Randy Orton returned to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames and, during Monday night's RAW, The Viper laid waste to Dominik Mysterio after a tense confrontation with Rhea Ripley.
While Orton made it clear he was out to take down The Bloodline, it looked like the plan might be for him to remain on the Monday night show, potentially for a feud with The Judgement Day. There's also the expected heel turn which many fans believe will lead to him setting his sights on Cody Rhodes.
Well, Orton returned to SmackDown last night and was given a choice to either sign with that show or RAW. Paul Heyman made his way out to the ring to warn the former WWE Champion against becoming a regular fixture on Friday night and used Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa to prove his point.
They attacked Orton, though LA Knight soon hit the ring to lend his fellow babyface a helping hand. He fought Solo off, while Randy delivered a brutal RKO to Jimmy.
With that, Orton chose to sign with SmackDown and warned Heyman that he's coming for Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. To cap off the show, he hit SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis with an RKO, proving he hasn't changed a bit since being taken out by The Bloodline eighteen months ago.
His Legacy stablemate, Rhodes, recently got emotional while discussing his old friend's Survivor Series return.
"At the end of the match, Randy said to me, 'Thanks for the phone call.' And I wanted to tell him, 'Thanks for my career,'" emotional Cody said of his reunion with The Viper. "I keep thinking this is going to end, right? I couldn't have got to where I got had I not been around Randy. Randy...you hear all these funny stories about him and all this nonsense."
"But as a performer, a professional wrestler, a WWE Superstar, what an astounding mentor he was to me. Truly. I'll never forget standing in the ring at the Royal Rumble when he won, pointing at the star WrestleMania sign and just thinking like, 'I want to be like him.'"
Check out some highlights from SmackDown below.