John Cena to brutalize Randy Orton on SmackDown after what happened on RAW? Possibility explored

John Cena broke Ric Flair's record, and secured his 17th world championship at WrestleMania 41 by dethroning Cody Rhodes. On the RAW after Mania, The Champ made the announcer refer to him as the 'last real champion'. He continued his beef with the audience and revealed that he had only 27 more dates left as an active pro wrestler.

As he had finished taunting the audience about the dysfunctional relationship between them, he asked the fans to get a good picture of the last real champion. At that moment, Randy Orton sneaked into the ring and hit an RKO out of nowhere on the Undisputed WWE Champion, indicating that Cena might not be the last one to hold the prestigious title.

John Cena has been advertised for tonight's episode of WWE SmackDown. He will address the RKO, but that might not be all. The Leader of the Cenation can embrace his dark side and launch a violent assault on The Viper. Currently, Orton isn't advertised for the show emanating from Dickies Arena, Fortworth, Texas, but he can be expected to show up.

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The Undisputed WWE Champion can either take down The Apex Predator backstage, or he can pan launch the assault during their potential in-ring confrontation.

John Cena is next advertised for the May 9, 2025, episode of WWE SmackDown, which is the go-home episode ahead of Backlash. Since Orton is already advertised for the premium live event, fans can expect a title match between the former rivals at Backlash.

WWE veteran believes Randy Orton hitting the RKO on John Cena should have been placed differently

The Franchise Player kicked off the flagship show on April 21, 2025. The Apex Predator put him down with the vicious RKO at the end of the segment. However, former Head Writer Vince Russo provided his two cents on it.

According to Russo, it should have been executed at the end of the show as a cliffhanger for the episode. Furthermore, the veteran believes the wrestling juggernaut needs to add more interactions between Cena and other superstars backstage..

"Do the Orton thing at the end of the show. That's a little bit of a cliffhanger. And, bro, even have some Cena interaction backstage with some of the talent to have that throughout the show."

Even though John Cena vs. Randy Orton isn't official yet, it seems to be the most logical path for Backlash.

About the author

Shuvangi Sen Chaudhury is a pro wrestling journalist at Sporstkeeda, covering the biggest trends in the world of WWE and sports entertainment. She did her bachelor's at Royal Holloway, University of London, and has been an avid fan of various sports since childhood.

Shuvangi has over four years of experience creating content for football, cricket, and pro wrestling. She has worked for prominent news outlets like The Inquisitr and EssentiallySports. Focused on making her work reliable and accurate, Shuvangi sources information for her articles from credible sources like Cagematch and ProfightDB.

Shuvangi’s current favorite pro wrestler is Seth Rollins. She admires The Visionary for his remarkable reign with the World Heavyweight Championship between May 2023 and April 2024. She believes Rollins made the title relevant after its reintroduction by consistently defending it against a diverse set of opponents.

If allowed to rework a WWE storyline, Shuvangi would have featured Roman Reigns on weekly TV in a more prominent role leading up to his main event matches at WrestleMania XL. She believes The Tribal Chief was overshadowed by The Rock in The Bloodline-Cody Rhodes saga.

When not covering pro wrestling, Shuvangi loves to watch Formula One and cricket. She wants to try her hand at writing F1 content in the future.

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Edited by Rahul Madurawe