Randy Orton Beats Cody Rhodes in WrestleMania Rematch at WWE SNME

In a rematch of their WrestleMania 42 Night 1 main event, Randy Orton defeated Cody Rhodes at WWE Sunday Night's Main Event.

While Rhodes and Orton were longtime friends dating back to their time together in the Legacy stable in the late 2000s, the dynamic changed significantly leading up to WrestleMania 42.

Orton won an Elimination Chamber match to become No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship, and Rhodes beat Drew McIntyre for the title less than a week later.

What initially seemed like it was going to be a friendly rivalry turned into something far more contentious when Orton viciously attacked Rhodes.

At WrestleMania, Rhodes took advantage of a disagreement between Orton and Pat McAfee to pin Orton and win the match, but The Viper got the last laugh by punting Cody.

Orton was not seen for months after WrestleMania, but he resurfaced at SummerSlam last month during the WWE Championship bout between Rhodes and CM Punk.

While the referee was incapacitated, Orton showed up and hit Rhodes with an RKO. Punk then executed his signature GTS to beat Cody and retain the WWE title.

In the weeks that followed SummerSlam, Rhodes and Orton were at each other's throats, leading to a grudge match between them being made official for Sunday Night's Main Event.

With both Rhodes and Orton wanting to get back in the WWE Championship mix, Sunday's bout was a huge one in terms of determining who would take a big step toward that goal.

Orton scored a major victory over The American Nightmare, which suggests a title match with Punk could be in his future.