton in his quest of becoming a 15-time world champion wouldn’t sit well with Rhodes, who will eventually snap. WWE could easily have ‘The Viper’ play the bad guy shtick, as he has done during the majority of his illustrious career.

However, where he’s at in his mid-40s and the stature he has accrued on the way would make it difficult for the audience to loathe Randy Orton as a villainous on-screen figure. This isn’t 2009 anymore. ‘The Legend Killer’ would probably have to channel those levels of hatred for his former stablemate in order for the fans to boo the 45-year-old.

Meanwhile, on the other hand, there’s so much to explore with Cody Rhodes evoking his alter ego, which he hasn’t done since returning to WWE in 2022. The upcoming weeks of television featuring these men being mean to each other would make up compelling content that has the potential to produce one of the most iconic wrestling feuds of all time.

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