Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton in the finals of the 2025 King of the Ring Tournament, to go on to challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam.
Below is an excerpt from Mike Tedesco’s Night of Champions recap of how it all went down.
They start to exchange punches from their knees. Orton gets stunned by a right hand. Orton kicks Rhodes, so Rhodes punches back. They start going back and forth with punches. Orton headbutts him, so Rhodes responds with a headbutt. Orton kicks and punches him. They continue going back and forth with punches before getting into a hockey fight. Rhodes springboards off the middle rope, but Orton hits him with an RKO from out of nowhere! 1… 2… Rhodes just barely kicks out! Orton gets to his feet and sneers at Rhodes. Orton limps toward the ropes and painfully exits the ring. Orton approaches the King of the Ring crown on the podium, but he bypasses it and grabs a steel chair. Orton gets in the ring with the chair, but Charles Robinson pulls it away from him. As Robinson hands the chair to a stagehand, Orton rips the top turnbuckle pad off. Rhodes blocks a shot into it and goes to drive Orton into it, but Orton blocks it. Orton goes for an RKO, but Rhodes pushes him off. Orton hits the exposed turnbuckle ribs-first. Rhodes immediately follows up with Cross Rhodes for the win!
