3 Reasons why Randy Orton is facing Kevin Owens at WWE WrestleMania 41

WWE Superstar Randy Orton kicked off this week’s episode of SmackDown. The Viper was approached by Kevin Owens, who offered a truce and talked about teaming up with him for the tag titles. In response, The Apex Predator challenged Owens to a match at WrestleMania 41. Here are three reasons why the former allies will be facing each other in Las Vegas.

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#3. The perfect ending to Kevin Owens' current heel run

Kevin Owens is currently on a very good heel run, bringing out the Package Piledriver from WWE’s list of banned moves and attacking top babyfaces. He also stole the Winged Eagle title at Saturday Night’s Main Event in January and also tried attacking Shawn Michaels with the Piledriver in front of his hometown crowd in San Antonio.

Cody Rhodes and KO have already faced each other in three title matches, and Sami Zayn took a bad loss to Owens. This leaves Randy Orton to finish the job of ending The Prizefighter’s villainous rampage. Since The Viper was the first wrestler who took a piledriver and was also the KO’s former tag partner, it makes Orton the perfect candidate to take him out.

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#2. Giving fans a long-awaited clash between Randy Orton and Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens and Randy Orton collided at the 2024 Crown Jewel Premium Live Event. However, The Prizefighter’s fresh heel turn had angered The Viper, and the two broke into a brawl, with the referee never being able to start the match. Ultimately, security officials and general managers Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis had to be called to stop the two men.

This ended in KO taking an RKO from The Apex Predator, putting a stop to the match before it ever actually started. This gave fans a teaser of what the match between the two top superstars would be like. Now, a WrestleMania 41 confrontation between the former R-KO tag team is the perfect way to deliver the highly-anticipated bout.

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#1. Bringing Randy Orton's Legend Killer avatar back to TV

Randy Orton interrupted Kevin Owens from hitting Sami Zayn with a Package Piledriver on the exposed ringside floor. This was followed by The Viper striking KO down with an RKO before getting in position for a Punt Kick. This gave fans a clear glimpse at Orton’s Legend Killer avatar that buried several top stars in the 2000s.

Speaking in today’s in-ring promo, the 14-time WWE World Champion thanked Owens for the Piledriver because it brought the voices in his head back to life. Moreover, the voices were now asking Orton to Punt Kick The Prizefighter in the head at WrestleMania 41.

While this would put an end to Owens’ current rampage, it could also kickstart a heel turn for The Viper himself. It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for Randy Orton.