When Randy Orton kissed 45-year-old WWE Diva and RKO’d her

14-time World Champion Randy Orton (Photo credit: WWE.com)
14-time world champion Randy Orton (Photo credit: WWE.com)

Randy Orton has had a legendary career in WWE and has become a 14-time World Champion over his 22-year career. One of the top stars in the business, The Viper has thrived mostly as a heel, but back in 2005, in the initial days of his career, he was still a face.

Randy became the youngest WWE world champion in history after defeating Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2004, but Triple H's betrayal caused him to lose the title to The Game in less than a month.

In the following months, The Viper, who had a face turn during his rivalry with Triple H, was trying to get back to the title picture, but in between, he started a romantic storyline with Stacey Keibler.

Keibler was a top face in the women's division and WWE decided to have the two top faces in the business get in on an on-screen relationship. During the relationship, Randy Orton was preparing to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21, aiming to end The Deadman's undefeated streak.

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But, things didn't go well for the couple. During a segment, Randy Orton first kissed Stacy Keibler in the middle of the ring and then cut a promo on The Undertaker before hitting Stacy with an RKO out of nowhere.

The Viper instantly had a heel turn, which lasted for years, and went on to face The Undertaker, while the 45-year-old Hall of Famer dropped to the mid-card before ultimately leaving the company in July 2006.

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Why did WWE end Randy Orton and Stacy Keibler's on-screen relationship?

Early in his career, Randy got into a romantic storyline with Stacy Keibler. However, the romance aspect didn't work the way WWE wanted and thus it didn't last for long.

Both Orton and Stacy were among the top faces at the time, but their storyline was based only on their face personas. There was no background in it, which made it difficult for WWE to extend it.

At the same time, Orton's face-turn wasn't very successful too, due to his rivalry with a top heel like Triple H, so WWE decided to move him back to his heel persona.

Thus, hitting Stacy Keibler with an RKO solidified his heel turn in the build-up during WrestleMania 21. Randy Orton has since spent most of his career as a heel, but he has been a face for the past year after coming back from a serious back injury.

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Edited by Harish Raj S
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