At Survivor Series: WarGames in 2023, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, and Randy Orton took on The Judgment Day (Damian Priest, Finn Bálor, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh) and Drew McIntyre.
A highlight in the WarGames match came when McDonagh jumped off the top of the cage, only to be hit with an RKO - mid-flight - by Randy Orton. Of course, that's since been somewhat overshadowed by the fact CM Punk returned to WWE moments later!
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, The Judgement Day member - who is currently on the injured list - reflected on taking one of The Viper's most memorable RKOs.
"Yeah, that was my idea. My first idea was I was going to moonsault off the cage and they said, No you can't do that. Charlotte's gonna do that. I said, Okay, well then in that case, I have a slightly more dangerous suggestion. I said super RKO, and they asked do you think you can do it safely? I'd have to eyeball it. I'd have to get up there onto the cage and see the height and see, but I reckon I could."
"When we were coming through, when I was 12 or 13, you're just a kid, you learn how to bump and hit a crash mat or whatever. We used to have a game where we would try and jump from ascending heights and put our hands behind our back and just take the flat crash mat. So you'd start standing, might go to the bottom rope, the second rope, the top rope, we'd be like pushing each other and daring each other to go higher and higher. At the end of it, I was jumping off a ladder in the ring onto the crash mat on the floor, and hooking my hands behind my back."
"So honestly, it felt like that when I was up there on the cage just about to do it, and Randy's walking over. He's eyeing me up and stuff. I thought about all those bumps that I took, I was okay. Just do it like that. Just put your hands behind your back and leave your head out there for something for him to grab and, yeah, thank God it came off great."
Regardless of how often a wrestler has taken high-flying bumps, a move like that still brings some big risks. However, McDonagh was never concerned because he had plenty of faith in Orton (who assured him it could be done safely).
"We got a crash mat out the night before. I hate blowing up the secrets in wrestling but we got a crash night out, he stood at the end of it, I got up on the cage and just jumped off. He eyeballed and he goes, I got you. I bet you do. All right, let's do it tomorrow. The lights are on."
You can watch the full interview with McDonagh, and see that memorable RKO spot, in the players below.