Steve Carrier on January 3, 2026
Randy Orton is heading to the Royal Rumble for a shot at the Undisputed WWE Championship—and the match is already being called a major draw.
The news comes from Andrew Baydala, who reported that Orton vs. Cody Rhodes is locked in for the premium live event and will be “big business.”
“Randy and Cody at the Royal Rumble for the WWE Championship will be big business.”
This also points to Cody Rhodes retaining his title in the brutal Three Stages of Hell match against Drew McIntyre on the January 9 episode of SmackDown—because clearly, WWE has bigger plans in place.
This comes after Orton made his return on the January 2, 2026 episode of SmackDown in Buffalo. The Miz opened the show running his mouth as usual—trashing the Buffalo Bills and trying to position himself as a locker room leader. But Orton had no time for games.
The Miz pitched a team-up, calling them “adults in the ring” and proposing the duo name “MizKO,” complete with a phony “Yes!” chant to win over the crowd.
“We are the adults in the ring,” Miz told Orton, “why not team up?”
Orton answered the only way he knows how—with a sudden RKO out of nowhere. Then, just for good measure, he dropped a second RKO and whispered: “Happy New Year, Miz.”
Meanwhile, Drew McIntyre used SmackDown to announce the stipulations for his title match against Rhodes: Stage 1 will be a traditional wrestling match, Stage 2 is falls count anywhere, and Stage 3 is a steel cage.
But that’s now looking like a formality—because all signs point to The Viper stepping into the biggest limelight of them all at Royal Rumble in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on January 31.
Do you think Randy Orton will walk out of Royal Rumble as champion—or is Cody’s title run just getting started? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.
2 months ago
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