The March 7 episode of WWE SmackDown took place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. With WrestleMania is around the corner, the company had plenty to address, including Randy Orton’s return to the blue brand.
2025 Elimination Chamber saw Randy Orton make his return to the company. He did so by invading Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn’s big match, and this week on SmackDown The Apex Predator was around.
Randy Orton kicked off WWE SmackDown this week. Fans in Philly were very happy to see The Viper make his way to the ring.
After fans cheered for Randy Orton a bit, he got down to his promo. Then he addressed all the crazy things that have happened since then. He even mentioned John Cena, which drew a boo from the crowd. Orton said that Cena was once on top of the business, but now he’s just a “bottom for Rock.” Then he took a second and said, “that gives a new meaning to the term Rock Bottom.”
Randy Orton then turned his attention to Kevin Owens. He said that he respected Owens’ journey to WWE, but he can’t stand who he is. He then went into Kevin Owens’ jealousy. That went into discussing how Owens and Sami Zayn’s rivalry went down, which happened due to Owens getting jealous about how over Zayn was.
Orton questioned what Owens has to be jealous over, because he’s done so much already. He’s main evented WrestleMania two times, and he’s held practically every major title. The problem is that he’s never satisfied.
That led to Randy Orton making it clear that Kevin Owens has now pissed him off, and he wanted to punt his face off at Elimination Chamber. The Viper is out to prove that Pat McAfee is only the second-best punter in WWE, and that was when he threw the mic down.
We will have to see what’s next for Randy Orton, but he certainly seems to have a focus on Kevin Owens. John Cena and The Rock also took an interesting stray shot in that promo.
What’s your take on Randy Orton’s legacy in WWE? Where does he stack up? Let us know what you think in the comments section!