The 2025 King of the Ring tournament culminates on Saturday at WWE Night of Champions in Riydah, Saudi Arabia. Cody Rhodes will do battle with long-time friend and rival Randy Orton in the Final. Below I give my prediction and pick for the match.
Rhodes vs. Orton Prediction
First of all, if you’re a true wrestling fan, you know how exciting it is that we’re getting this match in 2025. Rhodes and Orton share a deep history in WWE that stretches all the way back to 2008, when they, alongside Ted DiBiase Jr., formed the Legacy faction.. All three are multi-generational superstars, with their fathers all being WWE Hall of Famers.
The faction eventually disbanded a few years later, sparking multiple singles matches between Rhodes and Orton throughout the early 2010s. This will be the first time the two have squared off since 2013, however.
Now that we got the backstory out of the way, let’s talk about the implications of this match and how we got here. The winner of the King of the Ring tournament automatically earns a world championship match at SummerSlam, so a lot is on the line besides just bragging rights. Rhodes and Orton both emerged victorious in their respective semi-final bouts, with Rhodes defeating Jey Uso on Raw and Orton besting Sami Zayn on SmackDown last week.
Rhodes held the WWE Championship for an entire year before dropping the title to John Cena at WrestleMania this past April. So, if Rhodes wins on Saturday, it could set the stage for Rhodes vs. Cena 2.0 at the biggest party of the summer.
On the flip side, Orton has been sitting on 14 world title reigns since 2020, and it’s likely he’ll add at least one more before he calls it a career. However, he already had his feud with Cena earlier this year, so it’s likely he would challenge for the world heavyweight championship if he wins on Saturday.
But here’s the tricky part: Cena’s not retiring until December. This means either Rhodes will lose to Cena twice in the span of three months, or Cena will drop the title with four months remaining in his farewell tour.
Ultimately, I think Rhodes needs this win more than Orton right now. He has to shake off the fallout from his WrestleMania loss and get back on track.
Rhodes vs. Orton Pick
Rhodes is simply too big of a star and too important to WWE right now to be buried by a loss to Orton here. A defeat would harm his momentum considerably. Given that this is the King of the Ring finals, I expect a clean finish, with Rhodes hitting a Cross Rhodes on Orton to secure the 1-2-3 and heading to SummerSlam on a high note.