Friday's SmackDown ended with the contract signing for Cody Rhodes' defence of the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton at this April's WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas.
The American Nightmare started by thanking The Viper for supporting him during his return to WWE, then signed the contract. Orton signed next, took the microphone, and addressed Rhodes, stating that his old friend doesn't fully understand how much winning the WWE title means to him.
Rhodes responded that he's ready for the most dangerous version of Randy Orton, and the two embraced. Immediately after, Orton drove Rhodes' head into the contract table in a shocking heel turn. He delivered multiple strikes, threw Cody out of the ring, and slammed his head against the steel steps, busting the babyface open.
Jelly Roll came to ringside and attempted to intervene, only for Orton to shove him to the mat, too. He then returned with a steel chair, positioned Rhodes' head against the steps, and struck it with the chair multiple times, leaving the Undisputed WWE Champion a bloody mess.
Now, WWE has revealed the aftermath of Orton's vicious attack:
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet—which took place shortly before this heel turn—Rhodes opened up on what makes his upcoming match with Orton different to his previous WrestleMania main events with Roman Reigns and John Cena.
"I would say it’s very champagne problems. This is a conversation that’s been brought up a lot as far as what would I have done had I not won the championship back from Drew? I don’t know, and I think it’s a bit scary to me. Because ok, WrestleMania 39 main event, SoFi, sets a record. WrestleMania 40, 2 main events, right where my Eagles played, sets records. Then last year, Allegiant Stadium. I don’t know. I wish I had a plan B. I would have come up with one, and I would have been motivated, and this place certainly gets all of me so I would have been able to dig in. But I think looking at WrestleMania this year, and I said it incorrectly."
"I said sleeper Mania, which would imply that people are sleeping on it, and that’s not what I meant. What I think you’re going to get from this year’s WrestleMania is you have two main events with Roman and Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship and myself and Randy, and the show that’s filling out with Stephanie and Liv and the show that you’re seeing kind of come together, because these matches are starting to become obvious what they are. I think bell to bell, you’re going to get one of the better Manias ever, and I really, really like being part of that WrestleMania."