Randy Orton will turn on Cody Rhodes

Kevin Owens’s turn on Cody Rhodes is one of the most important angles on WWE SmackDown. In many ways, Owens has a strong reason for his actions and continues to relay why he did exactly what he did. Expectedly, Randy Orton has been drawn into the situation. Owens’s attack on him creates an interesting wrinkle. “Let it play out” was and in many ways, still is a tired idea when it comes to WWE booking, but there’s something here. Prepare yourselves for another turn as Orton will also shun Rhodes for the same reasons as Owens at some point in this story.

The greatest bad guys go the extra mile in presenting their side of the story in a convincing fashion. Much of what made Drew McIntyre’s initial heel turn so great is that in many ways, he was right. The Bloodline plagued him for years and seeing everyone welcome Jey Uso with open arms would be upsetting to anyone. Owens has a similar situation. Rhodes decided to team with Roman Reigns after years of seeing Owens battle the Original Tribal Chief. That’s the ultimate betrayal in the eyes of Owens and many would agree.

Now, the question is when will Orton’s turn come? There was a moment where it seemed like it was going to come much earlier, but two weeks into the matter Orton is looking to play the “clearer head” among the three. Yet, Orton has long been one of the best manipulators on the WWE roster. Perhaps he’ll see Owens’s point and side with KO. Or maybe he will go off on his own and this will be a battle between three men. Randy Orton versus Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens certainly has the star power to carry any WWE PLE.

Then there’s the bigger story between Orton and Rhodes. At some point, these two will do battle in a singles match. There’s too much history between them to avoid that angle. Perhaps Orton is the man who takes that championship from around Rhodes’s waist. Maybe this story is turned on its head completely and it is Rhodes that turns on Orton, giving them the opportunity to play the opposite sides of the coin than many predicted.

Either way, this is an opportunity to be a story that carries SmackDown through the end of 2024 and into early 2025. Randy Orton versus Cody Rhodes will happen. Kevin Owens’s distrust of them both will be the catalyst that causes it to go down.