A new report has indicated that Randy Orton was originally planned to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 42.
The April 18 WrestleMania 42 Saturday show closed with Cody Rhodes retaining his WWE Championship, following a hard-fought defense against Randy Orton.
With Pat McAfee previously stating that he’d never return to wrestling TV if Orton didn’t walk out as champion, and WWE building to this match over multiple years, many fans had predicted that the Viper would win his 15th world title at the Show of Shows.
Per Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, a Randy Orton WWE Championship victory was the originally planned result for this bout.
Commenting on plans changing, Meltzer stated:
“Randy was supposed to win.
“There was a lot of chaos the morning of the show, I asked did the finish change the morning of the show, and there were people who said yes, but someone who I would trust more than anyone and would know said ‘No, it was decided before yesterday (Friday, April 17) morning.’
“On Friday night in San Jose (April 10), Randy was winning at that point.”
The April 10 edition of SmackDown was the show that saw Randy Orton and Pat McAfee attack Cody Rhodes for the second week in a row, with McAfee leaving the arena with the WWE Championship belt.
Cody Rhodes personally reclaimed the belt from the Pat McAfee Show studio during the following week, ahead of the April 17 SmackDown episode.
With McAfee’s self-imposed stipulation, and Orton hitting him with an RKO in the closing moments of the WrestleMania 42 match, previously-reported WWE plans for McAfee appear to be up in the air.
If WWE had decided on Cody Rhodes retaining ahead of the morning on the day before the main event match, as suggested, that would mean these plans would’ve been in place before the April 17 show, which ended with a segment featuring WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk.
While Rhodes walked out of the Allegiant Stadium with his gold, CM Punk wasn’t as fortunate, dropping the World Heavyweight Title to Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 42 Night Two.
