WWE WrestleMania 42 Results As Heel-Adjacent Cody Rhodes Retains

Cody Rhodes played the heel during his heated match against Randy Orton. WWE Cody Rhodes Vs. Randy Orton At WWE WrestleMania 42 | Key Points Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton to retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.

Cody played the heel for the entirety of the match, bloodying Randy Orton. After the match, Orton punted Cody Rhodes and posed with the WWE Championship, implying this feud will continue. Cody Rhodes leaned into his role as the heel of this match, despite Orton violently turning heel on the March 13 broadcast of SmackDown.

Rhodes bloodied Orton early, causing over 50,000 fans in attendance to rally behind Randy even more than they were already planning to. The story of the match was Cody Rhodes channeling his inner-Randy Orton by essentially turning heel from jump and using all of Orton’s moves against him. What resulted, was a heated match where Cody Rhodes— a +275 underdog —retained.

Cody Rhodes played the heel during his heated match against Randy Orton. WWE Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton’s feud became a lightning-rod for ragebait. After years of white-meat babyface Cody Rhodes as the effective face of the company, the know-it-all IWC was defiant in its support of Randy Orton.